CC 303/352: Lecture Outline, September 4, 2001

I. Review of methods of interpreting myth

• Rationalization
• Allegory
• Aetiology
• Ritual myth school
• Charter myth school
• Vladimir Propp
• Claude Lévi-Strauss

II. Psychology and Myths

1. Sigmund Freud: myths, like dreams, reveal unconscious fears and desires.

2. Carl Jung: myths, like dreams, contain symbols, called "archetypes," which are universal, part of the "collective unconscious" of humankind.

III. Hesiod's Theogony

A. Hesiod's approach to myth

1. Hesiod as an oral poet (formulae, catalogues, leisurely style, ring composition)
2. The poet's authority (proem, Muses)
3. Basic structure: genealogy (Theogony="birth of the gods"; didactic purpose)
4. Zeus as hero

B. Content of the Theogony

• First principles: Chaos, Gaia, Tartaros, Eros
• Offspring of Chaos: Nyx (night), Erebos (gloom), Aither (upper air), Hemera (day)
• Offspring of Gaia: Ouranos, Ourea (mountains), Pontos (sea)
• Offspring of Gaia and Ouranos

1. Titans: Okeanos, Koios, Kreios, Hyperion, Iapetos, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, Kronos
2. Cyclopes
3. Hundred-handed: Kottos, Briareos, Gyges

• Castration of Ouranos, birth of Aphrodite from genitals
• Offspring of Nyx and Pontos
• Offspring of Titans

1. Tethys and Okeanos (rivers, nymphs)
2. Theia and Hyperion (Helios, Selene, Eos)
3. Eurybia and Kreios (descendants include Styx, Kratos, and Bia)
4. Phoibe and Koios (descendants include Hecate)
5. Rhea and Kronos (Gods: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus); stone-swallowing story; Zeus releases Cyclopes
6. Klymene and Iapetos (Atlas, Menoitios, Prometheus, Epimetheus); stories of sacrifice at Methone, theft of fire, creation of woman, punishment of Prometheus

• Zeus frees Hundred-Handed
• Titanomachy
• Titans to Tartarus: description of Tartarus
• Gaia produces Typhoeus, who is defeated by Zeus
• Zeus's partners

1. Metis (offspring: Athena)
2. Themis (offspring: Horai [Eunomia, Dike, Eirene] and Moirai)
3. Eurynome (offspring: Charites [Graces])
4. Demeter (offspring: Persephone)
5. Mnemosyne (offspring: Muses)
6. Leto (offspring: Apollo and Artemis)
7. Hera (offspring: Hebe, Ares, Eileithyia)

• Other divine offspring

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