Hesiod'sTheogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of localGreek traditions concerning the gods, organized as anarrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over thecosmos. It is the first knownGreekmythicalcosmogony. The initial state of the universe ischaos, a dark indefinite void considered a divine primordial condition from which everything else appeared. Theogonies are a part ofGreek mythology which embodies the desire to articulate reality as a whole; this universalizing impulse was fundamental for the first later projects of speculative theorizing.[5]
Further, in the "Kings and Singers" passage (80–103)[6] Hesiod appropriates to himself the authority usually reserved to sacred kingship. The poet declares that it is he, where we might have expected some king instead, upon whom theMuses have bestowed the two gifts of ascepter and an authoritative voice (Hesiod,Theogony 30–3), which are the visible signs of kingship. It is not that this gesture is meant to make Hesiod a king. Rather, the point is that the authority of kingship now belongs to the poetic voice, the voice that is declaiming theTheogony.
Although it is often used as a sourcebook forGreek mythology,[7] theTheogony is both more and less than that. In formal terms it is a hymn invoking Zeus and the Muses: parallel passages between it and the much shorterHomericHymn to the Muses make it clear that theTheogony developed out of a tradition of hymnic preludes with which an ancient Greekrhapsode would begin his performance at poetic competitions. It is necessary to see theTheogony not as the definitive source of Greek mythology, but rather as a snapshot of a dynamic tradition that happened to crystallize when Hesiod formulated the myths he knew—and to remember that the traditions have continued evolving since that time.
The written form of theTheogony was established in the 6th century BC. Even some conservative editors have concluded that theTyphon episode (820–68) is an interpolation.[8]
Hesiod was probably influenced by some Near-Eastern traditions, such as the BabylonianDynasty of Dunnum,[9] which were mixed with local traditions, but they are more likely to be lingering traces from theMycenaean tradition than the result of oriental contacts in Hesiod's own time.
The decipherment ofHittite mythical texts, notably theKingship in Heaven text first presented in 1946, with its castrationmytheme, offers in the figure ofKumarbi an Anatolian parallel to Hesiod's Uranus–Cronus conflict.[10]
One of the principal components of theTheogony is the presentation of what is called the "succession myth", which tells howCronus overthrewUranus, and how in turn Zeus overthrew Cronus and his fellowTitans, and how Zeus was eventually established as the final and permanent ruler of the cosmos.[11]
Uranus (Sky) initially produced eighteen children with his motherGaia (Earth): the twelve Titans, the threeCyclopes, and the threeHecatoncheires (Hundred-Handers),[12] but hating them,[13] he hid them away somewhere inside Gaia.[14] Angry and in distress, Gaia fashioned asickle made ofadamant and urged her children to punish their father. Only her son Cronus, the youngest Titan, was willing to do so.[15] So Gaia hid Cronus in "ambush" and gave him the adamantine sickle, and when Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus reached out and castrated his father.[16] This enabled the Titans to be born and Cronus to assume supreme command of the cosmos.[17]
Cronus, having now taken over control of the cosmos from Uranus, wanted to ensure that he maintained control. Uranus and Gaia had prophesied to Cronus that one of Cronus' own children would overthrow him, so when Cronus marriedRhea, he made sure to swallow each of the children she birthed:Hestia,Demeter,Hera,Hades,Poseidon, andZeus (in that order), to Rhea's great sorrow.[18] However, when Rhea was pregnant with Zeus, Rhea begged her parents Gaia and Uranus to help her save Zeus. So they sent Rhea toLyctus on Crete to bear Zeus, and Gaia took the newborn Zeus to raise, hiding him deep in a cave beneath Mount Aigaion.[19] Meanwhile, Rhea gave Cronus a huge stone wrapped in baby's clothes which he swallowed thinking that it was another of Rhea's children.[20]
Zeus, now grown, forced Cronus (using some unspecified trickery of Gaia) to disgorge his other five children.[21] Zeus then released his uncles the Cyclopes (apparently still imprisoned beneath the earth, along with the Hundred-Handers, where Uranus had originally confined them) who then provide Zeus with his great weapon, the thunderbolt, which had been hidden by Gaia.[22] A great war was begun, theTitanomachy, between the new gods, Zeus and his siblings, and the old gods, Cronus and the Titans, for control of the cosmos. In the tenth year of that war, following Gaia's counsel, Zeus released the Hundred-Handers, who joined the war against the Titans, helping Zeus to gain the upper hand. Zeus then cast the fury of his thunderbolt at the Titans, defeating them and throwing them intoTartarus,[23] thus ending the Titanomachy.
A final threat to Zeus' power was to come in the form of the monsterTyphon, son of Gaia and Tartarus. Zeus with his thunderbolt was quickly victorious, and Typhon was also imprisoned in Tartarus.[24]
Zeus, by Gaia's advice, was elected king of the gods, and he distributed various honors among the gods.[25] Zeus then married his first wifeMetis, but when he learned that Metis was fated to produce a son which might overthrow his rule, by the advice of Gaia and Uranus, Zeus swallowed Metis (while still pregnant withAthena). And so Zeus managed to end the cycle of succession and secure his eternal rule over the cosmos.[26]
The world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings: first aroseChaos (Chasm); then cameGaia (Earth), "the ever-sure foundation of all"; "dim"Tartarus, in the depths of the Earth; andEros (Desire) "fairest among the deathless gods".[27]From Chaos cameErebus (Darkness) andNyx (Night). And Nyx "from union in love" with Erebus producedAether (Brightness) andHemera (Day).[28] From Gaia cameUranus (Sky), theOurea (Mountains), andPontus (Sea).[29]
When Cronus castrated Uranus, from Uranus' blood which splattered onto the earth, came theErinyes (Furies), theGiants, and theMeliai (the nymphs of the ash tree). Cronus threw the severed genitals into the sea, around which foam developed and transformed into thegoddessAphrodite.[35]
Children of Gaia and Uranus' blood, and Uranus' genitals[36]
After Uranus's castration, Gaia mated with her son Pontus (Sea) producing a descendent line consisting primarily of sea deities, sea nymphs, and hybrid monsters. Their first childNereus (Old Man of the Sea) marriedDoris, one of theOceanid daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and they produced theNereids, fifty sea nymphs, which includedAmphitrite,Thetis, andPsamathe. Their second childThaumas married Electra, another Oceanid, and their offspring wereIris (Rainbow) and the twoHarpies:Aello andOcypete.[41]
Gaia and Pontus' third and fourth children,Phorcys andCeto, married each other and produced the twoGraiae:Pemphredo andEnyo, and the threeGorgons:Stheno,Euryale, andMedusa.Poseidon mated withMedusa and two offspring, the winged horsePegasus and the warriorChrysaor, were born when the heroPerseus cut off Medusa's head. Chrysaor marriedCallirhoe, another Oceanid, and they produced the three-headedGeryon.[42] Next comes the half-nymph half-snakeEchidna[43] (her mother is unclear, probably Ceto, or possibly Callirhoe).[44] The last offspring of Ceto and Phorcys was a serpent (unnamed in theTheogony, later calledLadon, byApollonius of Rhodes) who guards the golden apples.[45]
Descendants of Gaia and Pontus (Sea), and Phorcys and Ceto[46]
Gaia also mated with Tartarus to produceTyphon,[54] whom Echidna married, producing several monstrous descendants.[55] Their first three offspring wereOrthus,Cerberus, and theHydra. Next comes theChimera (whose mother is unclear, either Echidna or the Hydra).[56] Finally Orthus (his mate is unclear, either the Chimera or Echidna) produced two offspring: theSphinx and theNemean Lion.[57]
The Titans, Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, and Cronus married their sisters Tethys, Theia, Phoebe and Rhea, and Crius married his half-sister Eurybia, the daughter of Gaia and her son, Pontus. From Oceanus and Tethys came the three thousand river gods (includingNilus [Nile],Alpheus, andScamander) and three thousandOceanid nymphs (includingDoris, Electra,Callirhoe,Styx,Clymene,Metis,Eurynome,Perseis, andIdyia). From Hyperion and Theia cameHelios (Sun),Selene (Moon), andEos (Dawn), and from Crius and Eurybia cameAstraios,Pallas, andPerses. From Eos and Astraios came the winds:Zephyrus,Boreas andNotos,Eosphoros (Dawn-bringer, i.e.Venus, the Morning Star), and the Stars. From Pallas and the Oceanid Styx cameZelus (Envy),Nike (Victory),Kratos (Power), andBia (Force).[61]
From Coeus and Phoebe cameLeto andAsteria, who married Perses, producingHekate,[62] and from Cronus and his older sister, Rhea, came Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.[63] The Titan Iapetos married the OceanidClymene and producedAtlas,Menoetius,Prometheus, andEpimetheus.[64]
Zeus mated then with seven goddesses, of whom three -Metis,Themis andHera - are explicitly stated to be married to him.[69][70] His first wife was theOceanidMetis, whom he impregnated withAthena, then, on the advice of Gaia and Uranus, swallowed Metis so that no son of his by Metis would overthrow him, as had been foretold.[26] Zeus' second wife was his aunt the TitanThemis, who bore the threeHorae (Seasons):Eunomia (Order),Dikē (Justice),Eirene (Peace); and the threeMoirai (Fates):[71]Clotho (Spinner),Lachesis (Allotter), andAtropos (Unbending). Zeus then had relationship with another Oceanid,Eurynome, who bore the threeCharites (Graces):Aglaea (Splendor), whom Hephaestus married,Euphrosyne (Joy), andThalia (Good Cheer).[72]
Zeus finally "gave birth" himself toAthena, from his head, which angered Hera so much that she produced, by herself, her own sonHephaestus, god of fire and blacksmiths.[74]
Laconic bowl depictingPrometheus andAtlas enduring their respective punishments, circa 550 BC
TheTheogony, after listing the offspring of the TitanIapetus and the OceanidClymene, asAtlas,Menoitios,Prometheus, andEpimetheus, and telling briefly what happened to each, tells the story of Prometheus.[97] When the gods and men met atMekone to decide how sacrifices should be distributed, Prometheus sought to trick Zeus. Slaughtering an ox, he took the valuable fat and meat, and covered it with the ox's stomach. Prometheus then took the bones and hid them with a thin glistening layer of fat. Prometheus asked Zeus' opinion on which offering pile he found more desirable, hoping to trick the god into selecting the less desirable portion. Though Zeus saw through the trick, he chose the fat covered bones, and so it was established that ever after men would burn the bones as sacrifice to the gods, keeping the choice meat and fat for themselves. But in punishment for this trick, an angry Zeus decided to deny mankind the use of fire. But Prometheus stole fire inside a fennel stalk, and gave it to humanity. Zeus then ordered the creation of the first womanPandora as a new punishment for mankind. And Prometheus was chained to a cliff, where an eagle fed on his ever-regenerating liver every day, until eventually Zeus' sonHeracles came to free him.
The earliest existing manuscripts of theTheogony date from the end of the 13th century. An early example is found inVaticanus gr. 1825. This manuscript dates to about 1310 based on watermarks. There are about 64 known manuscripts that date from 1600 AD or earlier.[98][99]
The heritage of Greek mythology already embodied the desire to articulate reality as a whole, and this universalizing impulse was fundamental for the first projects of speculative theorizing. It appears that the order of being was first imaginatively visualized before it was abstractly thought. Hesiod, impressed by necessity governing the ordering of things, discloses a definite pattern in the genesis and appearance of the gods. These ideas made something likecosmological speculation possible. The earliest rhetoric of reflection all centers about two interrelated things: the experience of wonder as a living involvement with the divine order of things; and the absolute conviction that, beyond the totality of things, reality forms a beautiful and harmonious whole.[101]
In theTheogony, the origin (arche) isChaos, a divine primordial condition, and there are the roots and the ends of the earth, sky, sea, andTartarus.Pherecydes of Syros (6th century BC), believed that there were three pre-existent divine principles and called the water also Chaos.[102] In the language of the archaic period (8th – 6th century BC),arche (orarchai) designates the source, origin, or root of things that exist. If a thing is to be well established or founded, itsarche or static point must be secure, and the most secure foundations are those provided by the gods: the indestructible, immutable, and eternal ordering of things.[103]
In ancientGreek philosophy,arche is the element or first principle of all things, a permanent nature or substance which is conserved in the generation of the rest of it. From this, all things come to be, and into it they are resolved in a final state.[104] It is the divine horizon of substance that encompasses and rules all things.Thales (7th – 6th century BC), the first Greek philosopher, claimed that the first principle of all things is water.Anaximander (6th century BC) was the first philosopher who used the termarche for that which writers from Aristotle on call the "substratum".[105] Anaximander claimed that the beginning or first principle is an endless mass (Apeiron) subject to neither age nor decay, from which all things are being born and then they are destroyed there. A fragment fromXenophanes (6th century BC) shows the transition fromChaos toApeiron: "The upper limit of earth borders on air. The lower limit of earth reaches down to the unlimited (i.e the Apeiron)."[106]
John Milton viewed the Theogony as inspired bySatan. Milton's view, as articulated inParadise Lost, was that once Satan was cast out from heaven, he became the muse that inspired Hesiod. What Hesiod wrote, therefore, was a corruption of the "actual" events that happened in the cosmological struggle of Satan against God. In particular, Milton asserted that the triumph of Zeus (i.e., the supreme deity) through guile, negotiation and alliances, was a corruption of God's omnipotence which did not require any ally.[107]
Milton's view echoes the views of early Christianpatristic writers.Justin Martyr andAthenagoras of Athens, for example, asserted that heathen mythologies in general are demonic distortions of the "true" cosmological history.[107]
In theTheogony the initial state of the universe, or the origin (arche) isChaos, agaping void (abyss) considered as a divine primordial condition, from which appeared everything that exists. Then cameGaia (Earth),Tartarus (the cave-like space under the earth; the later-bornErebus is the darkness in this space), andEros (representing sexual desire—the urge to reproduce—instead of the emotion of love as is the common misconception). Hesiod made an abstraction because his originalchaos is something completely indefinite.[108]
By contrast, in theOrphic cosmogony the unagingChronos producedAether and Chaos and made a silvery egg in divine Aether. From it appeared the androgynous godPhanes, identified by the Orphics as Eros, who becomes the creator of the world.[109]
Some similar ideas appear in theVedic andHindu cosmologies. In theVedic cosmology the universe is created from nothing by the great heat. Kāma (Desire) the primal seed of spirit, is the link which connected the existent with the non-existent[110] In theHindu cosmology, in the beginning there was nothing in the universe but only darkness and the divine essence who removed the darkness and created the primordial waters. His seed produced theuniversal germ (Hiranyagarbha), from which everything else appeared.[111]
In the Babylonian creation storyEnûma Eliš the universe was in a formless state and is described as a waterychaos. From it emerged two primary gods, the maleApsu and femaleTiamat, and a third deity who is themakerMummu and his power for the progression of cosmogonic births to begin.[112]
Norse mythology also describesGinnungagap as the primordial abyss from which sprang the first living creatures, including the giantYmir whose body eventually became the world, whose blood became the seas, and so on; another version describes the origin of the world as a result of the fiery and cold parts ofHel colliding.
^Stoddard, Kathryn B. (2003). "The Programmatic Message of the 'Kings and Singers' Passage: Hesiod, Theogony 80-103".Transactions of the American Philological Association.133 (1):1–16.doi:10.1353/apa.2003.0010.JSTOR20054073.S2CID161532502.
^Herodotus (II.53) cited it simply as an authoritative list of divine names, attributes and functions.
^F. Solmsen,Hesiod and Aeschylus (Ithaca: Cornell Studies in Classical Philology 30) 1949:53 and note 179 with citations; "if an interpolation,"Joseph Eddy Fontenrose observes (Python: a study of Delphic myth and its origins: 71, note 3), "it was made early enough."
^Walter Burkert,The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Harvard University Press) 192, offers discussion and bibliography of related questions.
^Theogony 154–155 (Most,pp. 14, 15). Exactly which of these eighteen children Hesiod meant that Uranus hated is not entirely clear, all eighteen, or perhaps just the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handers. Hard,p. 67; West 1988, p. 7, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154–160, make it all eighteen; while Gantz, p. 10, says "likely all eighteen"; and Most,p. 15 n. 8, says "apparently only the ... Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers are meant" and not the twelve Titans. See also West 1966, p. 206 on lines 139–53, p. 213 line 154γὰρ. Why Uranus hated his children is also not clear. Gantz, p. 10 says: "The reason for [Uranus'] hatred may be [his children's] horrible appearance, though Hesiod does not quite say this"; while Hard,p. 67 says: "Although Hesiod is vague about the cause of his hatred, it would seem that he took a dislike to them because they were terrible to behold". However, West 1966, p. 213 on line 155, says that Uranus hated his children because of their "fearsome nature".
^Theogony 156–158 (Most,pp. 14, 15). The hiding place inside Gaia is presumably her womb, see West 1966, p. 214 on line 158; Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154–160; Gantz, p. 10. This place seems also to be the same place asTartarus, see West 1966, p. 338 on line 618, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154–160.
^Theogony 173–182 (Most,pp. 16, 17); according to Gantz, p. 10, Cronus waited in ambush, and reached out to castrate Uranus, from "inside [Gaia's] body, we will understand, if he too is a prisoner".
^Hard, p. 67; West 1966, p. 19. As Hard notes, in theTheogony apparently, although the Titans were freed as a result of Uranus' castration, the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers remain imprisoned (see below), see also West 1966, p. 214 on line 158.
^Theogony 468–484 (Most,pp. 40, 41). Mount Aigaion is otherwise unknown, and Lyctus is nowhere else associated with Zeus' birth, later tradition located the cave onMount Ida, or sometimesMount Dikte, see Hard, pp. 74–75; West 1966, pp. 297–298 on line 477, p. 300 on line 484.
^Theogony 501–506 (Most,pp. 42, 43); Hard, pp. 68–69; West 1966, p. 206 on lines 139–153, pp. 303–305 on lines 501–506. According toApollodorus,1.1.4–5, after the overthrow of Uranus, the Cyclopes (as well as the Hundred-Handers) were rescued fromTartarus by the Titans, but reimprisoned by Cronus.
^Theogony 624–733 (Most,pp. 52–61). This is the sequence of events understood to be implied in theTheogony by, for example, Hard, p. 68; Caldwell, p. 65 on line 636; and West 1966, p. 19. However according to Gantz, p. 45, "Hesiod's account does not quite say whether the Hundred-Handers were freed before the conflict or only in the tenth year. ... Eventually, if not at the beginning, the Hundred-Handers are fighting".
^Theogony 116–122 (Most,pp. 12, 13). West 1966, p. 192 line 116Χάος, "best translated Chasm"; Most,p. 13, translatesΧάος as "Chasm", and notes: (n. 7): "Usually translated as 'Chaos'; but that suggests to us, misleadingly, a jumble of disordered matter, whereas Hesiod's term indicates instead a gap or opening". Other translations given in this section follow those given by Caldwell, pp. 5–6.
^The "she" at295 is ambiguous. While some have read this "she" as referring to Callirhoe, according to Clay,p. 159 n. 32, "the modern scholarly consensus" reads Ceto, see for example Gantz, p. 22; Caldwell, pp. 7, 46 295–303.
^Who Echidna's mother is supposed to be, is unclear, she is probably Ceto, but possibly Callirhoe. The "she" at295 is ambiguous. While some have read this "she" as referring to Callirhoe, according to Clay,p. 159 n. 32, "the modern scholarly consensus" reads Ceto, see for example Gantz, p. 22; Caldwell, pp. 7, 46 295–303.
^Unnamed by Hesiod, but described at334–335 as a terrible serpent who guards the golden apples.
^Son ofCronus andRhea at456, where he is called "Earth-Shaker".
^The "she" at319 is ambiguous, see Clay,p. 159, with n. 34, but probably refers to Echidna, according to Gantz, p. 22; Most,p. 29 n.18; Caldwell, p. 47 on lines 319–325; but possibly the Hydra, or less likely Ceto.
^The "she" at326 is ambiguous, see Clay,p. 159, with n. 34, but probably refers to the Chimera according to Gantz, p. 23; Most,p. 29 n. 20; West 1988, p. 67 n. 326; but possibly to Echidna or less likely to Ceto.
^Theogony 304–327, 821–822 (Typhon) (Most, pp.26, 27,68, 69); Caldwell, p. 8, table 10; Hard, p. 696.
^Who the Chimera's mother is supposed to be, is unclear, she is probably Echidna, but possibly the Hydra.
^Who Orthrus mates with is unclear, probably the Chimera, but possibly Echidna.
^Theogony 337–388 (Most,pp. 30, 31). The translations of the names used here follow Caldwell, p. 8.
^Kubiak, Zygmunt (2005).Mitologia Greków i Rzymian [Mythology of the Greeks and the Romans] (in Polish). Świat Książki. p. 172.ISBN83-247-0125.{{cite book}}:Check|isbn= value: length (help)
^Theogony901–911. The translations of the names used here, follow Caldwell, p. 11, except for the translations of Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia, which use those given by Most,p. 75.
^Of Zeus' children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived (889), but the last to be born. Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head" (924).
^Hephaestus is produced by Hera alone, with no father at927–929. In theIliad and theOdyssey, Hephaestus is apparently the son of Hera and Zeus, see Gantz, p. 74.
^Theogony 963–1018 (Most,pp. 78, 79). According to West 1966, p. 434 on line 1014, the line, which has Circe being the mother of Telegonus, is probably a later (Byzantine?) interpolation.
^Theogony 969–1018 (Most,pp. 80, 81); Caldwell, p. 12, table 15.
^According to Caldwell, p. 49 on line 359, this Calypso, elsewhere the daughter ofAtlas, is "probably not" the same Calypso named at359 as one of the Oceanid daughters ofOceanus andTethys; see also West 1966, p. 267 359.καὶ ἱμερόεσσα Καλυψώ; Hard,p. 41.
^According to West 1966, p. 434 on line 1014, the line, which has Circe being the mother of Telegonus, is probably a later (Byzantine?) interpolation.
^"Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire the primal seed and germ of Spirit,Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent."Rig Veda X.129:The Hymns of the Rig Veda, Book X, Hymn CXXIX, Verse 4, p. 575
Brown, Norman O. Introduction toHesiod: Theogony (New York: Liberal Arts Press) 1953.
Caldwell, Richard,Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987).ISBN978-0-941051-00-2.
Clay, Jenny Strauss,Hesiod's Cosmos, Cambridge University Press, 2003.ISBN978-0-521-82392-0.
Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1),ISBN978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN9780415186360.
Lamberton, Robert,Hesiod, New Haven : Yale University Press, 1988.ISBN0-300-04068-7. Cf. Chapter II, "The Theogony", pp. 38–104.
Tandy, David W., and Neale, Walter C. [translators],Works and Days: a translation and commentary for the social sciences, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.ISBN0-520-20383-6
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