Week 2_1 Beginnings Part 2 Slides PDF

TWO PAGES OF CREATION The first two generation of gods aren’t a lot! But that’s okay…easy to memorize. Ge GE AND URANUS – FIRST STAGE Hesiod, Theogony, 147-156 Ouranos Oceanus and 11 other Titans The Cyclopes The Hecatonchires Titans Cyclopes Hecatonchies Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion,...

TWO PAGES OF CREATION The first two generation of gods aren’t a lot! But that’s okay…easy to memorize. Ge GE AND URANUS – FIRST STAGE Hesiod, Theogony, 147-156 Ouranos Oceanus and 11 other Titans The Cyclopes The Hecatonchires Titans Cyclopes Hecatonchies Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, Cronus Brontes, Steropes, Arges Cottus, Briareus, Gyes THE TITANS TINDER IT UP More divine incest Pairings essentially deal with different areas of nature DON’T WORRY ABOUT THIS ENTIRE CHART We’ll look at a few in the following pages Oceanus & Tephys Hyperion & Theia Cronus & Rhea The other guys: Coeus, Crius, Themis, Iapetus, Phoebe, Mnemosyne These are also important WATER SPIRITS Oceanus and Tethys (p. 13) Oceanus 3000 sons and 3000 daughters Rivers, lakes, springs, etc Tethys Oceanids (female) Rivers (Acheloüs) THE SKY Hyperion and Theia = Titans Give birth to Helius, Selene, and Eos DUPLICATION – Helius is a sun-god just as his father Standard ‘job’ – live in the east, crosses dome of sky with horse team, sets down in western Oceanus, and sails back to the East. Another Hymn – p. 66 of text Hyperion Theia Helios Selene Eos HOMERIC HYMN TO HELIOS Now begin to sing, O Muse Calliope, daughter of Zeus, about shining Helius, whom ox-eyed Euryphaëssa bore to the son of Earth and starry Uranus. For Hyperion married glorious Euryphaëssa, his own sister, who bore him beautiful children: rosy-fingered Eos and Selene of the lovely hair and weariless Helius like the deathless ones, who shines for mortals and immortal gods as he drives his horses. The piercing gaze of his eyes flashes out of his golden helmet. Bright beams radiate brilliantly from his temples and the shining hair of his head frames a gracious countenance seen from afar. The exquisite, finely wrought robe that clothes his body shimmers in the blast of the winds. Mighty stallions are under his control. Then he stays his golden yoked chariot and horses and stops there at the peak of the heavens, until the time when he again miraculously drives them down through the sky to the Ocean. (1–16) Hail, lord, kindly grant a happy sustenance. From you I have begun and I shall go on to celebrate the race of mortal men, the demigods, whose achievements the Muses have revealed to mortals. (17–19) PHAËTHON Son of Helius and a mistress, Clymene (oceanid nymph) Needed to prove he was Helius’ son Nice touching father/son moment, dad says he’ll do anything son wants Phaethon wants to drive the chariot – dad says bad idea but lets him Phaethon crashes and creates scorched earth Story from Ovid Numerous other examples of Helius’ lovers SELENE Moon – two horse chariot Homeric Hymn 32 Later sources flesh out her life with tale of Endymion Mortal shepherd who Selene has hots for. Sleeps with him every night Zeus grants him perpetual sleep with perpetual youth Punishment? LATER CHANGES Helius = Apollo Selene = Artemis EOS Goddess of the dawn Another 2-horse chariot “rosy-fingered” “saffron-robed” Is made randy by Aphrodite and chases mortals. Most notable is Tithonus Zeus makes him immortal, but he still ages and grows old Eos isn’t into silver daddies Louvre LP 2591 Ge OURANOS – AM I THE DRAMA? Ouranos Titans Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, Cronus Cyclopes Hecatonchies Brontes, Steropes, Arges Cottus, Briareus, Gyes BLOOD AND GENITALS (GROSS…) Page 7-9 in our translation of Hesiod (note differences between the West translation and what’s in the textbook) Gaia Genitals Blood Erinyes Giants Meliae Aphrodite George Cruikshank, The Birth of Aphrodite, 1860. EXPLAINING A NAME - APHRODITE Ludovisi Throne Ca 460 BC ἀφρός “foam” TITANS/THINGS NOT IN THE TEXTBOOK DESCENDANTS OF NIGHT A lot of generally bad stuff came first from Nyx (Night), and then Eris (Discord) kept things going. Note differences between Theogony and Works and Days GAIA AND THE SEA; PHORCYS AND CETO Note here some of the groups of monsters that become notable in Greek stories Harpies (Ge/Pontus) Gorgons (Phorcys/Ceto) Chapter 7 Alternate Story of Rape ECHIDNA AND TYPHON MAKE MONSTERS Zeus aiming his thunderbolt at a winged and snake-footed Typhon BIT CONFUSING Don’t worry, it’lll be okay! Turner, The Goddess of Discord Choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides, 1806 MYTH – ETIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS αἰτία: the reason or cause Remember – lots of questions and debate about what a myth actually is. Houasse, The Dispute of Minerva and Neptune*, 1689 or 1706 *aka Athena and Poseidon ANOTHER STREAM OF THOUGHT Birth of Venus speaking to the castration complex Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1485 OFFSPRING OF TITANS Many of these Kind of a catch-all area where elements of our world are explained Prud’hon, Justice and Divine Vengeance* Pursuing Crime, 1808 *Themis and Nemesis CRONOS AND RHEA Capitoline Museum Met 06.1021.144 Primordial gods Children of Night Children of Gaia First Brood Second Brood: Titans Second Brood: Hecatonchires Dad Eats Everyone Gaia sad, recruits Chronos Third Brood: Genitals and Blood. Erinyes, Gigantes, Nymphs, Aphrodite Fourth Brood: Gaia and Pontus Fifth (last), Gaia and Tartaros Children of Night Line of Pontos (various broods, etc) Children of Titans Challenges to Zeus: Prometheus and Pandora Challenges: Titanomachy Challenges: Typhoeus Children of Olympians Goddesses who bore Children to Mortal Men Mortal Women who bore Children to Gods Proemium Chaos Second Brood: Cyclopes Overview of Theogony DIFFERENT SOURCES Homeric Hymns 33 in total Anonymous poets Dactylic hexameter – same meter as the Iliad and Odyssey Similar formulas and dialect as Homer’s works Attributed to Homer by Thucydides (3.104), and it stuck Written a bit later than Hesiod’s works (7th C BC), but some as late as the Hellenistic. Varying lengths. 3-4 lines to more than 500. Ovid Metamorphoses. Has a creation account (1.1-75) Aristophanes Birds – 693-702 HOMERIC HYMN TO GAIA TRANSLATED I will sing of well-founded Earth, mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all creatures that are in the world, all that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly: all these are fed of her store. Through you, O queen, men are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you it belongs to give means of life to mortal men and to take it away. Happy is the man whom you delight to honor! He has all things abundantly: his fruitful land is laden with corn, his pastures are covered with cattle, and his house is filled with good things. Such men rule orderly in their cities of fair women: great riches and wealth follow them: their sons exult with ever-fresh delight, and their daughters in flower-laden bands play and skip merrily over the soft flowers of the field. Thus is it with those whom you honor O holy goddess, bountiful spirit.Hail, Mother of the gods, wife of starry Heaven; freely bestow upon me for this my song substance that cheers the heart! And now I will remember you and another song also. Source: Perseus ANOTHER TRANSLATION "To Gaia (Gaea, Earth) the Mother of All. I will sing of well-founded Gaia (Earth), mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all the creatures that are in the worlds, all that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly : all these are fed of her store. Through you, O queen, men are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you it belongs to give means of life to mortal men and to take it away. Happy is the man whom you delight to honour! He has all things abundantly : his fruitful land is laden with corn, his pastures are covered with cattle, and his house is filled with good things. Such men rule orderly in their cities of fair women: great riches and wealth follow them: their sons exult with everfresh delight, and their daughters in flower-laden bands play and skip merrily over the soft flowers of the field. Thus is it with those whom you honour O holy goddess (semne thea), bountiful spirit (aphthone daimon). Hail, Mother of the gods (theon mater), wife of starry Ouranos (Uranus, Heaven); freely bestow upon me for this my song substance that cheers the heart!“ Source: Theoi NEXT UP The 2nd Generation Zeus gets cranky