02. CREATION MYTHS 2

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Ouranos to Zeus 

• Ouranos (Uranus, Heaven) won't let his children out of earth
• ousted by youngest son, Kronos (Cronus), who slices off father's genitals with a sickle
  • cosmogonic symbol--separation of earth from heaven
  • Freudian symbol --castration of father by son; when genitals fall into sea, foam engenders Aphrodite 

 Hurrian parallel from Syria--not Indo-European

• Anu (Heaven) ousted by son Kumarbi, who bites off and swallows father's genitals
  • Kumarbi thereby gives birth to Storm God
• Kronos swallows children as they are born
  • ousted by youngest son Zeus, who is hidden in earth, his grandmother, while Kronos is given a stone to swallow
• Kronos' last 6 children are the Olympians: (female) Demeter, Hera, Hestia; (male) Hades, Poseidon, Zeus
• Zeus leads fight against titans, monsters
  • establishes authority, parcels out responsibilities

Maori parallel from New Zealand

• Read summary at link: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/doherty/plan2/liangcreation.html
• What parallels/differences do you find from Greek and Hurrian

Prometheus

• trickster: like American Indian Coyote, Norse Loki, Greek Hermes]
• titan--see family tree handout
• benefactor of mankind; by 1st cy. B.C.E. attested as creator of mankind
  • fashions man out of clay
  • tricks Zeus into giving man the best part of the meat from a sacrifice
    • aetiological--explains why men get the meat, gods the fat
  • Zeus in retaliation deprives men of fire; Prometheus steals it back for men
  • therefore punished by Zeus
    • chained to mountain at end of earth, while vulture feeds on his liver daily; eventually freed by Herakles
    • same thing happens to Norse Loki, Greek Tityos
    • Prometheus story told in Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

Pandora

• Hesiod tells the story in both Theogony and Works and Days; two versions differ
  • Theogony: woman herself is evil thing
    • name "Pandora" not used
    • woman created from earth by Hephaistus
    • given beauty by Aphrodite, but deceitful
    • one mitigating thing: without woman, noone to care for aged man, no children
  • Works and Days: woman brings jar containing evils
    • name "Pandora" used
    • given useful accomplishments by Athena, beauty by Aphrodite, deceit by Hermes
    • given to Epimetheus (Prometheus knew better than to take her)
    • one mitigating (?) thing: hope remains in jar (is it a good or a bad thing?)
• Pandora--name means 'all-gifts': because given a gift by each of the gods
• Pandora given to Epimetheus, Prometheus' brother
  • Epimetheus--'hindsight'
  • Prometheus--'foresight'

Five Ages of Man--from Hesiod

• Golden Age--ruled by Kronos
• Silver Age--permanent babies
• Bronze Age--fierce and warlike
• Age of Heroes--Trojan War, etc.
• Iron Age--Hesiod's time; worst of all
  • decline from best to worst
  • other authors: progression from primitive to better life 

Flood Myth

• really an oldNear Eastern myth (Gilgamesh epic goes back to 2nd millennium BCE)
  • borrowed into Greece, where floods not really a problem
  • sources are late (Apollodorus, Ovid); not mentioned by Hesiod or Aeschylus
  • in Greek myth, becomes explanation for origin of people
• Deucalion (Prometheus' son) and his wife Pyrrha (Epimetheus' daughter)
  • like Noah and family, survive flood
    • unlike Noah, not instructed to build boat; just grab a raft after flood starts
  • like Adam and Eve, become 'first' man and woman; recreate people by throwing stones over shoulders
    • Greek laos = 'people'; laas = 'stone'
    • aetiological--explains why words for 'stone', 'people' are alike