Theogony and Science: Will Science Approve or Disprove?
By: Lip, Stephanie Joy M. (III-2 BEE)
Humans are known to be passionately curious about almost everything. From the origins of the world to the end of human life – or if there is an end – people are always looking for answers. Literature and oral stories are mainly used to satisfy man’s curiosity in the early periods. In the 21st century world, we now have science to back up our claims. But today, we will see how both the power of literature and science were used in an 8th B.C. fictional work by Hesiod entitled “Theogony”, a piece of literature describing the origins and genealogy of the gods. This blog will explain how science is reflected in the specific parts of “Theogony”, if it does or does not support its claims, and its relevance in our modern times. Specifically, this will include the creation science, behavioural science, and the science of music.
Creation Science
One of the most famous theories that science has in the creation of the universe is the Big Bang Theory. To remind you of what that is, let us go back a little bit to our discussions in high school. The Big Bang Theory states that all matter was compacted into a very small ball called Singularity and with infinite density and intense heat, the universe began expanding and continues to expand even at this point of time (Williams, 2015). This also includes all the heavenly bodies swirling around each other, possibly hitting one another which can produce a huge effect to the creation of the universe. On the other hand, Theogony speaks of the creation as the result of the conceiving of successive generation of gods. Even the sun, moon, bodies of water and land are all gods that came from the love of the older gods to each other. Unlike science which pertains to these heavenly and earthly bodies as lifeless mass, Theogony shows them as someone that is living.
While creation science is really different in Theogony in terms of its explanation, there is still traces of its concepts in it. First, the starting point of “Chaos”. The cosmonogy of Theogony states that at the start there was only Chaos then out of it came everything that we now know exists. The Big Bang Theory also believes on the concept of chaos, specifically because of the collisions that may have started everything. Second, their idea of expansion. In Theogony, all things that exists in the universe slowly developed (albeit through the relationships of gods) and not instantly made in just a snap. This is same with the Big Bang Theory where the universe slowly expands and is created. Third, the presence of the gods’ names in scientific terms. This is probably the most obvious connection between science and literature in that the constellations and other heavenly bodies are named after them.
Behavioural Science
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“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” Abraham Lincoln said. In Theogony, the presence of greed of power in the gods are unmistakably present. One of the evidences is how Cronus ate his own sons and daughters for them not to get his ruling position. The concept of greed of power is supported by behavioural science. A study by Bendahan et al. (2015) shows that the higher the power that the leader has, the more it corrupts them. The gods are even more human than what we initially thought because not only corruption and greed are present in their behaviours but also jealousy, playing favorites, evil doings, bitterness, and lust are all present in them.
Science of Music
For though a man have sorrow and grief in his newly-troubled soul and live in dread because his heart is distressed, yet, when a singer, the servant of the Muses, chants the glorious deeds of men of old and the blessed gods who inhabit Olympus, at once he forgets his heaviness and remembers not his sorrows at all; but the gifts of the goddesses soon turn him away from these. (Hesiod, n.d., p. 103)
This direct quotation from Theogony shows the effect of music to the soul through the singing of the Muses. Without means of deep research during Hesiod’s time, the good effect and comfort of music to the soul has been an unspoken fact and 21st century research has only stressed this point using science. Thoma et al. (2013) found out that listening to music positively affected the autonomic nervous system, endocrine and psychological stress response.
The Theogony is backed up with the advances of the 21st century research. This shows that Theogony, even though made centuries ago, is still not outdated, can still reflect our modern society and explain generally how people think, act and do. Some of the purposes of literature is to bridge the past and the present, supply answers to man’s questions, and reflect the society we live in. All of these are shown in Theogony and explains its relevance in our modern times. While this is all just a myth, it still broadens our knowledge of the past, shows us how similar it still is in the present, and allows us to take a peek of the vast possibilities of the future.
References:
Bendahan, S., Zehnder, C., Pralong, F. P., & Antonakis, J. (2015). Leader corruption depends on power and testosterone. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(2), 101–122. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.07.010
Hesiod. (n.d.). Theogony. Retrieved from https://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodTheogony.html? fbclid=IwAR0RB2lNf_QknB1ZR5WrSHenTys37NgmJs8zppwIdQ8OYsOxgEuFtDxLp6k
Thoma, M. V., La Marca, R., Brönnimann, R., Finkel, L., Ehlert, U., & Nater, U. M. (2013). The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response. PLoS One, 8(8). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070156.
Williams, M. (2015). What is the Big Bang Theory? Universe Today. Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2015-12-big- theory.html#:~:text=In%20short%2C%20the%20Big%20Bang,intense%20heat%20called%20a%20Singularity.
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