Outline Of Hesiod's Theogony

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Introduction (1)

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Invocation of the Muses

Muses announce their intention to sing truth through Hesiod and the order of races in their song.

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Primordial Deities (2)

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Chaos (=the "chasm" in West's trans.), an empty space that fills the Universe. Creation of Gaia (Earth), Tartaros (Underworld) and Eros (Desire).

Chaos gives birth to Nyx (Night) and Erebos (Darkness); Gaia gives birth to Ourea (Mountains), Ouranos (Sky) and Pontos (Sea) by parthenogenesis.

With Ouranos (=sky), Gaia (=earth) conceives the twelve Titans: Okeanos, Koios, Kreios, Hyperion, Iapetos, Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne (=memory), Phoebe, Tethys, and Kronos.

Again with Ouranos, Gaia bears the three Kyklopes and the three "Hundred-Handers."

Castration of Ouranos by Kronos; creation of Aphrodite (an Olympian).

Genealogy of Nyx: Various permutations of death, sleep, and sin/evil.

Genealogies of the minor sea deities Nereus, Thaumus, Phorkys, Keto, and Eurybia; includes a large numbers of monsters.

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Genealogies of Titans (3)

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Okeanos and Tethys (both Titans) give birth to over 6000 rivers and springs.

Genealogies of Kreios and Eurybia and their offspring.

Genealogies of Phoibe and Koios (Titans) and their offspring.

Kronos and Rhea (Titans) give birth to the Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus (all Olympian gods).

Kronos swallows all his children except Zeus. Zeus prepares to overthrow Kronos.

Genealogy of Iapetos. Hesiod uses this genealogy to interrupt Zeus' ascent to power and tell the stories of Prometheus and Pandora. This also completes the genealogies of the Titans.

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Zeus' Ascent to Power (4)

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Zeus enlists the "Hundred-Handers" and sets up on Mount Olympus.

Zeus and the "Hundred-Handers" defeat the Titans; Zeus casts the Titans deep into Tartaros.

Extended description of the Titans' new home in Tartaros.

Gaia, angered at Zeus' treatment of the Titans, and Tartaros conceive Typhoeus.

With much difficulty, Zeus defeats Typhoeus and locks him in Tartaros.

Description of Typhoeus trapped in Tartaros.

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Zeus'/Olympian Genealogy (5)

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Zeus divides the Universe between himself (sky), Poseidon (sea), and Hades (underworld).

Zeus sleeps with Metis, Thetis, and others from the Titan era. The Fates and Muses are his most notable offspring from these wives.

Zeus conceives the Olympians Apollo, Artemis, Ares, and Athena; a jealous Hera conceives Hephaistos.

Zeus produces the Olympians Hermes and Dionysus, as well as the hero Heracles.

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Mortals and Immortals (6)

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Hesiod reinvokes the Muses and shifts gears to tell about goddesses sleeping with mortal men.

Immortal offspring of goddesses and mortal men. Note the prevalence of Homeric heroes (e.g. Aeneas, Achilles, and Odysseus) and tragic figures (e.g. Polydoros, Aeson, and Medea).

Conclusion and segue to Catalogue of Women.

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Cosmos

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Cosmos is the universe considered as a harmonious and orderly system. In several Mediterranean religions, the cosmos was a complex system of interrelationships between gods, humans, political entities, ancestors, and others--the interrelationships all had their place in the universe and all had their appointed roles. The divine relationships between the gods served as the model for the cosmos, and the stars often served as the map.

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Chaos

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Chaos, a Greek term translated as "chasm" by West, is the first being to come into existence in Hesiod's Theogony. In the Greek, it is essentially a great abyss, and empty, formless, and infinite space, not at all like our notion of things out of order. Chaos is responsible for the existence of Nyx, who later bears some of the more terrible aspects of the universe, such as War and Famine. For this reason, Chaos becomes associated with the darker aspects of the universe.

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Parthenogenesis

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Parthenogenesis is reproduction without sexual intercourse. It is used by many of the earliest deities, including Chaos, Nyx, and Eros. In these early instances the main reason behind it seems to be the lack of other sexual partners. Later, very powerful gods use this method to produce offspring without the messiness sometimes involved in having a partner (sort of like what Madonna does today). Zeus uses parthenogenesis to produce Athena all by himself out of his own head. Hera gives him tit for tat and also parthenogenically produces the god Hephaistos.

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Cosmology

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Cosmology is the study or theory of the form, content, organization, and structure of the universe.

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Cosmogony

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Cosmogony is a theory or account of the origin of the universe. Numerous cosmogonical accounts of the universe exist in addition to Hesiod's Theogony, such as the Hittite "Kingship of Heaven" myth, the Babylonian myth Enuma Elish, and the account of creation in the biblical book of Genesis.

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Enuma Elish

EASTERN SOURCE

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the great creation epic of the Babylonians

It is the story of the creation of the universe and serves as the justification of the supremacy of the god Marduk, who defeats Tiamat, one of the two original divine beings in the world

Scholars have recognized many simliarities between Marduk and Zeus

Marduk is a sky god, and is of a younger generation of gods

They both battle to create order, and both overthrow their parents to triumph

we can assume Hesiod intended the Theogony to serve not only as a creation myth but also a form of praise and honor to Zeus, the Greek king of the gods (since enuma elish praises the king of gods)

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the Sumerians

EASTERN SOURCE

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Their myths covered a variety of topics, including the creation of the world and the creation of mankind

An is the sky god and the supreme authority

Inanna, the queen of the gods, goddess of sexual love and war

Enlil, the storm god and on
The Sumerian gods also figure prominently in Gilgamesh, the oldest epic in existence (similar to both the Illiad and the Odyssey)

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the Hittites

EASTERN SOURCE

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created the the "Kingship in Heaven" myth

bears many similarities to the Theogony

The first god of heaven, Alalu, is overthrown by Anu, who assumes his role. His cup-bearer, Kumarbi, challenges Anu and eventually cuts off his genitals and swallows them. Anu then tells Kumarbi that he has become impregnated with several divinities. Kumarbi then spits out something which probably included the genitals of Anu.

then the text breaks off...

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wikipedia sez...

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What makes the Theogony of Hesiod unique is that it affirms no historical royal line. Such a gesture would have cited the Theogony in one time and one place. Rather, the Theogony affirms the kingship of the god Zeus himself over all the other gods and over the whole cosmos.

Further, 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 the Muses have bestowed the two gifts of a scepter 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 the Theogony.

After the classical period, when divinely-appointed kingship is brought into Greece once more, it will come in from outside, from Macedonia and imported from the royal traditions of Persia.

After the speaker declares that he has received the blessings of the Muses, and thanks them for giving him inspiration, he explains that spontaneously Chaos first came into existence. Gaia (Earth), the more orderly and safe foundation that would serve as a home for the gods and mortals, came afterwards. Tartaros (both a place below the earth as well as a deity) and Eros (Desire) also came into existence from nothing. Eros serves an important role in sexual reproduction, before which children had to be produced parthenogenically. From Chaos came Erebos (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). However, Erebos and Nyx reproduced to make Aither (Brightness) and Hemera (Day). From Gaia came Ouranos (Sky, also seen as Uranus), Ourea (Mountains), and Pontos (Sea).

Ouranos mated with Gaia to create twelve Titans.

Because Ouranos knows that one of his children would overthrow him, he tried to imprison each of the children in Gaia, which greatly discomforted her. She asked her children to punish their father. Only Kronos was willing to do so. During Ouranos' attempt to mate with Gaia as he does every night Kronos, with a sickle from Gaia, cut off his father's genitals, castrating him. The blood from Ouranos splattered onto the earth producing Erinyes (the Furies), Giants, and Meliad nymphs. Kronos takes the severed testicles and throw them into the ocean, around which foams developed and they transformed into the goddess of Love, Aphrodite.

Meanwhile, Nyx, though she mated with Erebos, produced fifteen children parthenogenically: Moros (Doom), Oneiroi (Dreams), Keres (Destinies), Eris (Discord), Ker (Destiny), Momos (Blame), Philotes (Love), Geras (Old Age), Thanatos (Death), Moirai (Fates), Nemesis (Retribution), Hesperides (Daughters of Night), Hypnos (Sleep), Oizys (Pain), and Apate (Deceit).

From Eris, following her mother's footstep, came Ponos (Hardship), Hysminai (Battles), Neikea (Quarrels), Phonoi (Murders), Lethe (Forgetfulness), Machai (Wars), Pseudea (Lies), Amphillogiai (Disputes), Limos (Starvation), Androktasiai (Manslaughters), Ate (Ruin), Dysnomia (Anarchy), Algea (Pains), Horkos (Oaths), and Logoi (Stories).

After Ouranos has been castrated, Gaia mated with Pontos to create a descendent line consisting of sea deities, sea nymphs, and hybrid monsters. One child of Gaia and Pontos is Nereus (Old Man of the Sea), who marries Doris, a daughter of Okeanos and Tethys, to produce the Nereids, the fifty nymphs of the sea. Another child of Gaia and Pontos is Thaumas, who marries Elektra, a sister of Doris, to produce Iris (Rainbow) and two Harpies (a type of bird-woman).

Phorkys and Keto, two siblings, marry each other and produce Graia, Gorgons, Echidna, and Serpent. Medousa, a Gorgon, produce two children with Poseidon, the winged-horse Pegasos and warrior Chysaor, at the instant of her decapitation by Perseus. Chrysaor marries Kallirhoe, another daughter of Okeanos, to make three-headed Geryoneus.

Gaia also mates with Tartaros to produce Typhoeus, whom Echidna marries to produce Orthos, Kerberos, Hydra, and Chimaira. From Orthos and either Chimaira or Echinda were born the Sphinx and the Nemeian Lion.

In the family of the Titans, Okeanos and Tethys marry to make three thousand rivers and three thousand Okeanid Nymphs. Theia and Hyperion marry to bear Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), and Eos (Dawn). Kreios and Eurybia marry to bear Astraios, Pallas, and Perses. Eos and Astraios would later marry to produce Zephyos, Boreas, Notos, Eosphoros, and the Stars. From Pallas and Styx (another Okeanid) came Zelos (Envy), Nike (Victory), Kratos (Power), Bia (Force). Koios and Phoibe marry to make Leto, Asteria (who later marries Perses to produce Hekate). Iapetos marries Klymene (an Okeanid Nymph) to sire Atlas, Menoitios, Prometheus, and Epimetheus.

Kronos, having taken control of the cosmos, wanted to ensure that he maintained power. When he married Rhea, he made sure to swallow each of the children given birth: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Zeus. However, Rhea asks Gaia and Ouranos for help in saving Zeus by sending Rhea to Crete to nurture Zeus and giving Kronos a huge stone to swallow thinking that it was another of Rhea's child.

After Zeus has grown up, he forces Kronos to disgorge his siblings and thereafter waged a great war for control of the cosmos. The war lasted ten years, with the Olympian gods and Prometheus on one side, and the Titans and the Giants on the other. Eventually Zeus releases the Hundred-Handeds to shake the earth, allowing him to gain the upper hands, cast the fury of his thunderbolts and throw the Titans into Tartaros. Zeus later must battle Typhoeus, a son of Gaia and Tartaros created because Gaia was angry that the Titans were defeated, and is victorious again.

Because Prometheus helped Zeus, he was not sent to Tartaros as the other Titans. However, he would later steal fire from the Olympian gods to give to mortals, along with other knowledge, thus angering Zeus. Zeus punishes Prometheus by chaining him to a column and inflicts on him a long-winged eagle that would feed on his liver. Every day, the liver would be regenerated to be fed on again. Prometheus would not be freed until Herakles, a son of Zeus, comes to free him and encourage him to tell Zeus the prophecy of who would overthrow Zeus. (A digression: It would later turn out that Thetis, a nymph that Zeus was chasing, would have a son that would be greater than his father. Zeus promptly marry her off to Peleus, who together would give birth to Achilleus. In the wedding, Eris, who resented not being invited, would roll a golden apple for the most beautiful goddesses. Paris would choose Aphrodite over Athena and Hera to get the most beautiful woman at the time, Helen, and start the Trojan War.) Another trickery Prometheus made was to divide an animal sacrifice, giving meat to humans and bone and skin to the gods. It forms the origin of sacrificing animals to a deity.

Zeus, because of the loss of fire, would later punish the men on earth by making a woman with Hephaistos and Athena, Pandora, who would release miseries of diseases and deaths into the world by opening a box from Zeus, but she closed the box before Hope was released. It would not be until Prometheus came and opened the box to free Hope.

Zeus marries seven wives. The first is Okeanid Metis, whom he swallowed to avoid getting a son that, like as what happened with Kronos and Ouranos, would overthrow him. He later would give birth from the head to Athena, which would anger Hera enough for her to produce her own son parthenogenically, Hephaistos, the crippled god of crafts and smithery. The second wife is aunt Themis, who bears the three Horai (Seasons), Eunomia (Order), Dike (Justice), Eirene (Peace); and the three Moirai (Fates), Klotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Allotter), Atropos (Unbending). Zeus then married third wife Eurynome, who bears the three Charites (Graces). The fourth wife is sister Demeter, who bears Persephone. Persephone would later marry Hades. The fifth wife of Zeus is another aunt, Mnemosyne, from whom came the Muses Kleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsichora, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania, and Kalliope. The sixth wife is Leto, who gives birth to Apollo and Artemis. The seventh and final wife is Hera, who gives birth to Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia. Of course, though Zeus no longer marries, he still has affairs with many other women, such as Semele, who would give birth to Dionysos, and Alkemene, the mother of Herakles, who marries Hebe.

Poseidon marries Amphitrite and produce Triton. Ares and Aphrodite would marry to make Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Rout), and Harmonia, who would later marry Kadmos to make Ino, Semele, Agaue, Polydoros, and Autonoe. Helios and Perseis make Kirke (Circe). Kirke would with Odysseus give birth to Agrios, Latinos, and Telegonos, who would kill his father while raiding Ithaca. Atlas' daughter Kalypso would with Odysseus give birth to Nausithoos and Nausinoos.