Let's Read Myths: Currently on THEOGONY

So I really like myths, so I decided to make this reading thread where I read them.

I've decided to start on greek myths and stories first since these are the ones I'm most familiar with, but I will branch into and start reading myths from other religions as well.

I wanted to start with the Theogony because it explains the cosmology and relations between the gods.

The version of Theogony I'm reading is from Theoi.com translated by Evelyn White and H.B Leob.

After this, I'll read Hesiod's other works, Work And Days, Shield Of Heracles, Catalogues Of Women, and the Miscellaneous Fragments.

After that, I'll just go down the Library list till I exhaust that and read stuff from the bibliography. I might also review Wikipedia/Brittanica pages and OSP videos.

So let's start with Hymn To The Muses.

Hymn To The Muses is the first chapter of the Theogony, it talks about the nine Muses, Cleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania, and Calliope coming down from Mount Helicon to speak to Hesiod and bless him to regal about the goodness of the Gods.

It starts with describing the ritual the Muses perform. Bathing in the Permessus, Horse's Spring, or Olmeius and then dancing on Helicon. When night comes they leave their mountain, hidden in mist, and sing about the Gods.

While Hesiod was tending to his lambs under Mount Helicon, the Muses come down and tell him

They give him a shoot of Laurel and bless him with a 'divine voice' telling him to sing about the Gods, but to only sing about them first and last.

In which Hesiod writes

Which is a proverb meaning "why enlarge on irrelevant topics?"

He speaks about how their voices resound on Olympus, honoring their father, Zeus, and "gladdening his heart."

The second part of the chapter talks about the birth of the Muses. Zeus entered the bed of Mnemosyne, the Titan Of Memory for nine nights. And after a year she gave birth to nine daughters, the Muses.

After being born they sing about the Gods and how good they are and go to Olympus to where their father resides.

The leader of the Nine Muses, Calliope, blesses princes to be Gods among men on Earth, pouring sweet dew on their tongues at birth, blessing princes with wisdom and words. These princes that are blessed by Calliope are of Zeus as he too loves and blesses them.

And it is thanks to Apollo and the Muses that Harps and songs exist for man. When men let grief and sorrow into their souls, the muses will sing about the Gods to relieve their plight and remind them of the Gift that the Gods give them.

The final lines of this part of the poem are Hesiod hailing the gods and how they shared their wealth and honors.

So Mount Helicon is an actual real place, not a made-up mountain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Helicon

So are Permessus, Horse's Spring, and Olmeius.

Permessus and Olmeius are rivers that run down the mountain, while Horse's Spring seems to be describing the Hippocrene, a spring on the mountain which in myth was created by Pegasus hitting a rock.

Also proud to say that I recognized most of the names of the Gods in this chapter. Except for one, Dione. I thought at first that maybe it was an abbreviation of Dionysus, the Olympian God of Wine, but Dione is actually a Goddess, or more accurately a Titaness.

https://www.greekmythology.com/Titans/Dione/dione.html

https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodTheogony.html

Of course like what usually goes on with myths there seem to be multiple conflicting sources on her and her thing.

I was momentarily confused on why both Athena and Zeus are called Aegis-Holder's but Athena did gift the Aegis to Zeus, didn't she?

I wonder about the personalities of the Muses.

This line makes it seem like they really dislike Shepherds, and lie a lot. But this time they're telling the truth to Hesiod, he also describes them as being carefree.

Though I couldn't really find much of anything on their personalities other than nurturing and loving great poets and then feeling sad when they die.

I was wondering what Hera's relationship with Argos was.

Argos is a real city that still exists today, Argos, Peloponnese - Wikipedia.

Apparently, they actually had this temple called Heraeum where they worshipped her, so that probably is where the "Of Argos" title of her came from.

What I don't understand is the golden sandals part. Is there a myth behind that?

So I was interested in what Pieria and Eleuther are.

Pieria is a real place in Greece: Pieria (regional unit) - Wikipedia

and Eleuther is probably referring to Eleutherae, a Boeotian town.

Boeotia and Eleutherae are also real places.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeotia

The Muses "gladdening" Zeus's heart is probably another way to say lifting his spirits.

And finally,

What does this mean? I only know what counselor means in the modern interpretation of the word, which I'm guessing is not what is being used here.

Not the most constructive thoughts or criticisms I know. I don't have much of an opinion on this story yet, I'll try and inject some comedy and more of my opinions in the next updates.

One thing to keep in mind: try not to be bothered by inconsistency. The stories that comprise what we call Greek Mythology are the work of many hands over hundreds of years, and they don't all agree.

I agree, "Cronos the crafty counsellor" is a mite odd. We can assume Hesiod is talking about the Titan Cronus, as he appears in a list with a bunch of other Titans.

Fun fact: Cronos was originally a god of the harvest (and was celebrated as such in Athens), which is why he carried a scythe or sickle. His name sounds like "Chronos," which was the Greek personification of time, and so he was eventually associated with time as well (and Cronos with his scythe gave rise to our image of Father Time, and possibly the Grim Reaper). His Roman name, Saturn, translates directly to something like "the saturated one," though a better colloquial translation might be "the devourer" which would make sense as he devoured his children.

Fun Fact # 2: Apollo was, among other things, god of mice (Apollo Smintheus). In ancient Greece mice were a symbol of prophecy, and as he was a god of prophecy, Apollo was also god of mice. Some scholars think he may have started out as only the god of mice/prophecy and then got all of his other offices (light, music, the sun, etc) as time wore on.

Edited by Robbery on Feb 22nd 2022 at 9:36:25 AM

I think that Aphrodite emerging from Uranus' severed gonads is meant to symbolize her role as a goddess of sex or something like that. It feels too fitting not to be some sort of metaphor

Yep.

Eros, going along with that theme, is an interesting figure. Early sources have him as one of the primal forces that emerged from Chaos, older than the Titans. Later sources have him as the son of Aphrodite. He's sometimes called the god of love, but I believe the Greeks held him to be more specifically the god of passion.