Creation Myths LECTURE

To Look For in “Creation Myths”

  • the creation of opposites, parallels

  • mother-goddess connections

  • succession of ruling gods

    • archetypes

      • the sneaky/deceptive wife

      • the young/rebellious son

Recall: Theories on Mythology

  • etiological myths

  • Max Müller - myth and nature

  • Freud - psychoanalysis and cultural taboos

  • Carl Jung - archetypes, “collective unconscious”, and cultural norms/expectations

  • Claude Levi-Strauss - binary opposites, culture’s fears

  • Walter Burkert - myths and the historical dimension

Important Sources

  • Hesiod

    • 700 BCE, after Homer

    • historical figure?

      • farmer, shepherd

      • inspired to compose poetry on MUSES on Mt. Helicon (Greece), won a prize

      • spat with brother over inheritance

      • PROBLEMS: in first person but passed on through BARDS

    • 2 main texts

      • Theogony

      • Works and Days

        • written in meter

        • ETIOLOGICAL myths

        • DIDACTIC literature

  • Homeric Hymns

    • 33 hymns to Olympic gods

      • i.e. “Homeric Hymn to Demeter”

    • composed at different times by different authors (8th century BCE to 4th century CE)

      • not written by Homer; mimics his style

      • same meter to Homer’s epics (dactylic hexameter)

  • Ovid

    • 1st century BCE to 1st century CE

    • Roman poet

    • METAMORPHOSES = stories about transformations

Creation and Chaos

  • according to HESIOD

    • CHAOS = a gaping void, emptiness

    • PARTHENOGENIC = creating life without sexual intercource

  • according to OVID

    • CHAOS = mass of elements in strife with each other until some higher power creates order from it

Marriage of Gaia and Uranus

  • mother begets an equal, but dominant son/husband

  • GAIA

    • primitive idea of agriculture

    • goddess of fertility

    • life springs froth from Gaia

  • URANUS

    • primitive idea of weather

    • god of the sky

    • Uranus’ rain = semen, seeds

  • HIEROS GAMOS - sacred marriage (sexual union)

    • the result: many cultures have mother-goddess worship, which recognizes the Earth’s fertility

Offspring of Gaia and Uranus

  • The Titans - Uranus is threatened by them so he “gets rid of them” (back into Gaia) - STRIVING

    1. Oceanus

    2. Coeus

    3. Crius

    4. Hyperion

    5. Lapetus

    6. Theia

    7. Rhea

    8. Themis

    9. Mnemosyne

    10. Phoebe/Thebe

    11. Tethys

    12. Cronus

  • The Cyclopes - one eyed

    1. Brontes (Thunder)

    2. Steropes (Lightning)

    3. Arges (Brightness)

  • The Hecatonchires - hundred-handers

    1. Cottus

    2. Briareus

    3. Gyes

Castration of Uranus

  • “punishment of Uranus”

    • Gaia and Cronus

      • the deceptive/tricky female and the young rebellious son

  • castration complex and Freud

    • Freud - “sword = penis”

  • birth of Aphrodite (aphros = foam)

  • ascension of Cronus as king

Cronus’ Paranoia

  • Cronus and Rhea

    • The Prophecy

    • children:

      • Hestia (goddess of hearth)

      • Demeter (goddess of grain)

      • Hera (goddess of marriage, childbirth)

      • Hades (god of underworld)

      • Poseidon (god of sea)

      • Zeus (youngest, leader of Olympians)

    • Zeus hidden in a cave on Crete

    • punishment of Cronus

      • deceptive wife/female archetype

The Ascension of Zeus

  • Zeus’ trials

    • TITANOMACHY: Zeus and his siblings vs. Cronus and the Titans

      • Zeus’ side

        • Hestia

        • Demeter

        • Hera

        • Hades

        • Posideon

        • Themis

        • Prometheus

        • Cyclopes

        • Hecatonchires

      • Cronos’ side

        • all the other Titans

        • especially Atlas

    • GIGANTOMACHY: Zeus and siblings vs. the giants

      • “Gegeneis” - etiological myth

    • Zeus vs. Typhoeus

Zeus’ Own Prophecy

  • Metis: “wisdom”, Zeus’ first wife

  • Hephaestus: god of forge

  • Athena: goddess of wisdom