CLASSICS 2B03 Lecture 3: Creation I - The Olympians September 10.docx
3 Dec 2014
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Cosmogony: kosmo = world , gony birth. Theogony: theos = god , gods are created, different/contradictory versions. First poet to explain systematically the cosmos, gods, and how humans came into being. Comes from the ocean, great farmland background. Didactic full of morals and instructional, though stories at the end. Generations of gods: names, characteristics, several generations of many gods, characterization of gods: powerful zeus, stories of gods, not mortals (rare human material) Let us begin to sing of the muses of helicon of music and art. Daughters of zeus and mnemosyne: memory = mnemosyne, epic poetry and odes. Start poem of with music because it provides divine weight, bless that piece of work and art, poet needs to connect himself to divine, humans can"t understand art. Art is a combination of memory and divine power (from zeus) Muses divine art, legitimacy, the muses might inspire hesiod to write his piece. Gaia female, mother earth , first proper goddess.
