Hesiod, Theogony: The Origons of the Greek gods

My husband read my blog so far and called it clinical, which wasn’t my intention. Today, I’m writing at work. I get a lot of down time, where I can do what I like while waiting for trucks. I test milk before the milk tankers pump it into the factory for processing. Today, I have an unexpected redirect of 25000L of milk, which, seeing as I was scheduled none but have to be here anyway, is a nice change.

Edition

As I said for Works and Days, I purchased a combined edition that also included Works and Days, Theogony and the Shield of Heracles. This was not a penguin classics edition as that only had Works and Days, and Theogony and I wanted to also look at The Shield of Heracles and I didn’t want to buy two editions. Heracles of course being also know as Hercules.

The Story

Theogony is an overview of the Greek creation story and the creation or birth of the gods. It starts with the god Chaos and then Gaia. From these two, come all the gods right down to the Olympians. First comes the likes of Night, Day, Space and Love. These are not the gods of love and space etc. But rather, these are the embodiment of the concept; so this is the creation of space and love etc. After that comes the Titans, the youngest of which is Kronos. After some monsters are birthed from Gaia and are hidden away from her. Kronos kills his father Ouranos and his blood gives birth to the Furies. He is killed by chopping off his genitals and through them in the ocean from this was birthed Aphrodite. More gods are born, mainly of physical features of land like rivers and also Poseidon. The Olympian gods are born, many of which are the children of Kronos and Rhea. Those that are not are given new jobs and titles when Zeus overthrows Kronos.

Pandora is a gift to men from Zeus who holds a jar that, when opened, gives to men all suffering but she manages to keep hope inside it.

Prometheus angers Zeus by stealing fire and giving it to man. To punish him Zeus chains him to a rock and has a bird come and eat out his liver, which regrows, daily.

Reflections

The first thing that really struck me is just how complicated the “creation”, or birth, of the gods is. There are multiple generation of, not just the gods, but also of men. There is a series of kings of the gods and they are killed by their sons; first Kronos kills Ouranos, then, in time, Zeus kills Kronos in the war between the Olympians and the Titans.

The second was, that I was unaware Kronos is a Titan. I knew he was Zeus’ father but did not realise his place in the greater scheme of things.

Not all of the Olympians are from the same generation, e.g. Aphrodite is in the same generation as Kronos not Zeus. Zeus raises all those who fight on his side in the war with the Titans to new positions in his court with new responsibilities, in so far as the Greek gods have responsibilities.

Zeus’ anger at Prometheus seems extreme, though in character with other things we see from Zeus, for it to have no specific end does not mean it will be truly endless. We see in later texts that Prometheus is killed ending his suffering. Prometheus is a very sympathetic character because of his love for mankind.

Comparisons

The creation story presented in this text is rather chaotic, with gods waring with each other. Compared with the Rig Veda which, while still pantheistic, is more ordered; we do not see power struggles. In contrast again, the Bible’s Old Testament is monotheistic and we see even more unity with God and his spirit working to make creation, though I guess it is a little hard to go to war with yourself.

While the Rig Veda is still pantheistic, it does not detail even half as many gods as Theogony lays out for the Greek. It seems, with the Rig Veda, like the amount of gods increase in later texts, where as Theogony is more of a definitive list and accounts for even the creation of the fates.

Have you read the Theogony? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the Theogony and succeed where I have failed? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of Theogony

Hesiod, Works and Days: An agricultural memo

Edition

For Works and Days, I purchased a combined edition that also included Works and Days, Theogony and the Shield of Heracles. This was not a penguin classics edition as that only had Works and Days, and Theogony and I wanted to also look at The Shield of Heracles and I didn’t want to buy two editions. Heracles of course being also know as Hercules.

The Story

The story is written in the style of a letter from one brother to another, to emplore him to work hard to gain riches.

It details the five generations of man; The first, the Golden, who lived in the time of Cronos. The Second, the Silver, who Zeus made but destroyed because they woul not sacrifice to the Olympians. The Third, the Bronze, they made everything from bronze including their houses. The Fourth, the Heros and demi-gods (Heracles, Arcillies etc.), who died in battle. The Fifth, the Iron, the current state of man. The ones who make iron tools and toil at hard labour.

Works and Days also spend a great deal of time on how to tell the seasons and what agricultural work should be done in each season. This includes when to plant and when and how to harvest. Simple hints like first shapen your sickle are sprinkeled throughout. There is information on the times of year to sail as this pertains to the seasons. Finally, there is a count of the days of the month and which of them are good for what, including, which ones are holy days and feast days.

Reflections

Works and Days is an interesting insight into the agricultural realities of the ancient Greek world and while it is not a definative “How to”, as we would understand it now, it is full of tips and tricks, to make the process easier on the brother.

There is no seperation between things that are agricultural in nature and those that are religious but rather the religious, because it permeates everything, is seen as a natural part of wisdom in how to have a good life and be prosperous.

It seems to be a more natural accounting for time and season compared to our modern day clocks and calanders. You will know when to do things by the signs of the seasons rather than by painstaking counting of time and yet it still numbers the days of the month and their usage.

Comparisons

The one comparison I can make with this text is: Works and Days expands our understanding of the Greek gods and how they interact with the everyday business and in agriculture. It shows us a gentler, in some ways, side of the gods. By contrast, the Iliad and the Odyssey give us a base of how the gods interact with battle and great acts. There is still sacrifice for the appeasement of the gods but we do not see them drowning shipsful of men, because they are angry, as we see in the Odyssey.

Have you read the Works and Days? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read Works and Days? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of Works and Days
Read my post on The Iliad and The Odyssey

The Rig Veda: Early Hindu Hymns

Synopsis
To be clear, when I say Rig Veda I refer, as in the western traditional way, to the Rig Veda Samnita.
The Rig Veda is a collection of religious hymns and are the oldest, in what became, the Hindu religion. They were originally written in Sanskrit. It is broken into 10 Mandalas, or chapters, each containing a collection of hymns.
These hymns cover a multitude of subjects including:

• Creation by an unnamed creator
• The dividing of humans and the start of the caste system
• Death and Yama king of the dead
• Agni as the first human
• Introduction of the hallucinogen Soma
• Introduction of Indra the king of the gods
• Hymns to:
• storm gods
• sun gods
• sky and earth
• The place of women
• Spells and prayers for giving birth and for healing sickness.

Reflections
The Rig Veda showed me that Hindus revering cows goes right back to its infancy. One of the reasons they have such a view on cows, is that it relates to their creation myth and to one of their gods.
They also seem to have a very high place for heat and fire with it receiving direct praise in at least one of the hymns.
It seems a little odd to me that the last mandala deals in spells and invocations, as this feels like a tangent to the rest of the mandalas. These are focused around the gods and setting everything in its place where as the spells and invocations are more about what a human can do to try to achieve certain outcomes.

Comparisons
Reading the Rig Veda made me realise just how readable the Old testament of the Bible is. The Rig Veda took a fair bit of puzzling out and there were passages, I note, that even the translator didn't understand what was going on.
It is interesting to see a different creation myth and to see that both the Rig Veda and the Bible have an active creator. However the Rig Veda has an unnamed creator that is next to never mentioned, after the creation account.

Have you read the The Rig Veda? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the The Rig Veda? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of the Rig Veda

Homer, The Odyssey: A long journey home

The Story
Odysseus has not returned to his home in Ithaca, 10 years after the end of the Trojan war. His wife is surrounded by many suitors who want her hand. His son, Telemachus, is sick and tired of the suitors and sends them away before going to look for his father. The suitors plot to kill Telemachus on his return.
Odysseus is being held on a small island by the nymph Calypso. Athena convinces Calypso to let him go. But he ends up in another storm, as Poseidon is still angry with him. He eventually washes up on Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians. They almost don't believe he is the Odysseus that fought in Troy but they promise him a ship home, if he tells them his story.
Odysseus tells of leaving Troy, of visiting the land of the lotus eaters and of how he had to drag his men away from there. He tells the stories of:

• Meeting a cyclops, being captured by him and how he used cunning to blind the cyclops and escape
• Circe's turning his men into pigs and how he got her to release them
• Killing the sun gods cattle and Zeus causing a storm that killed all his men
• How he washed up on the shore of Calypso's island.

Odysseus returns to Ithaca and is reunited with his son, who had returned when Athena sent him home. His wife puts a test to The Suitors to string Odysseus' bow and shoot an arrow through 12 axe heads, which none of  The Suitors can do. A disguised Odysseus does it with ease. Odysseus and his son then slay The Suitors. He then reveals himself to his wife and they travel to his fathers estate. The families of The Suitors come for vengeance, for the slaughter at the palace, but are turned away by Athena, disguised as Mentor.

Reflections
The story of the Odyssey is not told in chronological order. It instead starts in the middle of the story, with Odysseus trapped on Calypso's island. And later, the back story is finally filled in, as Odysseus tells his story to the king at Scheria. This creates the odd situation, where you know that Poseidon is angry with him for blinding a cyclops, but you have no idea why this happened.
Odysseus never escapes a situation by using his brawn, but rather always through cunning, or in one case the gods intervention. Although he is known for his cunning, it interests me that he never seems to run out of tricks or when he does, a god tells him what to do to prevail.
Telemachus' coming of age story is scattered throughout the story of Odysseus. He starts the story as a boy who is angry with The Suitors but does not have the agency to do anything about it, and ends helping his father slay those very suitors. In between, he has traveled around the Greek world on his own mini-quest, to find out what has become of his father.

Comparisons
The Odyssey is profoundly easier to read than the Iliad, as it has only a handful of named characters to keep track of, compared to the preponderance in the Iliad. That being said, there seems to be less character development in Odysseus than Achilles.
The Odyssey approaches its story in a scattered way, filling in its own backstory with Odysseus telling the story to others. By contrast the Iliad is very focused and very chronological, following through the consequences of the opening actions.
The two texts have such a different feel to them that I wonder if they were truly written by the same author. If they were they were written at very different times.

Have you read the The Odyssey? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the The Odyssey? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of The Odyssey
Read my post on The Iliad

Homer, The Iliad: A great war

The Story
The Iliad, or The Song of Ilium, starts with the arrival of the Argives on Trojan land. They are there to recapture Helen, the wife of Menelaus, that had been stolen away by the sons of Priam. Agamemnon, the leading king, insults Achilles by taking one of Achilles' captured prizes, a young woman. Achilles then refuses, as a point of honour, to join the Argives in battle and even goes so far as to petition the gods for the Argives to lose without him. Then the battle ensues and is going against the Argives, the Trojans are having their way with the battle. The battle reaches the ships and Achilles friend is killed by Hector. Achilles joins the battle, vowing to take down Hector, and has a great impact on the state of the fighting. He eventually kills Hector, in single combat, but is not happy with that as revenge and proceeds to desecrate his body, while putting on elaborate funeral games for his friend. He does eventually return Hectors body to his father, who the buries him with dignity.

Reflections
One of the things that struck me is that Homer has clearly never seen a chariot in use: their use in the poem is nonsensical. They are only there to take the combatants to each other and then to be dismounted to fight. In reality, they would have fought from the chariot and only dismounted if the chariot was damaged, much more damage could be done this way. This suggests that the text was written down much later, when the phalanx had taken over, as the most powerful formation for war; with their long spears, chariots could not get close and fell out of common usage in the Greek world.
Homer also uses a preponderance of names. Minor characters that are just there to get killed are named. Every prince, of every nation involved, and all divisions in the boats, all are named. George RR Martin didn't uses as many names even in the Song of Ice and Fire.
Achilles is seen as the righteous hero, breaking faith with Agamemnon, when he was betrayed by him, and yet avenging his friend when his is killed by Hector. Nothing Agamemnon did could bring Achilles back into the fight but after his friends death, nothing would keep him from his revenge or from honoring his friend with a games.

Comparisons
The Iliad is the second epic poem on the list, which surprised me a little; when originally writing the list, I had expected it to be the first. The Iliad is harder to read than The Epic of Gilgamesh.
In the Iliad it is about who did what, it is focused on the people and who they are. By contrast the Epic of Gilgamesh focuses on what was done, focusing on the events that the characters went through.
Both texts began life as oral stories, but they filled different roles societally. The Iliad played the part of a common past for the Panhellenic tribes and is a literal who's who. At the time is was written down, it would have been used as a touchstone of a common past for all Greeks. Both texts speak of a heroic past, where the men were stronger and the gods intervened more readily.

Have you read the The Iliad? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the The Iliad? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of The Iliad
Read my post on The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Not really a book

Edition
Although it is what I read, I would not really recommend the penguin classic edition or any edition translated by Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge. The problem is Wallis Budge thought that the King James version of the bibles sounded right for a religious text. So, when he wrote his translation he wrote it in a King James style. My project is all about reading and understanding and I feel for my purposes, that this edition is anything but ideal. That being said, it is considered the foremost work on the subject.

Synopsis
It is worth noting that The Egyptian Book of the Dead is not the translation of a single work but rather a collated series of prayers, ceremonies and other writings from the graves, coffins and burial ruins from a range of times.
The book teaches that life after death is achievable if the right procedures are followed at burial. The dead must be "identified" with the gods, by calling the deceased by the name of the god, to gain their attributes in getting to the afterlife and in the afterlife. The gods have multiple names are are associated with a given city. Though cities may have different names over time.
It also tells of the works of the gods in day to day life, how the day and the night are presided over and how the deceased can be ascribed with the power of the relevant gods in the afterlife.

Reflection
Because it is a collection of smaller works at different times in Egypt's history, there is a large amount of repetition or variations on a theme where the same ideas are covered in only marginally different texts.
Actually, my use of "prayers" before is a little bit misleading as they are often not addressed to any given god but are more like magic spells to give the deceased movement or speech in the after life.
You can see in the texts the slowly shifting culture and beliefs in Egypt, as parts of the ceremonies and spells fade from usage and others come to the fore.
In the vignettes, with each chapter, the gods are depicted both with human heads and the heads of animals depending on the god. It is hard to tell from this if the Egyptians thought the gods were like men or not. It does make it easier to recognise the more common gods in a scene.

Comparison
The obvious comparison, especially due to the language choice in the English translation, is to that of the Christian Bible. But beyond the choice of King James English, in the translation, they have very little in common. One of the few commonalities is the view of an afterlife and a final judgement. And although they agree on these events happening, their form is dramatically different.

Have you read the The Egyptian Book of the Dead? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the The Egyptian Book of the Dead ? If so tell me what you think when your done!


I am not posting a link for where to buy The Egyptian Book of the Dead because I don't think you should get the Penguin Classics edition and I haven't done the research as to what would be a good alternative.

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Even the Babylonians had a flood myth

The Story
Gilgamesh was a man without equal, king of Uruk. But as a king he abused his power with excessive force so the gods created Enkidu, the wild man, to rival his strength and to stop his excesses. Enkidu is a wild man and lives in the forest, at peace with the animals. Until, he encounters a temple prostitute, who convinces him to lie with her. Because of this the forest no longer welcomes him, so she teaches him to be a civilised man and tells him of Gilgamesh's excesses. Enkidu stops Gilgamesh from entering a bridal chamber and they wrestle. Gilgamesh wins but they become friends and go on to make a name for themselves.
They head to the forest of cedar, fight and vanquish Humbaba, with the help of the god Shamash. They cut down the forest and float a city gate down the river to Uruk.
The goddess Ishtar propositions Gilgamesh, who turns her down. So, she petitions her father for the the bull of heaven, to be sent to cause problems. Gilgamesh and Enkidu wrestle the bull of heaven into submission and killed it. The gods are angry and kill Enkidu with an illness.
Gilgamesh morns for Enkidu and wrestles with his mortality. He goes to find Utnapishtim, the one who survived the flood, and gets the story of the flood from him. He asks how to gain immortality and Utnapishtim asks him to stay awake for a week: which he fails at. Utnapishtim's wife tells Gilgamesh of a plant that can give him eternal life. He trys to take it back with him but the serpent steals it. He returns to Uruk empty-handed but is now comfortable with his mortality.

Reflections
The flood story in the Gilgamesh Epic has similarities and differences to the biblical account. They agree that mankind is saved by going aboard a boat with animals. But, the biblical account has God choosing to save mankind, rather than the Epic, where one god warns the survivors, but the rest of the gods, morn the loss of mankind which they had caused.
Gilgamesh is a great and strong man but he has the faults of many a strong man. He abuses that strength and his people groan under the strain. Even with this he, is described as a great and beautiful man and after Enkidu arrives he begins to act as such.
The Aurochs was a very large, very aggressive now extinct Bovine. It is the most likely to have been the bull of heaven (Find out more here). There has been nothing else in the fossil and historical record that has been the right size and with the "right" temper to have given the pair much of a fight.


Have you heard of the Aurochs?
Have you read the The Epic of Gilgamesh? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the The Epic of Gilgamesh? If so tell me what you think when your done!
Get a copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Find out more about the Aurochs.