Chapter 2
Creation Stories
• Reflect understanding of
how the world works
• Set ethical, social, and
religious patterns for a
society
• Provide explanations of the
order of a society
2.1 Prometheus (seated) molds human beings out of clay and water.
Marble sarcophagus. Third century CE. Museum Capitoline, Rome, Italy.
Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY, ART74681.
Hesiod’s Theogony ( Theos (GODS) AND GONOS (OFFSPRING)
• A Theogony is a collection of stories about the nature of the cosmos and
represents the fundamental vision or worldview of a particular people or
culture.
• All societies old enough to have created a cosmogony create a story to
support and transmit their views.
• Purpose:
•
•
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to explain the origins of the universe (creation myth)
Account of the genealogy of the Greek pantheon
Origins of the social structure
Explain the relationships between humans, deities, nature and the cosmos
As sacred stories they recreate a primordial age before written history and provide a
narrative context for religious rituals and beliefs.
• Hesiod b. ca 700 BCE in Boeotia.
Ancient Poets and The Muses
• The Muses were invoked at the beginning of poems and hymns
• Homer begins the Iliad with a nod to the muses and credits them
throughout his epics.
• Hesiod creates their domain, definition and credits them for his
inspiration for Theogony
• Their early entry into the pantheon of Olympus supports their
importance.
Gaia or Gaea
• 1. From Chaos comes Night and Erebus
• 2. One of the Protogenos (primeval divinity) of earth as a primal
element that emerged at the dawn of creation, along with air, sea and
sky.
• 2. Gaia (GE) The great mother of all: the gods are descended from her
union with Uranus (the sky), Pontos (the sea) and Gigantes from her
mating with Tartarus (hell pit) and mortal creatures come from her
earthly flesh.
•
Uranus and Gaia – Titans, Cyclopes and
Hecatonchires
• Titans: They give birth to twelve sons and six daughters. He locked them in Gaia’s belly. Gaia suffered immense pain and asker her all her Titan
sons to rebel.
• Four of them (the sentinels) and their brother at the center castrated Uranus. His blood fell producing the avenging Erinyes( Furies) and the
Gigantes.
• Uranus prophesized that the fall of the Titans would happen like his. Pattern is repeated in generational conflict among succeeding generations
of deities. (Cronus – Rhea)
• Cyclopes (Brontes Thunder, Steropes Lightening and Arges Bright
• Hecatonchires: Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes (hundred arms and hands)
The Late Bronze Age: Mycenae
Mycenae was an important Bronze Age settlement in Greece
It was a fortified settlement,
probably the home of the king
(wanax), located on a hilltop
b
a
2.3a Plan of Mycenae’s Citadel.
2.3b Ruins of Mycenae today. © Florin
Stana/Shutterstock 194965928.
The Iron Age: Ascra
• The Iron Age is named after its use of iron for tools and weapons
• Few records remain from this period
• Hesiod’s Works and Days was composed at the end of this period
• Takes place in Ascra, on Mount Helicon in Boetia
• Hesiod’s description of Ascra is backed up by the archeological record
• Kings have lost central authority
• Most residents are small, independent farmers
The Archaic Period and Panhellenism
• Hellenic identity developed during the Archaic Period
• Maintained by Panhellenic sanctuaries and festivals
• Oral performances of works by Homer and Hesiod developed a
shared understanding of gods and goddesses
• Led to a gradual homogenization of belief and worship
• Local variations on the traits and worship of gods remained
The Theogony
• Hesiod was instrumental in shaping
Panhellenic ideas of the gods
• Theogony was a collection of oral poems
• Hymns
• Catalogues
• Dramatic Tales
• Described the Greek understanding of the
creation of the universe
Table 2.1
Hymns
• Meant to be recited aloud
• Primary purpose is prayer to and praise of the
gods
• Hesiod’s hymn to the Muses praises them for
inspiring his poetry
• Hymn to Hecate presents her as a protective
goddess
2.7 A Muse plays a lyre atop Mount Helicon. Attic red figure (white ground),
Lekythos. Achilles Painter, c. 445 BCE. Staatliche Antikensammlungen und
Glypothek München, Photograph by Renate Kühling, S80 Beazley Archive
Number: 213977.
Catalogues
• Genealogies of the gods
• Designed to be recited aloud
• Describes creation as a genealogy
of the earliest gods
• Presents two methods of
procreation: spontaneous and
within marriage
2.8 Strife (Eris). Interior of a black figure cup.
Nikosthenes, c. 540–530 BCE. The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California,
86.AE.169.
Dramatic Tales
• The dramatic tales describe how
Zeus came to rule creation
• He imprisons chaotic gods
• Institutes marriage to control
female reproduction
• Creates order and justice
2.9 Zeus defeats Typhoeus. Chalcidian black-figure hydria, c. 540 BCE. Staatliche
Antikensammlungen und Glypothek München. Photograph by Renate Kühling, 596.
Prometheus and Pandora
• Addresses both the institution of marriage
and the ideal of order in society
• Prometheus steals fire to benefit humanity,
his creation
• Zeus punishes them by sending them
Pandora
• Beautiful but deceitful; represented women
2.10 The creation of Pandora with Epimetheus, Hermes,
and Zeus. Red-figure krater. Fifth century BCE.
Ashmolean Museum / The Art Archive at Art Resource,
NY, AA566705.
The Social World Shapes Myth
• Bronislaw Malinowski placed myths within
social context
• Only social context can explain the
function of a myth for its society
• Myths can be ‘charters’: practical guides
about how to behave for the people who
hear them
2.11 Pig figure. Wood, paint, and fiber. Early to mid-twentieth century. Papua New Guinea,
Prince Alexander Mountains, Middle Sepik River. Image copyright © The Metropolitan
Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY, ART500336.
Creation Stories from the Levant
• Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story,
may have influenced Greek oral poetry
• Depicts the Gods as fighting the forces of
chaos
• Genesis is distinguished by the Hebrew’s
monotheistic beliefs and focus on the
creation of humanity
• It also emphasizes the creation of order
2.12 Illuminated medieval manuscript of Genesis 1 from the Hebrew Bible. The
Xanten Bible. Germany, thirteenth to fourteenth century CE. Spencer Collection. The
New York Public Library / Art Resource, NY, ART497620.
The Twelve Olympians: Zeus, Hera, and Their Children
Zeus’ Establishment as Supreme God
Zeus—sky
Poseidon — sea
Hades — underworld
Pantheon of Gods
Zeus (Jupiter)
Hera (Juno)
Poseidon (Neptune)
Hades (Pluto)
Hestia (Vesta)
Hephaestus (Vulcan)
Ares (Mars)
Apollo
Artemis (Diana)
Demeter (Ceres)
Aphrodite (Venus)
Athena (Minerva)
Hermes (Mercury)
Dionysus (Bacchus)
Canonical twelve (with removal of Hades and Hestia)
Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and Its Fire
A goddess of chastity
Hearth/sacred fire
Hestia (“hearth”)
Familytribe city state
Transmission of fire
First-born of Cronus and Rhea
The Twelve Olympians
Zeus
Amorous nature
Image of father, husband, and lover
Justice and virtue
Moral order of the universe
The cloud-gatherer
“Bright”
Thunder/lightening
Aegis/eagle/oak
Tales of Zeus’ subordination
Zeus and Hera
Hieros Gamos
Hera: consort and queen
Stern, vengeful
Women/marriage/childbirth
Peacock
Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia
Elis
Olympic Games, 776 B. C.
Connection with Heracles
Pelops and Hippodamia
Temple of Zeus
West pediment: Lapiths and Centaurs
Ixion impregnates the nephele (“cloud”) that Zeus had fashioned to resemble his wife, Hera
Ixion’s punishment on the wheel
Nephele gives birth to Centaurus, the father of the race of centaurs
Chiron: wise, gentle tutor to heroes
Violent and lustful nature typical of centaurs
Lapiths, a Thessalian tribe
Pirithoüs, Lapith chieftain and a son of Ixion
Wedding of Pirithoüs and Hippodamia
The Twelve Olympians
East pediment: race of Pelops and Oenomaüs
Metopes: Twelve Labors of Heracles
Cult image of Zeus carved by Pheidias
Oracles at Olympia and Dodona
Whispering oaks of Dodona
Priestess and tripod
Oracles and prophets
Trophonius
Melampus
Amphiaraüs
Tiresias
Children of Zeus and Hera
Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth
Hebe: cupbearer to gods
Ganymede
Hephaestus, divine artisan
God of fire and forge
Lame
Return of Hephaestus
Consort of Aphrodite
Her adultery with Ares
Ares, god of war
Cult partner: Aphrodite
Thrace
Eros
Brutality of war
The Twelve Olympians
Other Children of Zeus
The Nine Muses
Mnemosyne (“memory”)
Patrons of literature and the arts
Pieria/Mt. Helicon
“Reminders”
Calliope (epic)
Clio (history or lyre playing)
Euterpe (lyric or tragedy and flute playing)
Melpomene (tragedy or lyre playing)
Terpsichore (choral dancing or flute playing)
Erato (love poetry or hymns to gods and lyre playing)
Polyhymnia (sacred music or dancing)
Urania (astronomy)
Thalia (comedy)
The Three Fates
Children of Zeus and Themis
Moirai (Greek) or Parcae (Latin)
Clotho (“spinner”)
Lachesis (“apportioner”)
Atropos (“inflexible”)
Luck or Fortune (Tyche)
Necessity (Ananke)
Nature of Myth
What is Myth?
• Mythology allows you to take a journey into
an exciting and mysterious world.
• In our travels we will encounter gods, heroes,
monsters, exotic places occasionally, eat
popcorn!
• For pure story value, myth has no match
• Enriches your understanding of literary and
artistic works through the ages
What is Myth
• You will see that you have entered a living
tradition as we continue to incorporate
mythological themes into our culture today.
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The very stories have overtones of meaning
Achilles
Helen
Hercules
Ulysses
Daedalus
Medea
Multitude of Genres
• All of these areas are rich in myth and the stories
themselves transcend time in each one
• Poetry
• Drama
• Novelist
• Film
• Sculpture
• Mosaic
• Canvas
Levels of Meaning in Myth
• We will not be satisfied to tell and retell these
stories for their own sake
• But we will consider what their meaning in
their own time, in ages past, and the present.
• What message dot they convey about the
people who created them? Did they know
they were timeless?
Myth as Story
• I. Myths are stories, legends, folklore.
• In every culture, from time immemorial
people have told stories
– a. Of these, perhaps the most captivating have
been sacred stores handed down as part of
‘religion’
– b. Narratives that explain and define the acts of
nations and rulers
– c. Usually these accounts are so old that their
origins are shrouded in mystery
Myth as Sacred Story
• D. For us, part of their appeal is their
evocation some lost era in which members of
the communities lives were guided by the
stories they held sacred.
Myth
Entertainment as Education
• As Northrop Frye puts it “the stories of
mythology are charged with a special
seriousness and importance”
– Consider for example: Prometheus
• Storytellers made their living as a teacher of
sorts.
• Even secular tales included values and
perspectives that enlighten the audience.
Myth
Fact or Fiction?
• Many consider myth as false stories told by
primitive people to explain the nature of the
universe before scientific explanations entered
the scene
• BUT we must consider that their purpose was
NOT scientific but to integrate human nature,
nature around them, the cosmos and the very
investigation of death!
• As students of myth we will see that mythological
stories reveal the core of human nature as seen
by those untrained in psychology! Or were they!
Understanding Myth
• Some of the pleasure gained from an
examination of myth comes from an appreciation
of the literary style in which it was written
• In many cases the story is so old that they did not
use the written word to ‘record’ the myth they
stored it within a living mind with an active
memory.
• Therefore: one of the ways we can glean the most
from the is to look at who studies it and why.
Who Studies Myth?
• Scientists
• To reexamine the way the universe works
– For example: a myth explains a journey taken by
hero that includes astronomy, geography, geology,
botany, zoology
– Star charts
– Navigation
– Ancient Disasters
Historians
• As I love to point out the last five letters of
history spell ‘story’, thus, myth provides
unique insight into particular peoples, areas,
events.
• Myth enlightens the historian with social
norms, religious beliefs, battles, language,
customs, ceremonies, art and architecture.
How Should We Read Myth?
• Remember that it was first an oral composition
• It will contain elements of repetition or words or
phrases and an abundance of names and titles that
reflects formulaic structure
• In some cases it is poetic in another language and
difficult to translate
• The story teller has constructed the tale to conform to
his world and his specific audience.
• Thus, our first readings regarding Homer and Hesiod
reflect their reshaped stories from time immemorial to
form them into unified works that correspond to the
world as they saw it in 800 BCE.
Ancient Greece and Rome
Myth in Art
Myth of Dirce
Hercules at Rest
Apollo in Bronze
Drunken Faun
Drunken Faun Roman
Hercules as a Babe
Farenese Collection – Dirce
Hermes at Rest
Hercules
Myth and Literature: Sacred Space
Location, Location: Sanctuaries
Kato Symi on Crete
Costal view of Sanctuary Kato Symi
Bronze Age Sanctuary at Kato Symi
Continuity on Crete
Hearth Temples from LMIIC/LHIIIC
Bench temples such as the one shown here
Crete witnessed a gradual evolution
Cult practice that determined form
Small rooms filled with objects placed in
Conjunction with the Megarons
Cave of Dictaean Zeus
Just as Kato Symi, continuous votive offerings were left at the
cave of the birthplace of Zeus. Also a votive sample: Bronze
8th century
Nature of Cult Worship: Dark Ages Two
Views
Francois de Polignac: Early cult worship in the LBA was based on sacred
practices, not on sacred space.
For de Polignac, lack of sacred architecture in mainland Greece supports his
thesis.
A. Marzarakis-Ainian suggests that temple plans are based on the ‘large house’
development in the LBA and the house of the basileis was the model for the
later temple.
Either theory could have some credence; nonetheless the standard format in the
Archaic Age of altars, votive, temenos and temple come on stage in the 9th
century.
Again Crete Provides the Evolutionary Model
Karphi Bench
Settlement and
Sanctuary
Bronze Goddess
Votive
Early Double Votive Headed Bull Symbol
Samian Heraion
Votive Offerings
Often termed: a gift to a god by a mortal
Once dedicated it becomes the property of the god kept within the te ne mos
of the god
Outward visible signs, sometimes of wealth, but always of piety
Votive objects:
Bronze statues; marble statues, columns, entire ships, vases, vessels with perfume and
oil;
Thus we can divide votives into two categories
1. Personal items: pyxides, spindle whorls, dress pins (women); men: arms
2. Purpose made votives: terracotta figurines, bronze horses, imitation cakes
Demeter and Kore
Bronze Horse Votives
Significance of Tripods
Use: bronze cauldron for special sacrificial pieces of meat or incense; usually
considered as part of the Prizes in funeral games in Homer; given by Achilles to
the winner of the games at the funeral of Patroclus
Award desired by both Hercules and Apollo at Delphi
Often considered prizes in athletic competition at Olympia
If they were previously part of elite exchange in the Dark Ages their significance
increases as an exchange network with the divine.
Also, those with an orientalising aspect were exchanged among cultures along
the coast of Asia Minor
Over time they became part of the cult equipment at major temples; but during
the LBA they are found at megaron turned sanctuary throughout mainland
Greece.
Tripods – Bronze Age to Classical
Examples: ornamental, practical, votive and
coin.
Samian Heraion
Example: Samian Heraion and Apollo’s
Thermon
We return again to this example.
Hera’s temple on Samos was first part of the great house of
the local basileis in the 12th century
Votive offerings and the tenemos appear in the 9th century and
the entire complex becomes ‘sacred space’
As sacred space expanded so did the temple structure.
Apollo – Thermon
Evolution of Temple Structure and Purpose
Addition of Decorative Temple Structure with painted tiles on the merotope
with myth and inscriptions, anteflexes in the shape of human heads (pp 161).
Sanctuary of Apollo was the site of meeting place of the Aetolian League
The location of additional temples at one location appears throughout the
Peloponnese and later mainland Greece (Olympia and Delphi for example).
At this time art historians and anthropologists insert the term ‘Doric’ style,
language and cultural group.
Unified scholarship has determined that the Doric style is not derived from a
wooded prototype but an ingenious synthesis of wooden models expressed in
stone.
It is apparent that a certain architectural style had emerged: No one would
mistake a temple for an expanded large house by the middle of the 6th century
BCE.
Defining Doric
The scholastic debate continues regarding the origins and true impact of Doric
style, language and culture.
Doric and Ionic Greek are dialects of the same language with very little
difference. Doric is mainland, Ionic has an island origin.
Over a slow period of time there is a change in grave dress and dress on
sculpture and relief with long bronze pins to fasten cloaks, and peplos (empire
waist) appears. In Legend this type of dress is associated with the Hera kleida i
Hera kleida i
The Hera kleida i are the dark age descendents of Herakles and the other
heroes of the Trojan War. Spartans speak Doric Greek and claim descent from
Herakles. Doric Greek is also part of Crete so you can see how the mix of
legend and reality make everyone crazy.
But we cannot deny archaeologically, that with the Doric changes came the Age
Age of Iron and the technology to support it. Iron is worked from smelting,
Bronze from Molding.
Olympia: Stadium, Worship, Architecture
Temple at Samos
Nature of Sanctuaries During the
Classical Period
Temenos: area of land reserved for the god, can be defined by a wall, boundary
stones, grove outlines and even shoreline.
Altar space
Wells and springs,
Stoas
Attending buildings: for cult equipment, called ‘treasuries’
Wide array of votives
Temples only became separate entities from houses during the Archaic Age.
Growth of Treasuries in Classical Period
Frieze from
Merotope at Delphi
The Nature of the Gods and
Greek Religion
Anthropomorphism and Divine Hierarchy
• Human form and character but shape changing is part of their character as intimate part of
nature.
• Olympian Deities live on Mt. Olympus in ‘human conditions’
• Eat ambrosia, have emotions,
• Earth deities (primordial) aka Chthonic are literal (like earth)
• Demigods (children of Gods and Humans) and Age of Heroes
• Heroes are often demigods, honored
• Achilles, Hercules
• Remember “Age of Heroes”
• World of nature is itself is full of divinity
The presence of the divine can be seen in the woods, the mountain, sacred springs.
Strong figures such as eagles
Beautiful nymphs (fairy like beings) – Oceanids, Muses and Nereids
Zeus: Attributes
• Attributes: father, husband, brother, lover, sky god.
Upholds the order of the universe
Keeps Oaths
Susceptible to the wiles of the feminine
Supreme deity – view of poets and philosophers
Hesiod: stern, punishing Zeus
Xenophanes: argues that gods an NOT anthropomorphic
Aeschylus: Agamemnon
How the Ancient Greeks interpreted their
gods: Plays and Philosophy
• Gods in the myths do not love humans.
• Not omnipotent (all powerful)
• Not omniscient (all knowing)
• But they do show interest in their children, and those who have a special ability that the deity
prizes, such as the relationship between Athena and Odysseus.
• Not interested in finite life of man beyond entertainment
• Prometheus: is he friend of man or a mischievous opponent of Zeus?
• SO – their anthropomorphic treatment of the gods is tied to BEING HUMAN.
• They don’t love their gods either, they RESPECT, FEAR, and PRAISE ( HOPING ) FOR FAVORS
• But monotheism and polytheism are not mutually exclusive. Just a matter of personal experience!
Greek Humanism: possibilities of humankind, that man
ultimately determines his progress
• Protagoras (5th century philosopher) “Man is the measure of all things”
• Sophocles (5th century playwright) Antigone “Wonders are many but none is more wonderful than
man…”
• Achilles Odyssey belies his choice for glory over the long life when Odysseus encounters him in
the gloom of the underworld.
• Concept of fate: can only be seen dimly
•
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•
•
Man faces tragedy and the overcoming of that is irony of life
That man can affect the outcome of his life to a certain extent ‘
Hope is the essence of man
Realization of mortality gives man a depth that the gods will never know.
Myth, Religion, and Philosophy Clearing up Misconceptions:
• Although the ancients did not have a Biblical text familiar to western JudeoChristian tradition they had the same elements that all religions have:
• Sacred Text: The Greeks had sacred text – Homer and Hesiod works contained the
hymns, narratives, poetry that told their stories of creation and their deities
• Sacred Space: Places in geography that denoted the activities of those deities
• Sacred Time: Specific events in their own interpretation of chronology.
• Devoted priests and priestesses: lives devoted to serving specific gods and
goddesses
• Consequences for evil actions vs the life of virtue.
The Influence of Myth on Herodotus: Father of History
(5th century BCE) “Text in Context”
• Another factor that provides insight into the view of ancient myth is the blending of myth and
history. Herodotus was a product of the Homeric view of the pathos of the tragic/noble life AND
the Theogony of Hesiod set his interpretation of religion
• Must remember that the worldview for ancient Greeks was set into place with Homer. The nature
of the human condition, the concept of the heroic life, the idea that oracle of Apollo at Delphi was
a function of religion, and that the gods were capricious, powerful and terrible.
• But the dignity of man is encapsulated in the exchange between Achilles and Priam in the last
book of the Iliad Chapter 24.
• The concept of turning an historical person into a mythical character – done by playwrights and
historians and considered part of their shared worldview.
Myth as Religion
• The gods of the Greeks, at least until the rise of a more philosophical mode of
thought, are not transcendent, as is the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. In the
myths, the world is not divided into the spiritual and the physical, or what is apart
from the world and what is a part of the world. They do not stand outside; they did
not set creation in motion; they are born into the world, and though they are
immortal, they function within the world.
• Zeus is bound by the limits set by the Fates; if he saves Sarpedon, as he has the
power to do, he moves beyond the limits and other gods will do the same as Hera
points out: (lliad, Book 16: 470-495)
The world of the Gods
• In the myths there is no spiritual and physical divide. Even the psyche
(soul) of human beings is a physical entity, less substantial, more
tenuous than the body, but a physical entity nonetheless. The gods do
not live a qualitatively different existence, but a quantitatively different
one. The form and faculty of the gods are writ on a larger canvas, their
limits extended beyond the human, but not beyond the world, not
limitless.
•
Gods do not care for humanity in general.
• The gods in myths do not show unqualified love for humanity. They are not
interested in our general redemption. Indeed, this can have no meaning here.
They are fellow creatures with us. And redemption, whatever that might mean
in this context, is impossible. Human beings are finite; they will die, and
though a certain god entertains the notion to spare someone from death or to
immortalize a human being, generally for the vast majority of humanity they
do nothing. Gods certainly do show love, as they show hatred, towards
particular individuals. But this is usually for some reason beyond our mere
humanity. The gods generally seem to favor their own kin, the children they
have had with mortal men or women. Or they favor a particular individual
because he or she evinces qualities that a particular god or goddess most
prizes, as Athena favors Odysseus.
•
How the Greeks see their gods.
• The Greeks see the gods through this very realistic human prism. Their
anthropomorphic treatment of the gods is intimately tied to their
humanism in general. Human beings generally do not feel unqualified
love for the gods either. Particular human beings may favor particular
gods. But it is not the love returned to a loving god. The Greeks
respect the power of the gods; they praise them and ask for favors;
they fear them. They stand closer to the view of God in the Hebrew
Scriptures. And more than anything the presence of the gods informs
an appreciation of the limits of human beings and within those limits
what human beings can achieve
Tragedy
• Sophocles’ Antigone, which begins: “Wonders are many but none is
more wonderful than man.” It is a soaring flight of praise for human
achievement, a deep expression of awe at how human beings have tried
and succeeded in insulating themselves from the terrors of the world,
but it is also arises out of a deeply melancholy contemplation of our
finiteness.
• As the chorus sings this song at a point in the play of growing
apprehension, the song itself arises out of this apprehension and settles
at the end into a recognition of the one thing humans cannot insulate
themselves against, death. This is the tragic mode.
Duality
• For the Greeks the world is divided between culture and barbarism,
civilization and nature. In one sense, the gods and man are on one side
of this divide and so they share the same appearance and general
faculties and way of living. The natural world is on the other, and so
the Greeks never seem to be tempted to theriomorphism or the
worship of animals or gods in animal form. The association of the
Greek gods with particular animals seems to be of a different order.
Most scholars do not believe that Zeus was originally worshipped in
the form of an eagle, or Hera in the form of a peacock. We really don’t
know what’s behind these animal associations. Perhaps it is meant to
qualify the relationship of the gods to the natural world.
Binary Opposites: Primeval and Human
Reflections
• The gods are human in form; they live in human communities. In one
sense, they seem opposed to the natural world. But perhaps the Greeks
felt there was something of the natural world about them, something of
the terror, the inscrutability. Maybe it is a holdover from a time when
the gods themselves weren’t so neatly divided into Olympian and
chthonian aspect. This seems to be a major fault line in Greek religious
thought, this division of the divine world into Olympian and chthonian,
a binary opposition between high and low, intellect and body, reason
and passion. This is an exaggeration, but it serves to highlight this
distinction. The gods live in a hierarchy of roles and functions, and they
guard those prerogatives, jealously.
Herodotus
• Herodotus. Herodotean themes are the themes of Greek tragic literature: fate, the
gods, and guilty mortals, who by their actions try to avoid their destiny, only to
further its fulfillment. Most significantly, Croesus, like Oedipus, can learn through
sin and suffering to triumph against adversity and win reconciliation with the
gods. There is not a single Greek tragedy that does not echo either implicitly or
explicitly the admonition of Solon, “Never count a person happy, until dead,” with
its twofold connotation: the happiness of human life cannot be judged until the
entire span of that life has been lived, and death is to be preferred to the
vicissitudes of life. Herodotus, like most Greek writers and artists, takes his
philosophy from Homer. In the last book of the Iliad (see MLS, Chapter 19),
Priam, the great king of Troy, comes alone as a humble suppliant to the Greek hero
Achilles in order to beg for the body of his son Hector, whom Achilles has killed.
In the course of their interview, Achilles, who has also suffered much because of
the death of his beloved Patroclus, divulges his conclusions about human
existence
Iliad 24
• No human action is without chilling grief. For thus the gods have spun
out for wretched mortals the fate of living in distress, while they live
without care. Two jars sit on the doorsill of Zeus, filled with gifts that
he bestows, one jar of evils, the other of blessing. When Zeus who
delights in the thunder takes from both and mixes the bad with the
good, a human being at one time encounters evil, at another good. But
the one to whom Zeus gives only troubles from the jar of sorrows, this
one he makes an object of abuse, to be driven by cruel misery over the
divine earth
Croesus on the Pyre. Attic red-figure amphora by Myson, ca. 500 B.C.; height 23
in.
Croesus sits enthroned, wreathed, and holding his scepter. In his right hand he
pours a libation from a phiale. An attendant, dressed (like Croesus) as a Greek and
not as a Persian, lights the pyre. This is the earliest known version, in art or
literature, of the story, and its narrative is similar to that of the poet Bacchylides,
whose poem was written in 468 B.C., about thirty years before Herodotus’
narrative. In this version, Croesus voluntarily erects the pyre to burn himself and
his family rather than submit to loss of freedom. This is consistent with his
elaborate dress and throne, with the ritual libation to Zeus and Apollo, and with
the non-Persian attendant. Like Herodotus’ Croesus he is saved by a rainstorm,
but he is then rewarded for his piety toward Apollo by being transported, with his
family, to the land of the Hyperboreans. This scene was painted about fifty years
after the capture of Sardis in 546 B.C.—a remarkable example of the
transformation of an historical person into a mythical figure.
(Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY)
Nature of Sacrifice
• The Sacrifice
•
•
•
Significance of sacrifice
Portrait of sacrifice in Homer (Odyssey 3.430–463)
Reconstruction of a sacrifice
•
•
•
•
Sacrifice and community
Sacrificial animal
Sacrificial procedure
• Animal brought within the tenemos (“sacred precinct”)
• Procession to altar
• Music
• Water for purification
• Young maid with basket containing barley cakes and knife
• Scattering of barley
• Priest cuts lock of hair
• Stunning blow
• Cutting the throat
• The ritual cry (ololuge)
• Altar splashed with blood
• Butchering of animal
• Thighbones wrapped in fat
• Internal organs roasted
• Roasting for main meal
Meaning of the sacrifice
Preparation for Sacrifice. Red-figure krater, attributed to the Kleophon painter or his school, ca.
425 B.C.; height: 42.3 cm.
The scene depicts a ram led to the sacrifice. In the center is the altar, splashed with blood. The
older, bearded male near the altar officiates. He is washing his hands, perhaps in preparation to
sprinkle the animal to assure its consent. The young man opposite him holds the water basin
and the kanoun (a sacrificial basket to carry grain offerings or other necessary items). Between
the two is a bukranion (bull skull), a common motif in sacrificial ritual. On the left are an auletes
(flute player) and a youth leading the animal. To the right another bearded male stands,
perhaps another priest or attendant.
(© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
A Sacrifice to Apollo. Red-figure Attic krater, ca. 430 B.C.; height: 33 cm.
The vase presents a typical scene after the killing of the sacrificial animal. Parts of the carcass
have been cut up and roasted on spits. The altar stands in the center, with logs laid on top for
the fi re. On the far right stands Apollo, to whom the sacrifice is offered, in which he partakes
in some way. He holds a laurel branch. A laurel tree also stands behind the altar. The older,
bearded male near the altar officiates. What he is holding is uncertain; it has been identified
as one of the internal organs, perhaps the heart. On either side of him are two youths. The
one on the left is roasting the splanchna (internal organs) on spits held over the fi re on the
altar. These were cut up, divided among the participants, and eaten immediately. The youth
on the right holds in his right hand an oinochoe (wine jug) and in his left a kanoun (sacrificial
basket).
(Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY/© Artres)
Lecture/Chapter 3
Essential Slides
Zeus and Hera
• Zeus was the center of
Greek mythology,
responsible for maintaining
order in the cosmos.
• Hera, his sister and wife
represents challenges to
his decrees
• The personalities of the
Greek gods are variable
• They are not good models
for human behavior
3.1 Heracles (left) kills the eagle eating Prometheus’s liver. Detail from a
black-figure krater with lid. Nettos Painter, c. 610 BCE. National
Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece. Gianni Dagli Orti / The Art
Archive at Art Resource, NY, AA389426.
Cosmic Order: Thunder and Lightning
• Zeus is called ‘father of gods and mortals’ as a
symbol of his divine authority
• He is responsible for maintaining cosmic order
• As a sky-god, he is associated with thunder and
lightning, his weapons
• He was worshiped on mountaintops
• Greeks prayed to him for rain and storms to water
crops
3.2 Zeus with a thunderbolt. Corinthian, bronze statuette.
Circa 530–520 BCE. Glyptothek, Munich, Germany. © Vanni
Archive / Art Resource, NY, ART382686.
Road to Power The Titanomachy
•
•
•
•
•
Zeus causes Cronus to regurgitate his siblings
Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon join with Zeus against Cronus.
Zeus aided by his siblings, plus two Titans: Prometheus and Themis
PLUS the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes
Cronus and the rest of the Titans took up the battle from Mt. Othyrs. But as
Zeus was given the thunder and lightening he triumphed.
• Atlas led the battle due to Cronus advanced age. As you know he was
punished for his part by being sentenced to hold up the sky, or in some
accounts the earth shoulders, while the rest of the Titans were imprisoned
in Tartarus.
Pergamum Altar: Berlin
Creation of Mortals and the Ages
•
Zeus, Prometheus and even Athena enter the story.
•
Ovid’s account provides mankind with a slightly loftier version.
•
Ovid: four ages, Gold, silver, bronze, and iron.
•
Hesiod adds an Age of Heroes between Bronze and Iron Ages in Works and Days
• Gold: Cronus was king living as gods, but earth covered them
up
• Silver: Beings were senseless and did not worship the immortal
gods, the earth covered them up
• Bronze: warriors made by Zeus who adored Ares thus when
they fought they ended up in dark of Hades
• Heroes: Godlike race of heroic men (also called demi-gods)
they died in Thebes, Troy and other legendary places. At their
deaths they inhabit the Island of the Blessed
• Iron: for Hesiod the saddest time of all HIS where man toil and
disharmony reigns!
Zeus and Hera
Map 3.1 Zeus and Hera in Greece
Human Order: Justice
• Zeus was responsible for judging human
actions
• He paid close attention to the actions of
princes
• Used his power over weather and storms to
punish those who did not act justly
• Zeus Meilichius (Mild One) was worshiped in
Athens to ensure a successful harvest
3.3 Votive relief for Zeus Meilichius. Circa fourth century BCE. bpk,
Berlin/Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany /
Ingrid Geske / Art Resource, NY, ART358210.
Refuses to Bend
• Prometheus refused to bend to the authority of Zeus in
Aeschylus’ great plays Prometheus Unbound and
Prometheus Fire bringer (in fragments)
• His speech captures his defiance
• Do you think I will crouch before your Gods. –so new- and
tremble? I am far from that. Hasten away, back on the road you
came. You shall learn nothing that you ask of me.
• Prometheus will express his bitterness for he and his mother
supported Zeus and his only reward is torment. It is typical of
the tyrant to forget and turn against his former allies. Zeus
needs to mature. We will see this maturation when Hercules is
allowed to free him
Prometheus as Culture Hero
• Not only is he Fire bringer but the inventor of the useful arts.
Introducing man to astronomy, architecture, mathematics, writing,
animal husbandry, navigation and medicine.
• Often considered as the creator of man out of earth and water.
• His story has captured the imagination of artists, poets and
dramatists.
Divine Order: Kingship
• Zeus has supreme power over
the Olympic gods, but is
constrained by his obligation
to lead by example
• His obligations to the other
gods sometimes prevent him
from answering human
prayers
3.4 Sarpedon, Zeus’s son, is lifted by Hypnos and Thanatos in
the presence of Hermes. Red-figure calyx-krater. Euphronius
Painter, c. 515 BCE. National Museum of the Villa Giulia, Rome,
Italy. Scala/Minestero per I Beni e le Attivita culturali/Art
Resource, NY, ART407274.
Violence and Grace
• Zeus is seen as a god who uses violence,
but who also gives grace to humanity
• The suffering caused by Zeus’ violence is
the only way humanity can learn
• In myth, Zeus impregnates Leda in the form
of a swan
3.5 Leda and the Swan. Marble relief. Fifth to fourth century BCE. Greek
National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece. Gianni Dagli
Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY, AA389421.
Leda and the Swan
• The story of Leda is sometimes depicted as rape,
sometimes as seduction
• Either story suggests that humanity cannot escape
the will of Zeus, whether he uses violence or awe
to get what he wants
3.6 Leda and the Swan. Marble Statue. Roman copy (second century CE) after a
Greek original attributed to Timotheos, c. 370 BCE. Yale University Art Gallery / Art
Resource, NY, ART325369.
Hera
• The marriage of Zeus and Hera is
characterized by Hera’s fidelity and Zeus’
philandering
• Hera is depicted as subject to Zeus’ rule
• Her defining characteristic is her anger over
his infidelity
3.7 Colossal limestone head from the cult statue of Hera in the
Heraion of Olympia. 580 BCE. Archaeological Museum, Olympia,
Greece. Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY, ART105413.
Goddess of Heroes
• Hera’s temple at Argos reflected the
importance of her cult
• They celebrated the Hecatombaia in her
honor every year
• She protected the power of Argos and its
heroes
• She also protected women and children as
a fertility goddess
3.8 Model of a temple dedicated to Hera, from Argos.
Temple date is c. 700 BCE. National Archaeological
Museum, Athens, Greece. Nimatallah / Art Resource,
NY, ART85617.
Goddess of Fertility and Protection
• Hera had a large and wealthy temple at
Samos, off the coast of Turkey
• Visitors from all over the Near East attended
her festivals
• The rituals there associate her with fertility
and the natural world
• Her role as a fertility goddess may have been
limited in later centuries to fertility in
marriage
3.9 Three women in long dresses with two crouching lions. Base
of a marble basin from Hera’s temple on Samos, Greece. Seventh
century BCE. Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany. Erich Lessing /
Art Resource, NY, ART204850.
Divine Consort of Zeus
• Hera may have originally been worshiped
independently of Zeus
• As they became associated as husband
and wife her cult became less
independent
• This may be reflected in her hostility
toward Zeus in many myths
3.10 The marriage of Zeus and Hera. Metope from
temple E at Selinunte. Fifth century BCE. National
Archaeological Museum in Palermo, Italy. Erich
Lessing / Art Resource, NY, ART200891.
Zeus and Prometheus Bound
• Prometheus Bound, a play by Aeschylus,
depicts Zeus’ cruelty toward both
Prometheus and humanity
• Written and performed in Athens in the
5th century BCE
• With the rise of democracy and defeat of
Persia, Athens was at its most wealthy
and powerful
• The play reflects questions about Zeus’
role as king
3.11 Zeus is accompanied by the dead, hundred-eyed Argos,
who guarded Io and was killed by Hermes. Red-figured
Attic
stamnos,
terracotta.
Kunsthistorisches
Museum,
Vienna, Austria. Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY, ART21449.
Prometheus in Myth
• Fire
• The quality of life improved as each facet of this marvelous gift of fire was
discovered: light, warmth, cooking, healing and the ability to smelt metal.
• Hero: The sacrificial hero who risked all to help the race of men. As a Titan he
could see his fate he chose to give the gift anyway.
• Trickster- twice outwitted Zeus preventing mans’ demise and stealing fire.
Pandora: First Woman??
• In the beginning there were only men according to Hesiod. Before her
the world was populated by a generic crowd of males who were
nameless.
• Despite the use of the term ‘male’ that until the arrival of Pandora
humanity was essentially composed of asexual indistinguishable
humans.
• Then came woman.
Pandora: Archetype
• AS the archetype of femininity she introduces the first individual.
• Natural descendent of erotic heritage that began with primordial
Eros.
• As with Aphrodite Pandora embodies the ultimate stage in the
development of the sensual world.
Pandora as Punishment
•
•
•
•
•
Pandora is made to carry the feminine responsibility for human misery
Yet she first appears as an innocent and inexperienced maiden
Hesiod uses the ‘beautiful but dangerous’ motif.
Pandora brings desire, for good and evil, for art and madness, lust and death.
For from her is the race of women and female kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of
women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no helpmeets in hateful poverty,
but only in wealth...
• Zeus who thunders on high made women to be an evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil.
• And he gave them a second evil to be the price for the good they had: whoever avoids marriage
and the sorrows that women cause, and will not wed, reaches deadly old age without anyone
to tend his years...
Hesiod Theogony
•
Io, Zeus and Prometheus
•
Io is a pivotal figure in Prometheus Bound and the story of Prometheus’ misery and the final reconciliation between Zeus and Prometheus.
•
Io was a priestess of Hera, with whom Zeus wanted to dally. Finally after harrying her to the ends of the earth and threatening her father Io is turned into a cow by
Hera.
•
She wandered the earth in her own misery hounded by a gadfly and guarded by Argus with the hundred eyes.
•
Prometheus foretells conception of Epaphus with just the touch of Zeus not the rape of the past.
•
He foretells the generations of Io, with the birth of Hercules who will come full circle with the role Hercules plays in the release of Prometheus
Universal Questions Shape Myth
3.12 Chart of Indo-European Languages.
Universal Questions Shape Myth
Modern scholars approach myths in two ways
• They study them within their unique historical contexts
• They study the shared features of myths from several societies
Wendy Doniger attempts to bridge these two approaches with her studies of
Hindu myths
• Argues that scholars must use a variety of approaches to myths in order to
understand the shared experiences behind them
• Uses historical linguistics to draw out similarities in myths from IndoEuropean-speaking cultures
Succession Myths
• Near Eastern Parallels to the Hesiod’s and Ovid’s account.
• Enuma Elish
•
•
•
•
Marduk and Tiamat
Kingship in Heaven
Creation, Succession, Flood, Descent to underworld, Hero-Kings
Zeus’ birth and conflict
• Infancy in seclusion
• Divine child
• Obstacles to overcome.
Levant: Flood Stories
• In the Ancient Near East, floods were
considered sacred
• They were signs of divine displeasure or
favor
• The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of
humanity being saved from a flood by
Utnapishtim, who was told by the god Ea
to build a boat
• The Babylonian Epic of Atrahasis tells a
similar story
3.13 The Flood and Noah’s Ark. The ark is at the top of the image; drowned people, giants, and animals float in the
waters below. From the Ashburnham Pentateuch (Pentateuch of Tours). Northern Africa, Spain, or Italy. Circa fifth
to sixth century CE. NAL 2334 Folio9. Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), Paris, France. © BnF, Dist. RMNGrand Palais / Art Resource, NY, ART488780.
The Ancient Near East
A Greek myth depicting
Zeus as the destroyer of
humanity and
Prometheus as its savior
has many similarities with
Near Eastern flood myths
In the flood story from
the Hebrew Bible, there is
no other god to save
them
Map 3.2 Floods and Flood Stories in the Ancient Near East
Leda and the Swan in Modernist Poetry
• Modern artist Marie Laurencin
conceived of the encounter
between Leda and the swan as
a gentle seduction
• Similar to the retelling of the
story in “Leda” by modernist
H.D.
• In contrast, William Butler
Yeats depicts the encounter as
a violent rape
3.14 Leda and the Swan, 1923. Marie Laurencin (1883–1956).
Oil on canvas, 26½ × 32 inches (67.3 × 81.3 cm). The Philadelphia
Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY, ART318651. © Fondation
Foujita / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
2015.
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