Classics 102 Lecture 1 What is Greco-Roman Mythology? Intro - Today's lecture is mostly about establishing parameters for the course, explaining what is and is not the object of study - Also want to talk about a few basic cultural-background things Geography and Chronology - We're talking here about how mythology operated during a particular cultural unity that we can call "Greco-Roman antiquity," this periodization used in other fields too: ○ From about 1000 BCE to about 500 CE, although almost everything we'll be looking at comes from about 750 CE (Homer) to 200 CE (Lucian) ○ Geographically we're talking about Greece expanding later in the course into the whole Mediterranean world § Greek mythology started off in Greece. A small world, the base of the Aegean Sea- Athens (archaic world) § Hellenistic world 250 BCE- Greek world and Greek culture expands with more areas. Which then adds and changes cultures and stories § Roman Empire early 2c CE- the use of Greek myths in Roman stories. ○ Dividing line between "Greek" and "Roman" can be fuzzy - Several unifying factors to this period, prevalence of Greek myth is an important one but not only one, also several key points of development: ○ Greek language and religious and cultural institutions, form of Greek civil life. These are things that are mostly the same throughout this entire time period § From localized Greek to Hellenistic to Roman, broadening at every step as aspects of Greek culture are adopted by others § From lesser to greater sophistication, from a subsistence-agricultural society to one with large urban elite (though also lots of subsistence agriculture) □ From everyone helping out and doing their part because to them its still a small world. By the time the Roman Empire comes around, everything changes because the Roman Empire is so sophisticated ® The Roman Empire is the biggest city right now. Class system, trade all over the Mediterranean, the movement and creation of goods and products § From oral poetry to written literature (prose and poetry) that is part of a very self-conscious tradition referring back to the earlier stuff □ He was creating poems as apart of oral traditions □ All the authors from early years have read the old works of the older authors. They build on them and make them their own. New versions What Is Myth in General and What Are Greek Myths? - Myth is explored by many different types of cultures and people - Functional definition of a set of traditional, collectively important stories about the imagined distant past, typically involving gods or exceptional human beings: ○ Traditional means that it's existed in a given culture as long as anyone can remember and isn't attached to any one author (legends, folktales) § Integrated part of their culture § No one made it up. These things happened. Trojan war for example ○ "Stories" is strangely difficult concept, myths are outlines that are turned into real narratives through cultural forms (art, literature, performance) § Complex § The telling of myths does not make the whole story a myth. It’s the underlying myth that is then expanded and added to a real life story. ○ Collective importance means that they are widely known within the culture, and are used to talk about a wide range of topics, explain phenomena § Myths are stories that are about more than their explicit context. Used to create connections between one another. It brought people together. Using the references of mythology to describe someone because everyone knows the stories. § Being called Hercules □ big and strong □ Heavy course load because he had to complete his things before he could become a god - Greco-Roman myth is a set of such stories that were current in the Greek world from before 1000 BCE and in the rest of the Mediterranean world in later periods: ○ Exact origins don't concern us too much here; as in any culture, there are influences from a lot of different places (Indo-European, Near East) § Into-European is like Central Europe and in Asia where stories about myths are similar ○ People often think of myths as possible stories or explanations and can interact with lots of them from different cultures without "believing in" one exclusively § Roman Empire esp. is a multi-cultural, multi-layered environment § There is nothing that prevents someone from believing in other gods, Egyptian gods-Roman gods-Greek gods- Norse- keltic - These myths concern a relatively small set of gods and a very extensive set of human heroic figures ○ Greek had few gods. 12 plus a few extra ○ Greek mythology is more or less human based. Making it less creative and doesn’t have the crazy creativity with rocks speaking or magical things. Not a lot of play with the natural world. The gods go through realistic human issues, making them seem more like them. ○ Greek myth less notable for complexity of divine myth or for variety of wild folktale elements, but heroic myth is uniquely rich and prevalent ○ Aren't nearly as concerned as some myth systems with upholding a given moral code or ideology § This influences who is considered good and who is considered bad. - Greek myth very early on gets adopted and assimilated by cultures all over Italy, serves similar role in Roman art and literature to Greek ○ Continues on into modern culture as part of heritage from GR world Ways of Studying Mythology - Since pretty much all cultures seem to have some set of stories that function in the way I've described, people are anxious to find commonalities across these cultural lines: ○ This is more something anthropologists and psychologists are into than classical-studies types like me ○ Important to realize myth systems are interestingly different as well as interestingly similar, not just variants on same template § Fertility, moon sun gods, etc § Some cultures have extensive myth about certain topics in their cultures - There are lots of different ways that myths can be used to understand the way human cultures work, though none of them really covers all mythology too well (no one "real meaning"): ○ Evidence of worldview, how people explain natural phenomena and so forth ○ How cultures explain their own specific practices and institutions § How do cities get founded ○ Religious dimension, how cultures interact with the divine § Sacrifices, sacred places for the gods ○ Expression of psychological fundamentals (Freud etc.) ○ How cultures negotiate key cultural structures of opposition (Levi-Strauss etc.) § Tend to do it like men and women. Human and non human. Living and death. Creation and ruin and chaos ○ Figurative readings and creative appropriation (often in modern literature) § The same myth can go any direction in how people choose to interpret them Myth of Alcyone and Ceyx as told by Ovid (p. 262-271) is one of my favorites: - Husband Ceyx leaves loving wife to attend to feud business, killed in shipwreck, lots about separation and longing for reunion - Nice detail that she's related to Aeolus, king of the winds, prays to gods uselessly until they finally give in - Lovely final scene with bird metamorphosis - Part of larger saga, characterization of gods, explanation of natural phenomenon just incidentally

What is myth in general and what are Greek myths; Functional definition of a set of traditional, collectively important stories about the imagined distant past, typically involving gods or exceptional human beings:

• Traditional means that it's existed in a given culture as long as anyone can remember and isn't attached to any one author (legends, folktales)

  • Integrated part of their culture

  • No one made it up. These things happened. Trojan war for example

• "Stories" is strangely difficult concept, myths are outlines that are turned into real narratives through cultural forms (art, literature, performance)

  • Complex

  • The telling of myths does not make the whole story a myth. It’s the underlying myth that is then expanded and added to a real life story.

• Collective importance means that they are widely known within the culture, and are used to talk about a wide range of topics, explain phenomena

  • Myths are stories that are about more than their explicit context. Used to create connections between one another. It brought people together. Using the references of mythology to describe someone because everyone knows the stories.

  • Being called Hercules

    • big and strong

    • Heavy course load because he had to complete his things before he could become a god

What is myth in general and what are Greek myths?; Greco-Roman myth is a set of such stories that were current in the Greek world from before 1000 BCE and in the rest of the Mediterranean world in later periods:

• Exact origins don't concern us too much here; as in any culture, there are influences from a lot of different places (Indo-European, Near East)

  • Into-European is like Central Europe and in Asia where stories about myths are similar

• People often think of myths as possible stories or explanations and can interact with lots of them from different cultures without "believing in" one exclusively

  • Roman Empire esp. is a multi-cultural, multi-layered environment

  • There is nothing that prevents someone from believing in other gods, Egyptian gods-Roman gods-Greek gods- Norse- keltic

What is myth in Bernal and what are Greek myths?; These myths concern a relatively small set of gods and a very extensive set of human heroic figures

• Greek had few gods. 12 plus a few extra

• Greek mythology is more or less human based. Making it less creative and doesn’t have the crazy creativity with rocks speaking or magical things. Not a lot of play with the natural world. The gods go through realistic human issues, making them seem more like them.

• Greek myth less notable for complexity of divine myth or for variety of wild folktale elements, but heroic myth is uniquely rich and prevalent

• Aren't nearly as concerned as some myth systems with upholding a given moral code or ideology

  • This influences who is considered good and who is considered bad.

Ways of studying mythology

• Since pretty much all cultures seem to have some set of stories that function in the way I've described, people are anxious to find commonalities across these cultural lines:

  • This is more something anthropologists and psychologists are into than classical-studies types like me

  • Important to realize myth systems are interestingly different as well as interestingly similar, not just variants on same template

    • Fertility, moon sun gods, etc

    • Some cultures have extensive myth about certain topics in their cultures

• There are lots of different ways that myths can be used to understand the way human cultures work, though none of them really covers all mythology too well (no one "real meaning"):

  • Evidence of worldview, how people explain natural phenomena and so forth

  • How cultures explain their own specific practices and institutions

    • How do cities get founded

  • Religious dimension, how cultures interact with the divine

    • Sacrifices, sacred places for the gods

  • Expression of psychological fundamentals (Freud etc.)

  • How cultures negotiate key cultural structures of opposition (Levi-Strauss etc.)

    • Tend to do it like men and women. Human and non human. Living and death. Creation and ruin and chaos

  • Figurative readings and creative appropriation (often in modern literature)

    • The same myth can go any direction in how people choose to interpret them

Geography and chronology

• We're talking here about how mythology operated during a particular cultural unity that we can call "Greco-Roman antiquity," this periodization used in other fields too:

  • From about 1000 BCE to about 500 CE, although almost everything we'll be looking at comes from about 750 CE (Homer) to 200 CE (Lucian)

  • Geographically we're talking about Greece expanding later in the course into the whole Mediterranean world

    • Greek mythology started off in Greece. A small world, the base of the Aegean Sea- Athens (archaic world)

    • Hellenistic world 250 BCE- Greek world and Greek culture expands with more areas. Which then adds and changes cultures and stories

    • Roman Empire early 2c CE- the use of Greek myths in Roman stories.

  • Dividing line between "Greek" and "Roman" can be fuzzy

• Several unifying factors to this period, prevalence of Greek myth is an important one but not only one, also several key points of development:

• Greek language and religious and cultural institutions, form of Greek civil life. These are things that are mostly the same throughout this entire time period

  • From localized Greek to Hellenistic to Roman, broadening at every step as aspects of Greek culture are adopted by others

  • From lesser to greater sophistication, from a subsistence-agricultural society to one with large urban elite (though also lots of subsistence agriculture)

    • From everyone helping out and doing their part because to them its still a small world. By the time the Roman Empire comes around, everything changes because the Roman Empire is so sophisticated

      • The Roman Empire is the biggest city right now. Class system, trade all over the Mediterranean, the movement and creation of goods and products

  • From oral poetry to written literature (prose and poetry) that is part of a very self-conscious tradition referring back to the earlier stuff

    • He was creating poems as apart of oral traditions

    • All the authors from early years have read the old works of the older authors. They build on them and make them their own. New versions

Myth and ancient religion; For our purposes, people in the Greco-Roman (GR) world are polytheistic with not much centralized structure or ideological unity to their religious beliefs or practices:

• There are Jewish communities in the Greco-Roman world, who don’t believe they’re deities but still use them in their daily lives

• Not as concerned with morality or the afterlife, nor with theological explanations of the universe

• Heavily concerned with influencing gods' attitude toward humans in the here and now, usually through prayer and ritual (sacrifice)

• Very diverse from city to city, each has its own prominent cults (Artemis Orthia at Sparta, Hera at Argos, Poseidon at Corinth)

  • Even if the gods are the same

  • The ways in which they’re worshiped are going to be hella different between different places.

  • The do have certain commonalities

    • Pagan religious worship in the GR doesn’t include a lot of things that religion was for. After life, how to live, how to be, answers certain big question. Ancient religion doesn’t do all of this, it’s not the point of it all. The GR gods don’t like murder or incest or offending the gods.

    • What does ancient religion emphasis? Here and now stuff.

      • Food, health, wealth. Things that can have almost instant effects.

    • Sacrifice for asking for things.

      • Transaction. Animals, and burning its meat as an offering to the gods. It’s pretty constant throughout the GR world. Which gods get sacrificed to determine on where they’re. Corinth is position, Hera in orga?, Artemis in orthio? Ostia?

Myth and ancient religion; Mythology is less exclusively associated with religion than is the case in modern monotheistic religions:

• Religion is prayer to gods vs Mythology is telling stories about them

• Use of the gods in theatre, not very respectful to the gods but was there for comical

• Poseidon mosaic on floor of a bathing pool, Ostia Italy. You would associate water and Poseidon

• Don’t always assume that religion is always in theses stories

• People incorporate myth into many aspects of their lives that don't seem to have to do with the gods, is this secularizing the myth or sacralizing everyday life?

• Common frame of reference from people all over the Greek world who will have very different cult practices

Myths still associated with ritual in several key contexts;

• As insight into nature of gods that one is worshipping

  • Who are they? What do they do?

• As explanation of how or why a given ritual should take place

  • Why is this particular statue better to pray at then others? Which time of year or day? Apollo especially. 

• By being formally told, enacted or depicted in the course of cult activity, or in cult buildings

  • Designed to be sung or enchanted as a way of addressing the god.

• Religious knowledge and lore incorporated into the same poetry as myth (descriptions of sacrifice etc.)

  • Authors describe how to do certain things in their myths

  • There might have been a mythological significance at certain sites fro sacrifice

Myth and ancient religion; Issues arise around truth-value of mythological knowledge about gods, how poets or anyone else knows this, analogous but different to modern questions of historicity:

• Homer and Hesiod claim to be inspired by Muses, this isn't knowledge one can obtain by normal means

  • Goddess of art and poetry that translate things about the gods to particular humans

  • Exerts where they say they can lie

  • Typically thought of as beneficial, never thought of as evil. People have to think about whether their whole story is entirely true

• There are always skeptics, by 6c BCE some people questioning whether gods are knowable or anthropomorphic gods make sense (Xenophanes)

  • Have to not believe everything you heard in antiquity

  • 200 years after Homer, people were questioning if they’re real or If they’re just people in heaven who have more power than us.

  • We didn’t create gods to represent gods we created gods to represent us/ who we believe is in power

  • This is part of a wider re-evaluation of received cultural wisdom, not really akin to modern rationalism or materialist atheism

    • doesn’t get a lot of people who are like, no supernatural, no greater things. People would say that the gods don’t affect their everyday but still acknowledge that there is gods

  • Philosophers often think in terms of more abstract and elevated divine powers, uncomfortable with human-like imperfections

    • People don’t like messy, the gods were supposed to be cookie cutter perfect.

    • Later philosophical critiques (Euhemerus, Epicurus 3c BCE) -- Christians also will eventually use myths for satirical purposes

    • Christians also will eventually use myths for satirical purposesHomer and Hesiod claim to be inspired by Muses, this isn't knowledge one can obtain by normal means

      • Goddess of art and poetry that translate things about the gods to particular humans

      • Exerts where they say they can lie

      • Typically thought of as beneficial, never thought of as evil. People have to think about whether their whole story is entirely true

    • There are always skeptics, by 6c BCE some people questioning whether gods are knowable or anthropomorphic gods make sense (Xenophanes)

      • Have to not believe everything you heard in antiquity

      • 200 years after Homer, people were questioning if they’re real or If they’re just people in heaven who have more power than us.

      • We didn’t create gods to represent gods we created gods to represent us/ who we believe is in power

      • This is part of a wider re-evaluation of received cultural wisdom, not really akin to modern rationalism or materialist atheism

        • doesn’t get a lot of people who are like, no supernatural, no greater things. People would say that the gods don’t affect their everyday but still acknowledge that there is gods

      • Philosophers often think in terms of more abstract and elevated divine powers, uncomfortable with human-like imperfections

        • People don’t like messy, the gods were supposed to be cookie cutter perfect.

        • Later philosophical critiques (Euhemerus, Epicurus 3c BCE) -- Christians also will eventually use myths for satirical purposes

        • Christians also will eventually use myths for satirical purposes

Greco-Roman myth through its cultural products

• Important distinction for the rest of the course between myths in themselves and the cultural products that embody them:

  • A myth is a framework, a set of connected statements that we cannot have direct access to except in a given cultural context; someone has to tell the story

  • Data points that need to be turned into a story

  • Never direct telling of a myth, its always embedded in some thing

• I'm going to make sure you know the framework, but in many ways the cultural products are the most interesting part:

  • Literature, esp. epic and tragic poetry

  • Also visual artistic representations of all different kinds

    • Sculpture, mosaic, vase painting survive, but lots of other media too, inc. those associated with women

      • Marble an bronze (MAN)

        • People liked bronze so they would reuse it

      • Mosaic (MAN)

        • The lady and her swan? The swan is Zeus

      • Ceramic (MAN)

        • Good, hard to get rid of

      • Textile art (WOMEN)

        • Clothes, tapestry. Didn’t survive

  • Lots of other cultural practices, sub-literary texts etc.

    • Theatre

    • Vases (expensive vs cheap)

    • Sculptures made of wood for poor people

  • These have different social statuses, but none is authoritatively “the myth”

    • Just because it was cheap or expensive doesn’t mean its truly the myth.

  • Varying relationships to religious belief (homer, hymns vs Ovid, Lucian)

• Important to establish some things about the relationship between myths themselves and the literary and artistic forms in which we encounter them:

•  meaning to

  • Analogies with fantasy and sci-fi

  • Ancient sources treat this as a historical reality to which art gives access

    • Trojan war, only mediated access to it by poem. But this can be hard to know if its truly correct. People know the war happened but they don’t know if the poem is saying all the correct stuff.

  • There is no one authoritative version from which authors deviate, although some variants are more common/standard than others

    • Many versions

There are certain things that all tellings of a given myth will have in common:

• can’t just bullshit up a myth or story

• Genealogies (mostly), elementary relationships, basic structure of events

  • Zeus and Hera are always married, Hera is always beefing Zeus kids

• Certain things you can't do (no version where Trojans win war)

  • No rule book in myth. No version where Achilles lives happy. 

Common sources of variation

• Sometimes different names for same character, sometimes family relationships vary

• Often one event will stay the same but there will variations about its causes or consequences

• These develop over time, earlier poets don't always know details (Achilles vulnerable)

• Sometimes people will try to reconcile variants or inconsistencies (Neoptolemus)

  Creativity comes in terms of plot details and characterization:

  • Can add new elements (Euripides' Medea; did Helen go to Troy?) -- Can re-interpret characters (Odysseus from epic to tragedy)

Literature and authors in this course ; epic poetry

• Perhaps the most well-known example of myth in literature is epic poetry. This genre recounts grand, heroic stories. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are foundational texts in this regard. These epics narrate the exploits of gods and heroes, embedding myth at the core of their structure. Later, we have Ovid, a Roman poet, whose Metamorphoses takes a similarly mythological approach but with a very different style and cultural context.

Literature and authors in this course; tradegy

• Tragic plays were another critical genre in which myth played a major role. Playwrights like Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sophocles used mythological tales to explore human emotion, fate, and morality on a more intimate scale compared to epic poetry. These plays often focus on the consequences of divine interaction in human lives, drawing from the same myths that we find in the epics but with a more human-centric lens.

Literature and authors in this course; comedy and parody

• Myth also makes its way into comic plays, where it is often parodied. Aristophanes in Greece and Plautus in Rome used mythology to comedic effect, poking fun at both the gods and the myths themselves. Later on, Lucian of Samosata, a satirist, also uses mythology for humorous and critical purposes.

• Finally, myth is often mentioned in passing in other genres, like history and philosophy. Writers like Herodotus and Plato reference myth in their works, though it is not the central focus.

Literature and authors in this course; hymns

• The Homeric Hymns are another form of ancient poetry, but these are shorter works that appear to have been used in cultic or religious settings. They praise individual gods, recount their powers, and often tell myths to explain certain divine attributes.

Literature and authors in this course; scholarly literature

• In addition to these narrative forms, we also have more scholarly or catalog-like works that simply list mythological details. Apollodorus’s Library, for instance, is more of a compilation of myths than a narrative, but it remains an invaluable source for studying ancient mythology.

Survival of ancient literature

• It’s important to keep in mind that what we have today represents only a small fraction of the literature that existed in antiquity. Manuscripts had to be copied by hand, and many works were lost over time due to neglect or destruction. However, the authors whose works survived tended to be the most popular or significant ones.

• There is also a considerable amount of mythological material, especially local myths, that did not make it into the Panhellenic canon and is irretrievably lost. This means that what we study today gives us a skewed version of ancient mythology, one that focuses on the most widespread and celebrated stories.

Specific authors and their contributions; Hesiod

• One of our earliest Greek poets, Hesiod, is thought to have lived in the 8th century BCE. He was an oral poet from Boeotia, and two of his major works survive: Theogony and Works and Days. Theogony is especially important for understanding the creation of the universe and the genealogy of the gods, synthesizing various mythological traditions into a single narrative. Works and Days, on the other hand, deals more with human effort and agriculture but still touches on mythology.

Specific authors and their contributions; the Homeric hymns

• These are hymns to various gods, traditionally attributed to Homer but more likely composed by different authors around the 6th century BCE. The hymns praise specific deities, listing their powers and asking for their favor. If a mythological narrative is included, it is usually to explain why a god has certain attributes or why they should be invoked in particular circumstances.

Specific authors and their contributions ; Ovid

• Fast forward to the Roman period, and we find Ovid, an Augustan poet writing centuries after Homer and Hesiod. Ovid lived in a much more complex and materially sophisticated world, with a well-developed literary culture. His Metamorphoses, which we will be studying closely, is a 15-book “epic” that is really a series of mythological vignettes. Each story involves a character transforming into something else, creating a continuous narrative that spans from the creation of the world to Ovid’s own time. Ovid’s work is notable for its stylistic virtuosity and for preserving many obscure myths in their fullest literary versions.

Creation myths and Hesiod

• Let’s start with Hesiod, whose work on the creation of the universe is foundational in Greek mythology. One of the primary functions of many mythological systems is to explain how the universe was created, or what we call cosmogony. But as we’ll see, there are many different ways to approach this question.

  • Key questions in creation myths:

    • What existed before the creation?

    • How do humans and gods participate in the process of creation?

    • Is there an ethical trajectory in the story

      • does it tell us something about how the world should be?

• Hesiod’s poem, Theogony, was written around 700 BCE, and it reflects a world where many different creation stories were likely circulating. His work seems to combine elements from various traditions, including Near Eastern influences, while grafting them onto the stories of Indo-European deities that would have been familiar to his audience.

• It’s important to recognize that Hesiod’s account isn’t meant to be a definitive “Greek” version of creation. It’s one version among many, and consistency or clarity isn’t the main goal. Instead, it’s a genealogy of the gods—everything is explained in terms of familial relationships rather than a linear narrative. This genealogical focus means that the story lacks the sort of narrative clarity we might expect from a modern creation myth.

• Inconsistencies and ambiguity:

  • Greek mythology doesn’t prioritize a single, coherent explanation of creation, unlike some other cultures where creation myths have ceremonial or religious importance.

  • Still, in both Hesiod and Ovid, there is a clear movement from chaos to order, which reflects a broader cultural theme: the triumph of structure and justice over disorder.

Hesiod’s creation and succession myth

1. Let’s dive into the specifics of Hesiod’s account of creation. Surprisingly, the initial creation of the world in Theogony is not a dramatic event.

   1. Personifications

      1. Hesiod starts with vague, shadowy figures like Chasm (or Chaos) and Night. These figures are personifications of abstract concepts rather than fully developed characters. They don’t have personal motivations or myths attached to them.

      2. Eros, the force of love or desire, is introduced early and plays a significant role in driving creation forward, but again, without much narrative attention.

1. Interestingly, no god is consciously responsible for creation—everything happens more or less spontaneously—and human beings are absent from the early stages of the story.

   1. First generation of gods:

      1. The first generation includes Gē (Earth) and Uranus (Sky), a divine couple that appears in many other creation myths around the world. They give birth to various offspring, including the Titans, Cyclopes, and Hundred-Handers.

      2. Many of these offspring are again personifications of abstract concepts—forces of nature rather than fully fleshed-out gods. They don’t play major roles in individual myths, but they are crucial in establishing the cosmic order.

   2. Titan Revolt and Succession:

      1. The Titans, particularly Cronus, play a more active role in the next phase of the story. They symbolize raw, unchecked power, which eventually gives way to a more ordered world under the Olympian gods. Cronus’s rebellion against his father Uranus, and his own fear of his offspring, reflect a recurring theme in creation myths: each generation fears being overthrown by the next.

      2. This “Succession Myth” is similar to stories in other cultures, such as the Babylonian Enuma Elish, where divine power is passed down through violent conflict.

Zeus and the triumph of order

• Hesiod’s creation story reaches its climax with the rise of Zeus, who represents the final triumph of order and justice over chaos.

• Zeus’s Revolt:

  • Like his father Cronus, Zeus stages a revolt, but his victory is more comprehensive. With the help of Prometheus and the Hundred-Handers, Zeus defeats the Titans and establishes the rule of law and justice in the cosmos.

  • Hesiod presents this as a moral victory as well as a political one. The shift from the chaotic, tyrannical rule of the Titans to the just rule of Zeus mirrors Hesiod’s broader views on human ethics and the importance of justice.

• Further threats:

  • Even after his victory, Zeus faces additional challenges to his rule, such as Typhoeus, a monstrous figure of chaos, and the Gigantomachy, the battle with the Giants. These stories remind us that even after the establishment of order, chaos always lurks in the background, and the gods must continually defend the stability of the cosmos.

Ovid’s version of creation

• Now let’s briefly turn to Ovid, who provides a very different version of the creation story in his Metamorphoses, written centuries later during the Roman Empire. Ovid’s account is more literary and self-conscious, reflecting the sophisticated world in which he lived.

• Chaos to order:

  • Like Hesiod, Ovid begins with chaos, but his version of chaos is more of a formless, swirling mass of elements. His account emphasizes the process of organizing this chaos into the structured world we know.

  • Ovid is less concerned with genealogies and more focused on the transformations that lead to the current state of the world. His narrative is more fluid and versatile, moving from one myth to another with a focus on change and metamorphosis.

Titans and their place in the new order

• While Zeus and the Olympians rule over the new order, the Titans, after their defeat, don’t completely disappear. Most of the Titans are imprisoned in Tartarus, a deep abyss used for punishment. However, a few second-generation Titans find roles in the new world order.

• Atlas, for instance, is condemned to hold up the sky for eternity. Though a burden, this task places him in a significant cosmic role.

• Helios, the Titan associated with the sun, still functions as the solar deity, though he is largely subordinate to Apollo, the Olympian god of the sun in later myth.

• Eos (Dawn) and Selene (Moon) also maintain roles connected to the natural order, though their myths often involve tragic romances with mortals, like Eos’s love for Tithonus and Selene’s with Endymion

• Interestingly, some Titans, like Cronus, are treated differently in Roman mythology. Cronus becomes Saturn, a god associated with the Golden Age and honoured during the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which celebrated abundance and equality.

 

Zeus function and worship

• Originally, Zeus is thought to have been a sky-god, with linguistic evidence linking him to other Indo-European sky deities like Dyaus Pitr in Vedic mythology. However, over time, Zeus’s role expands to include control over the weather, reflecting possible Near Eastern influences. Zeus’s lightning bolt and his association with high places like Mount Olympus highlight his dominion over the natural world.

• Zeus also shares control of the universe with his brothers Poseidon and Hades after they divide the cosmos among themselves: Zeus rules the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld.

  • Zeus’s broader role encompasses not just the natural world but the social and moral order as well. He is responsible for upholding justice and protecting human institutions. Rulers, laws, and customs all fall under his domain, but he’s also seen as the protector of those who exist outside these systems (strangers, beggars, and suppliants). In this way, Zeus is invoked by those in need of justice, particularly when human institutions fail them.

  • In the context of Greek religion, Zeus is sometimes seen as the closest figure to a universal god. While the Greeks practiced polytheism, with many gods governing different aspects of life, Zeus often serves as a stand-in for the idea of a supreme being or cosmic ruler.

Worship of Zeus

• Zeus is the recipient of numerous individual prayers, especially those related to justice, protection, and the natural world. However, surprisingly few Greek city-states had major cults dedicated solely to him. The most important religious festival dedicated to Zeus was the Olympic Games, a Panhellenic event held in his honour at Olympia.

• In Rome, Zeus was equated with Jupiter Optimus Maximus, who held a much more prominent role in state religion than Zeus did in Greek city-state worship. The Roman state cult of Jupiter was deeply entwined with the functioning of the Roman government and its military success, reinforcing Jupiter’s role as the protector and guarantor of Rome’s power.