Clas 104 Week 2 Textbook Readings:

Chapter 3 Myths of Creation:

- Greek/Roman creation myths similar to other cultures myths
- Homer Titans Oceanus and Tethys responsible for creation, based on
geography
- Hesiod first literary creation story, Theogony/Works and Days
- Hesiod Theogony tells of the power of Muses (daughters of Zeus), first
god was Chaso, then Gaia, dark Tartarus, Eros most beautiful immortal god,
responsible for judgement. Chao, Erebus (gloom of Tartarus) and black Night
birthed Aether (upper atmosphere) and Day.
- Chaos not particularly a deity, but a beginning/void
- Gaia Earth
- Tartarus the depths of the earth
- Erebus gloomy darkness of Tartarus
- all 3 arose out of Chaos
- Eros beautiful, love, Cupid (or Amor) for Romans
- Page 64 for FAMILY TREES
- Empedocles cited by Ovid, theorized four basic elements earth, air, fire,
water
- Creation according to Ovid Chaos not a void but a mass of elements that
formed the order of the universe
- sacred marriage of Uranus (sky) and Gaia (earth) and their offspring
- Gaia mother earth, fertile
- Uranus sky god, created by Gaia herself, seen as equal to Gaia (Earth)
- sky and rain, earth and fertility fundamental concern to primitive
agricultural peoples rain of Uranus seen as his seed fertilizes the earth and
makes her conceive
- sacred or holy marriage hieros gamos
- sky god and earth goddess appear many times with different names and
distinguishes Uranus and Ge, Cronus and Ghea, Zeus and Hera
- different societies see the male Uranus as the dominant god patriarchal
society
- Gaia or earth represents potency of the female, love, motherhood, virgin
birth, etc. recurring themes in Greek mythology
- the titans 12 children of Uranus and Ge (Gaia/Earth), Oceanus, Coeus,
Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys,
and Cronus (youngest, hated his father) represent various aspects of
nature, all lineage traces back to the titans, 6 males, 6 females, incestuous
mating of them
- Oceanus and Tethys produced numerous children (Oceanids, 3000
daughters, 3000 sons which were the rivers, waters, springs, etc.)
- Hyperion and Theia Hyperion is the god of the son, children are Helius,
Selen, Eos, Helius is a son god like his father
- common in mythology, younger generations will dominate the older (Helius
over Hyperion)

- sun-god in harmony with Homeric conception of geography sun gods

dwell in the East, crosses the dome of the sky with his horses and chariot,
descend in west into the stream of Oceanus which encircles the earth and
circles back to the East
- Euryphaessa another name for Theia
- Phaethon shining, son of Helius, mother is Clymene, doesnt believe he
is the some Helius so he asks him and Helius grants him a wish to prove it,
rode his chariot which made Ethiopia hot and Libya desert, earth couldnt
handle it, Jupiter throws lightning and kills Phaethon
- Helius seduced Leucothoe, daughter of Persian king Orchamus, by
disguishing as her mother Eurynome
- Helius also loved the Oceanid Clytie she was jealous of Leucothoe so she
told her father of the affair and he killed her, buried her, became a tree then
a sunflower and always faced the sun
- island of Rhodes given to Helus, Zeus divided up land and the island was
still under water, Helius took it and loved the islands nymph Rhode had 7
sons, 1 son became the father of the heroes of the 3 principal cities: Rhodes,
Camirus, Ialysus, and Lindos
- Selene daughter of Hyperion and Theia, goddess of the moon, drives a
chariot, in love with Zeus, myth about her love for Endymion, slept beside
him in a cave, Zeus punished Endymion
- Apollo great sun-god, Phoebus which means bright, merg identity with
Hyperion, Helius
- Artemis merge with Selene, Phoebe bright
- Eos third child of Hyperion and Theia, goddess of the dawn, drive chariot,
Aphrodite caused her a longing for young mortals because she caught her
mate Ares in Eos bed, her mate was Tithonus Trojan royal house
- Homeric story of Eos tells about the power of youth and devastation of old
age, devotion of love even when sexual attraction is gone
- Tithonus turned into a grasshopper
- Aphrodite goddess of love
- Uranus and Ge children were the 12 Titans, the Cyclopes, the
Hecatonchires all depised their father
- Uranus hid his children in the depths of the earth, Ge devised a plan,
Cronus cut of Uranus gentials with a sickle, genitals thrown in sea, created
Aphrodite goddess of love
- this myth tells of the sexual nature of love and males unconscious fear of
being castrated Freud fear of being deprived of sexual potency story
also related to the Oedipus complex
- Saturn devouring his children painting by Fransisco Goya
- Cronus = Saturn (Roman)
- Chronos time
- Cronus (sky) and Rhea (earth) and the birth of Zeus Cronus and Rhea
gave birth to Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus, Cronus
devoured all these children except Zeus (father of gods and men)

- Rhea talked to Uranus and Ge to birth Zeus in private to avenge his father,
Zeus born in Crete, Ge gave Cronus a stone wrapped up to swallow
pretending it was the child
- Cronus retires to Islands of the Blessed (Greek paradise) when Zeus
deposes of him
- Rhea = Cybele (Roman)
- Callimachus believed Zeus was born in Arcadia, Greece, not Crete
- Pausanias told Zeus was born on Mt. Lycaeum, there was an altar to Zeus
that was found by Archaeologists
- Zeus raised by nymphs, protected by Curetes, fed by bees and goat milk
- Zeus linked to an actual historical occurrence follows closely to classical
Greek religion
- Some myhts could relate to nature, but not all have to be interpreted as
allegories, feminists believe mother earth is the most powerful deity in the
patriarchal Greek society
- Binary opposites of Levi-Strauss apparent Chaos/order, male/female,
sky/earth, young/old, etc.
- Freud sexuality towards mother, aggressiveness towards father
- Jungian archetype of holy marriage (Uranus and Gaia, etc.)
Chapter 4:
- Zeus rise to power and the creation of mortals
- Zeus waged war against his father Cronus allied his brothers and sisters
that were disgorged by Cronus (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon as
well as Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes
as Zeus had released them from the depths of the earth where their father
buried them
- Titans allied with Cronus except Themis and her some Prometheus who
allied with Zeus
- Battle know as the Titanomachy Zeus fought from Mt. Olympus, Cronus
from Mt. Othrys, lasted 10 years, intense battle
- Cyclopes forged Zeus lighting bolt, Hecatonchires threw rocks
- Titans defeated, Hecatonchires guarded the imprisoned titans in Tartarus
- Atlas punished with holding the sky
- some accounts of Zeus giving the Titans their freedom back
- Gigantomachy Zeus defeats the Giants and Typhoeus
- Gegeneis earthborn, giants
- Giants imprisoned under the earth, usually under Volcanoes
- dragon Typhoeus Zeus hardest battle of the giants
- Later versions say that Heracles was on Zeus side because the giants
could only be defeated when allied with a mortal
- Earth produced a plant for the giants that would make them invincible,
Zeus took it
- stories represent Greek-speaking invaders in Greece in 2000 BC
- many stories of the mortals being created, all go hand in hand with Zeus
- Ovid - Prometheus created man, Zeus created women

- Hesiod adds Athena breathed life into the clay that formed man
- Ovid fours stages: gold, silver, bronze, iron Hesiod adds age of heroes
- Age of gold: very first immortals lived on Olympus, Cronus was king, they
were peaceful and had access to all things (eg. The earth), but died and
became holy spirits that protect mortal beings
- Age of silver: humans not as good as first generation, arrogant and didnt
live long, didnt worship gods, Zeus got mad and hid them, dwell under earth
- Age of bronze: Zeus created a third race of mortal humans, violent (did
deeds of Ares), destroyed by their own hands and went under Hades in the
underworld
- Age of heroes: Zeus made a fourth race, heroic men called demigods, some
killed by Thebes in the war against Oedipus, Zeus ordered some to live at the
ends of the earth (Island of Blessed) and they happily did
- Age of iron: the race Hesiod said it was in at the time, Zeus would
eventually destroy them too, they will not respect their parents, cities will
destroy each other, etc.
- age of heroes reflects Trojan war
- age of gold reflect a persons youth
- Prometheus tricked Zeus, fought, human race was involved
- Prometheus divided up an ox for himself, the muscle and fat, for Zeus the
bones and fat, tried to trick him, stopped giving powers to immortals, didnt
give Prometheus the power of fire so he stole it
- Creation of Pandora Zeus created women, set punishment for men who
flee marriage (divide up his inheritance), Pandora (means all gifts) was the
first woman created held a jar that held all the evils, Zeus ordered
Hephaestus to mix earth and water and created Pandora, ordered other gods
to instill her with stuff (eg. Aphrodite with beauty)
- Zeus gave Epimetheus (Prometheus father) Pandora as a gift and he
received the evils
- Pandora opened jar and released evils to mortals which could now die of
disease, etc.
- myth interpretations: shows sacrifice and progress with fire, Prometheus is
the archetype of culture all things art and science, Pandoras jar as symbols
of her drive, procreation, the womb and birth and life, the source for all our
woes.
- First woman brings evil social, political, moral implications
- Aeschyluss Prometheus Bound play, begins with Strength (Kratos) and
Force (Bia), Kratos tells Hephaestus to obey Zeus and bind Prometheus with
steel, Zeus scared that what happened to his father will happen to him and
he will be overthrown, scared of Prometheus defiant power, Prometheus
fought with Zeus against the Titans but all he received for it was torment,
upset that he did so much for mankind and Zeus punishes him, play ends
with Prometheus being arrogant to Hermes (Zeus messenger), Zeus
tormenting the earth and Prometheus dying
- Io loved by Zeus so Hera turned her into a white cow and sent Argus
(Panoptes) to protect Heras new possession his eyes never slept, Zeus

sent Hermes to save Io, Hermes killed Argus, Io couldnt escape Heras
jealousy, Zeus restored Io to her human form and she gave birth to Epaphus
conceived by touch (religious, virgin birth)
- Prometheus had a son, Deucalion, and Epimetheus had a daughter, Pyrrha
- Zeus mad at the evils of mortals came down as mortal (in particular
Lycaon), so creates a flood in the age of iron, thought throwing thunderbolts
would damage too much
- Lycaon laughed at the thought of Zeus being a god and tried to kill him,
was wrong and scared so he fled, was turned into a ferocious creature (that
of a wolf)
- Jupiter = Zeus
- Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha repopulate the world after the flood, Jupiter
(Zeus) saw them floating in a boat, sent Triton (Poseidon) to retreat the flood,
only two mortals left on earth, prayed to goddess Themis, Themis told them
to throw Pyrrhas mothers bones, a women appeared and many animals and
plants were once again on earth
- Hesoids account of genesis and gods similar to Babylonian epic of creation
Marduk takes place of Zeus, defeats monster (Tiamat resembles
Typhoeus), Kumarbi defeat Anu by biting off his gentials (like Uranus and
Cronus), flood archetype in almost all cultures (eg. Noahs ark), punishment
and salvation of mortals also an archetypal theme
- Zeus has repeating themes (and in other deities) has extraordinary
parents, unusual birth, must avoid being swallowed by his father, must be
brought up in secret, life as infant is charmed, grows up close to nature,
overcoming challenges after childhood, dragonslayer, triumphs to become a
mighty god
- Myths of creation, succession, the flood, the descent to the underworld, and
the hero-king Gilgamesh- Near ancient civilization myths that have parallels
- Near Eastern Civilization Akkadian, wrote on cuneiform scripts of rock,
centre was Babylon, conquered, Assyrian empire, Hittie empire flourished in
Anatolia (modern day Turkey) centre at Hattusas
- Like Hesiod, the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Akkadian didnt narrate the
myths by an intelligent creator
- Babylonian Epic of Creation fresh water and salt water combine, out
comes Anu (sky), Ea (earth), older gods attack younger gods, Marduk
equipped with thunder bolt
- Athrahasis flood, Enlil furious Athrahasis survives
- Gilgaemsh similar to Odysseus and Heracle, challenged by Enkidu, become
friends, gods kill Enkidu