Creation Myth: Theogony
Rich Elias – Humanities-Classics
Who was Hesiod?
• Wrote in ARCHAIC period, c. 750-650
BCE (same period as Homer)
• He provides a few details of his life in his
poems. For example, he mentions a
lawsuit against his brother.
• He was a poet who crafted traditional
stories about the gods into an organized
pattern.
Theogony
• Means “origin or generations of the gods.”
• A cosmogony (= how the universe came to
be) and cosmology (= how its parts are
arranged)
• Names over 300 gods, etc. Delights in
catalogs (= folkloric technique).
• Figures in the poem range from fully
developed characters to allegorical
names.
Why did Hesiod write it?
• Possibly to show off his skill as a poet in a
poetry competition. Oral-formulaic
composition, memorization, etc.
• Nagy: Theogony is an attempt to create a
pan-Hellenic myth. Syncretic/syncretism.
– Gods from different parts of Greece are
organized into a family.
• Main theme: the ascent of Zeus as chief
god
Overall Structure
• Invocation of the Muses  inspiration
• 1st generation: primordial gods: Chaos 
Gaia  Gaia and Ouranos.
• 2nd generation: Titans, Kronos, etc.
• Interlude: story of Prometheus
• 3rd generation: Titanomachy and Zeus’
rise to power.
Invocation
• Hesiod is a shepherd who seeks inspiration from the
Muses (= daughters of Zeus):
And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he
was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, and this
word first the goddesses said to me -- the Muses of
Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis:
(ll. 26-28) `Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things
of shame, mere bellies, we know how to speak many false
things as though they were true; but we know, when we
will, to utter true things.'
(ll. 29-35) So said the ready-voiced daughters of great
Zeus.
First Generation
• What is Chaos?
• Gaia (= Earth) is spontaneously generated.
Pay attention to patterns of reproduction!!
• Produces children through parthenogenesis,
then via sexual intercourse with son/husband
Ouranos (= Sky)
– Pairing of Earth and Sky a motif in earlier myths
of Egypt and the near east.
First Generation (cont’d)
• Patterns to watch for:
– Unusual methods of reproduction
– Confused kinship relations
– Frustrated reproduction (Ouranos and
Kronos)
– Monsters dominate here.
– Conflict between female and male gods
(reflects ascent of patriarchy over
matriarchy??)
Gaia and Ouranos
• Separation of Earth and Sky when Kronos
castrates Ouranos = cosmogony
– Sparagmos= an ancient Dionysian ritual in
which a living animal, or sometimes even a
human being, would be sacrificed by being
dismembered, by the tearing apart of limbs
from the body.
• Primal taboo: killing the father
• Birth of Aphrodite.
Kronos
• Meaning of name is disputed. Possibly
from Indo-European root meaning “the
cutter.”
• After he becomes chief god, he swallows
his children to prevent them from killing
him. Inverts pattern of Ouranos preventing
birth by refusing to pull out of Gaia.
• Rhea and Gaia conspire to preserve baby
Zeus through a scheme to fool Kronos.
Kronos (cont’d)
• Zeus is taken away
and raised in secret
(a common motif in
mythology. Compare
Dionysus, Moses,
Jesus, etc.)
Prometheus
• Does this story really interrupt the
genealogical pattern?
• It offers an aetiology: why Greeks burned
bones as a sacrifical offering to the gods.
• Says men already existed but doesn’t
explain how or why they were created.
• Says women were created as a
punishment for mankind. Story of
Pandora. (See also Works & Days)
Analysis of Prometheus Story
•
Prometheus punished. On the right,
Prometheus Is tied to a column while
Zeus' eagle eats his liver. On the left,
Prometheus' brother Atlas holds
up the sky. Laconian cup, c. 555 BC.
Etruscan museum, the Vatican. For a
larger (152 K) version, click on the
picture.
Rise of 3rd Generation
• Titanomachy: “Olympians” versus Titans =
3rd generation vs. 2nd generation with help
from outcasts from 1st generation.
• How does Zeus seek to avoid the fate of
Ouranos and Kronos?
• Management skills of the Greek gods!!
• New regularities: methods of reproduction
and kinship relations.
Triumph of Zeus
• Battle with Typhoios (Typhon), described
as the last born child of Gaia.
– Circular pattern: 3rd generation defeated 2nd,
now defeats 1st.
• Assertion of patriarchal order: gods
defined in terms of their relationship to
Zeus.
• Zeus and the Fates.