1 Week 2 Tutorial Paper.

Word count: 794.

1. According to Hesiod, how were the world and the gods created? According to Hesiod, in the beginning there were four primordial beings - Chaos was the first entity to come into existence and Earth, Tartarus and Eros followed after.1 The two offspring of Chaos, Erebus and Night, made love and had Night and Aether.2 After giving birth to her son and eventual partner Heaven, Earth created deities such as the long Mountains and the Sea through parthenogenesis and then reproduced with Heaven to beget the Ocean, Cyclopes, three insolent sons and the Titans.3 Fearing that his offspring would usurp him, Heaven hid them inside Earth after they were born.4 Earth made a sickle and gave it to the cunning Cronus, who castrated Heaven and threw the genitals into the sea.5 Earth had more offspring and later, the sea foam surrounding Heavens genitals resulted in the birth of Aphrodite.6 Night produced offspring personifying crucial mortal concepts such as Fate, Age and Lies, and Cronus and Rhea produced the Olympian Gods.7 2. How did Zeus come to be king of the gods? After Cronus discovered that he was destined to be usurped by his son, he planned to swallow all his children to prevent the event from occurring.8 Regardless, Cronus union with Rhea produced six children, five of whom he swallowed, and Rhea successfully persuaded Heaven and Earth to help save her last child, Zeus.9 Following their instructions, Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete and Earth took him away to nurture him whilst Rhea returned to Cronus, tricking him into swallowing a stone instead of their son.10 After growing up swiftly, Zeus vanquished Cronus who regurgitated the stone which he had swallowed last and then all of Zeus siblings. 11 Zeus later victories over the Titans and Typhoeus enabled him to become the ruler of the immortals and the mortals.12 3. According to Hesiod, who (or what) are the offspring of Zeus and to what extent are they anthropomorphic? Hesiods Theogony mentions that the offspring of Zeus were: Athena, Tritogeneia, the Hours, Order and Justice, Peace, the Fates (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos), the three Graces (Aglae, Euphrosyne and Thaleia), Persephone, the nine Muses, the twins Apollo and Artemis, Hebe, Ares, Eileithyia, Hermes, Dionysus, Heracles and Hephaestus.13 To a large extent, it can be said that Zeus offspring are anthropomorphic since Hesiod has described them as humans in form
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Hesiod, Theogony 117-121. Hesiod, Theogony 124-126. 3 Hesiod, Theogony 127-150. 4 Hesiod, Theogony 155-160. 5 Hesiod, Theogony 163-182. 6 Hesiod, Theogony 184-197. 7 Hesiod, Theogony 212-505. 8 Hesiod, Theogony 453-467. 9 Hesiod, Theogony 453-476. 10 Hesiod, Theogony 478-492. 11 Hesiod, Theogony 492-505. 12 Hesiod, Theogony 503-879. 13 Hesiod, Theogony 880-938.

2 Week 2 Tutorial Paper.

Word count: 794.

and having human characteristics. Hesiod writes of Athenas grey eyes, the breathtaking beauty of the three Graces, the white arm of Persephone, the Muses love of feast and song and the Tritogeneias wisdom and her delight at war and battle.14 The anthropomorphic nature of Zeus offspring is evinced because they have physical features of mortals such as eyes and arms, emotions, the ideal physical beauty of mortals and also enjoy things that mortals take pleasure in. Hesiod also writes about Hephaestus, the lame son of Zeus whose crafts skill surpasses all of Heavens children.15 This further illustrates the anthropomorphic nature of the deities as they can also be born with the same conditions and flaws that mortals possess. Thus Zeus offspring are anthropomorphic to a large extent. 4. To what extent does the nature myth theory explain the creation of the world? To a major extent, the nature myth theory has been used to explain some aspects of the creation of the world. Plant noted that a plethora of nature allegories have been utilised in the myth about the worlds creation.16 Zeus many children are symbolic of fertility, a key occurrence in the natural world.17 The major role of the nature myth theory in explaining the worlds creation is evidenced in Poseidons personification of natural phenomena such as earthquakes and the sea and Zeus ability to control the sky through lightning and rain is an allegory of meteorological phenomena.18 Nights offspring were personifications of significant natural concepts such as age, sadness, death and fate whilst Erebus and Night were males and females, symbolising two major forces in the natural order of the world.19 Littleton further argues that Greeces geography was explained by the creation of Earth, Heaven, the Sea and the Mountains which separated the world into its different components.20Additionally, Pope notes that Gaea, the Mother Earth is an allegory of the sublime procreative power wielded by females as they are able to give birth to all.21 The only exceptions that are not a part of the nature myth theory are the creations of the abstract concepts Order and Justice, which have been invented by mortals.22 Henceforth it can be said that to a large extent, the myth of the worlds creation uses the nature myth theory to explain some aspects of world the Greeks lived in. Bibliography: Hesiod, Theogony in Evelyn-White, H.G., trans. (1914). The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, vol. 57, Cambridge. Plant, I., (2012), Myth in the Ancient World, South Yarra. Littleton, C.S., (2005), Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology, Volume 10, New York.
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Hesiod, Theogony 880-921. Hesiod, Theogony 924-938. 16 Plant (2012: 26-27). 17 Plant (2012: 26-27). 18 Plant (2012: 26-27). 19 Plant (2012: 39). 20 Littleton (2005: 1020). 21 Pope (2005: 159). 22 Hesiod, Theogony 897.

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Word count: 794.

Pope, R., (2005), Creativity: Theory, History and Practice, New York.