Grant, Mary A. (1929) The Childhood of the Gods
Grant's article speaks of the normality of the Olympian God's childhood and the limitations of the subject itself. Her aim is to evaluate the suggested evidence and theories of, whilst assessing the variety of interpretations of such evidence. The subject is one of little discussion, though many scholars such as Callimachus, artists who depicted the infant Olympians on reliefs and terracotta, and Ancient writers like Hesiod all consider it through focusing their attention to specific characteristics of the lives of the Gods; such as diet or behaviour. Despite the topic being one of little investigation, Grant refers to a plethora of evidence whilst frequently quoting hymns and through a detailed …show more content…
Grant introduces the treatment of the immortal children by characterising the common association of them to the powers and property or "faculties"2 of their parent Gods. She makes use of the multiple Hymns devoted to Gods like The Delian Apollo and contrasts the few against each other speaking to the style of the hymn whether it be Homeric or otherwise. The overall approach to the Hymns follows itself stylistically through summarising the tale within the Hymn, then quoting it to allow herself a commentary to craft her voice through. Grant's article is more conversational and analytical which makes it difficult to approach the article in a methodical point of view as she doesn’t frequently criticise arguments, however, Grant does counter argue herself within each point she makes as she follows each idea with how the author of the Hymn has portrayed the myth. Grant provides a detailed description of the Pythian Hymn to Apollo, the Hymn to Apollo and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which she discusses the lack of mention of Apollo's age on the passage to claim the oracle in Delphi and "the inference that he is fully grown"3, contrasted to the "most conspicuous"4 evidence of the treatment of the infants within the Homeric Hymn to Hermes where Grant concludes that the primary difference is evident …show more content…
Grant argues the existence of children in classical works such as Homer is significant, though to a much lesser extent than those of the adult Olympians as we know them today; the birth of a fully grown Aphrodite in Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Athena in the Parthenon’s Eat pediment and other renowned Olympians. She strongly and frequently discusses the “growing naturalism and realism”8 concerning the way the Gods have been presented and their ‘legacy’ handled. I agree with Grant’s conclusion of the increasingly natural and realistic representations of the Gods in their childhood- realistic in their relation to real- life young children, developing the popularity of divine children as a topic of sculpture. Grant specifies each idea she develops, relating it to a myth or a tale of a God, in turn personifying them through an analysis of their representation; “we find a fairly successful representation of a nine year old child. We see the little girl teasingly climb”9. However, I find Grant’s comparison of each Hymn to be inconsistent with her conclusion that there is little evidence of the childhoods in a general scope. I think it is an easy conclusion to arrive at whilst analysing the evidence presented for the topic, though I believe the
Grant's article speaks of the normality of the Olympian God's childhood and the limitations of the subject itself. Her aim is to evaluate the suggested evidence and theories of, whilst assessing the variety of interpretations of such evidence. The subject is one of little discussion, though many scholars such as Callimachus, artists who depicted the infant Olympians on reliefs and terracotta, and Ancient writers like Hesiod all consider it through focusing their attention to specific characteristics of the lives of the Gods; such as diet or behaviour. Despite the topic being one of little investigation, Grant refers to a plethora of evidence whilst frequently quoting hymns and through a detailed …show more content…
Grant introduces the treatment of the immortal children by characterising the common association of them to the powers and property or "faculties"2 of their parent Gods. She makes use of the multiple Hymns devoted to Gods like The Delian Apollo and contrasts the few against each other speaking to the style of the hymn whether it be Homeric or otherwise. The overall approach to the Hymns follows itself stylistically through summarising the tale within the Hymn, then quoting it to allow herself a commentary to craft her voice through. Grant's article is more conversational and analytical which makes it difficult to approach the article in a methodical point of view as she doesn’t frequently criticise arguments, however, Grant does counter argue herself within each point she makes as she follows each idea with how the author of the Hymn has portrayed the myth. Grant provides a detailed description of the Pythian Hymn to Apollo, the Hymn to Apollo and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which she discusses the lack of mention of Apollo's age on the passage to claim the oracle in Delphi and "the inference that he is fully grown"3, contrasted to the "most conspicuous"4 evidence of the treatment of the infants within the Homeric Hymn to Hermes where Grant concludes that the primary difference is evident …show more content…
Grant argues the existence of children in classical works such as Homer is significant, though to a much lesser extent than those of the adult Olympians as we know them today; the birth of a fully grown Aphrodite in Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Athena in the Parthenon’s Eat pediment and other renowned Olympians. She strongly and frequently discusses the “growing naturalism and realism”8 concerning the way the Gods have been presented and their ‘legacy’ handled. I agree with Grant’s conclusion of the increasingly natural and realistic representations of the Gods in their childhood- realistic in their relation to real- life young children, developing the popularity of divine children as a topic of sculpture. Grant specifies each idea she develops, relating it to a myth or a tale of a God, in turn personifying them through an analysis of their representation; “we find a fairly successful representation of a nine year old child. We see the little girl teasingly climb”9. However, I find Grant’s comparison of each Hymn to be inconsistent with her conclusion that there is little evidence of the childhoods in a general scope. I think it is an easy conclusion to arrive at whilst analysing the evidence presented for the topic, though I believe the