Discussion Questions
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theogonyandmetamorphoses.pptxTheogony and Metamorphoses
eng 271
Jf drake state technical college
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer
The invocation of the muses
Muses dancing on Mount Helicon. Hesiod claimed he was inspired by the Muses to become a poet after they appeared to him on Mount Helicon. His poetry was partly an account of heroes and divinities, such as the Muses themselves, and included praise of kings.
Theogony
“the generation (or birth) of the gods”
The Theogony concerns the origins of the world (cosmogony) and of the gods (theogony), beginning with Chaos, Gaia, and Eros, and shows a special interest in genealogy.
The creation myth in Hesiod has long been held to have Eastern influences, such as the Hittite Song of Kumarbi and the Babylonian Enuma Elis. This cultural crossover would have occurred in the eighth and ninth century Greek trading colonies such as Al Mina in North Syria.
Chaos, Gaia, and Eros
Chaos (Greek χάος khaos) refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, more specifically the initial "gap" created by the original separation of heaven and earth
Chaos, Gaia, and Eros
Gaia ( from Ancient Greek Γαῖα, a poetical form of Gē Γῆ, "land" or "earth"; also Gaea, or Ge)
goddess or personification of Earth in ancient Greek religion, one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods, the Titans and the Giants were born from her union with Uranus (the sky), while the sea-gods were born from her union with Pontus (the sea). Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra.
Chaos, Gaia, and Eros
Eros (Ancient Greek: Ἔρως, "Desire")
in Greek mythology, was the Greek god of love. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").
Eros is considered both the oldest and the youngest of the gods, often portrayed as a child.
Uranus
Uranus ( Ancient Greek Οὐρανός, Ouranos meaning "sky" or "heaven")
the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His equivalent in Roman mythology was Caelus.
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos (Πόντος) (English translation: "sea") was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, one of the Greek primordial deities.
Pontus was Gaia's son and, according to the Greek poet Hesiod, he was born without coupling.
Cyclopes
The Cyclopes were gigantic one eyed monsters. The most famous is Polyphemus, the Cyclops blinded by Odysseus.
Hesiod mentions only three (not a race or tribe): Arges (thunderbolt), Steropes (lightning), and Brontes (thunder), obviously storm gods.
They were born to Gaea and Uranus and were also the first smiths.
HEKATONCHEIRES
Hundred-handed beings, of whom there were three, the sons of Uranos and Gaea, who helped Zeus and his brothers overthrow their father Kronos, advancing like a mighty earthquake on Zeus' side.
Their names were Kottos, Gyges and Briareus.
they may represent the gigantic forces of nature that appear in earthquakes and other convulsions or in the motion of sea waves
Titans
a primeval race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven), that ruled during the legendary Golden Age.
immortal giants of incredible strength and stamina and also the first pantheon of Greco-Roman gods and goddesses.
In the first generation of twelve Titans, the males were Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius and Iapetus and the females - the Titanesses - were Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea and Themis.
Kronos
Cronus or Kronos: the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans
He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own son, Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus.
Rhea
In early traditions, Rhea was known as "the mother of gods" and was therefore strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, who had similar functions. The classical Greeks saw her as the mother of the Olympian gods and goddesses, but not as an Olympian goddess in her own right.
Aphrodite
the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.
Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus.
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of poetry, the Heroides, Amores and Ars Amatoria, and of the Metamorphoses.
Metamorphoses
Describes the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar
Completed in 8 ACE, it is recognized as a masterpiece of Golden Age Latin literature.
One of the most-read of all classical works during the Middle Ages, the Metamorphoses continues to exert a profound influence on Western culture.
Metamorphoses
Ovid was concerned with the shiftiness of life
Metamorphosis means change—the world is in constant flux
The Romans recognized that animals have a common morphology and concluded that livings things changed (or morphed or “evolved”) into different animals
Metamorphosis can be a destructive or an enabling force
metamorphosis
morphology
a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features
The Golden Age
the first in a sequence of four or five (or more) Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and then the present (Iron), which is a period of decline.
Like the Hebrew “Eden,” the "Golden Age" denotes a period of primordial peace, harmony, stability, and prosperity.
