Chris Schaudt 25 September 2013 HST 347 Theogony and the Ancient Greeks Zeus, Kronos, Poseidon; these

names now are securely placed in our minds as mythical beings or gods of fantasy but to the ancient Greeks these were some of the gods that people worshiped and lived their lives in service to. There are many different stories told about the creation of the cosmos and the gods but perhaps Hesiod was one of the first story tellers to put together a concise story as to the beginning of all things. Theogony is a story with many sub-stories told by Hesiod in an attempt to explain where the universe and the gods originated and how humanity stooped to the Iron Age that it was when the story was created. Hesiods exact life duration and time is still unknown but it is assumed that he lived in the 8th century BCE around the same time or a little after Homer who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. Hesiod was a farmer in Boeotia which is about all that is known about him. According to his poem, Hesiod received orders from the Muses to be their prophet and poet, assigning him the task of telling the story about the origins of the gods and the cosmos which is why he wrote Theogony in an attempt to explain different facets of Greek life and the rituals that go along with it. Today, Hesiod is considered by many to be the father of Greek didactic poetry and one of the fathers of greek mythology. The main purpose Hesiod had for writing Theogony was to explain the origins of the gods and the universe through stories such as the castration of Ouranos by Cronos and the creation of the earth and sky. Hesiod points out that there are three generations

of gods, ending with the ones that most of us know today such as Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Through the generations, gods are overthrown and replaced by more powerful ones ending with Zeus being the most powerful of them all. Theogony also explains the creation of women as a punishment for mankind after Prometheus gives man fire against the wishes of Zeus. Throughout the story, one can easily see that the Greek gods were not perfect at all, but egotistical and sort of all over the place with their behavior. The gods have very human characteristics and emotions such as anger, greed and lust which is something many religions today do not associate with gods. Apart from the origin of the gods, Theogony also explains the proper way to sacrifice to the gods by telling the story about Prometheus and how he tried to trick Zeus into accepting animal bones and fat rather than the actual meat. Theogony seemed to be a very influential story within greek culture and affected many facets of ancient greek life. Indeed, one of the main influences of Theogony on greek culture had to do with the role and perception of women during those times. It is expressly stated in Theogony that women were simply created by Zeus as "an affliction for mankind to set against the fire". This of course refers to the incident where Prometheus gives man fire against the wishes of Zeus, so in return the first woman, Pandora is created to cause problems and be a bane to mankind. Though this revelation does not seem very purposeful at first glance, many inferences can be made about the view of woman during this time. For instance, the fact that Pandora was created at this time suggests that man was created first without women which proposes that women are lesser beings. The fact that men were created sometime between the gods and women suggests that women were not originally even needed and were

simply created to punish man. However, it is also state in Theogony that women are also a blessing for men in old age since Zeus, gave a second bane to set against a blessing for the man who chooses not to wed and arrives at grim old age lacking anyone to look after him. This suggests that women can be useful to men only during old age when they need someone to take care of them. This is an extremely misogynistic view of women but this accurately reflects the low status of women during this time. One example of this is how women were not allowed to enter the olympics with men for no other reason than because they are women. Besides the misogynistic view of women, Theogony also taught the ancient greeks how to sacrifice to the gods through the story of Prometheus. This was a very important religious principle to the greeks and was done in a very specific way as taught by Prometheus. During this time, the greeks would sacrifice the animal and eat all the best meat from the sacrifice, leaving only the bones and a thin layer of fat to burn for the gods to smell. This process was started when Prometheus tried to trick Zeus into choosing the bones of an animal as sacrifice instead of the actual meat. Of course, Prometheus was severely punished for this transgression but the greeks still followed the example he set. One thing that Theogony does not expressly state is how and when man was created. It seems as though Hesiod leaves this information out for the reader to ponder. What this seems to suggest is that though the greeks were sure about the role of women, nobody really knew mans level of equality with god. Another questionable aspect of Theogony has to do with the idea that the past was better than the time that the story was written. According to Hesiod, the story was written during the Iron age

where everything was as bad as it has ever been. This was the time where man worked all day and perished at night according to Theogony which brings into question the truth behind the glorious golden age where everything was perfect. There is no historical proof that anything was perfect before this time and that quality of life degraded into what it was during the Iron age. There is no question that Theogony was a very influential story to the ancient greeks and affected everything from the way they sacrificed to the gods to the way they treated women. Through the stories found in Theogony, many ancient greeks were given rules on how to live and how to respect the gods and even though there are many holes in the story that Hesiod told, there is no doubt that our understanding of the ancient world would be very different without the Theogony story.

Works Cited

Davidson, H.R. Ellis. 1964. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. "Department of Greek and Roman Classics at Temple University." Department of Greek and Roman Classics at Temple University. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. Hesiod. 2007. Hesiod the Homeric Hymns and Homerica, trans. by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Charleston, SC: BiblioLife. "Hesiod." Hesiod. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. "Hesiod." The Oxford Classical Dictionary Oxford Reference. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. Oxford University Press, 2005. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. "Reading Hesiod's Theogony (with Notes and Questions)." Reading Hesiod's Theogony (with Notes and Questions). N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.