Theogony Talks Over a Cup of Coffee: Reflection Blog for Hesiod’s Theogony

Thoughts just come and go in random times and at random ways such as it can appear as sudden realizations while you are reading something; in a daydream while you are looking at a window; in a sentence while you are laying at your bed. No matter what form these thoughts go, I am sure that there is one topic that we all took an interest in: the ‘how’ and ‘what’ of the beginning – the world we live in or our very own existence.

What is the beginning of everything? A question that pretty much lingers in everyone’s mind for once or maybe twice in their lives while taking that hot sip of coffee. Sure, it can be answered scientifically like the Big Bang Theory, a leading explanation as to how the universe began, but physics plus me is not really a good combination, so I say pass and if you’re like me then, of course, we look for another answer. One can also opt to go religious which in Roman Catholic, we have the Bible – a collection of teachings and words by the Almighty – specifically the first book, Genesis, which is an account of the creation of the world. But, if you want to look at another perspective, then literature has something interesting to offer: why not try delving into Hesiod’s Theogony?

Theogony literally means the “birth or genealogy of the gods.” It is the name of an epic poem by Hesiod, a Greek poet who is believed to have lived between 750 and 650 BC (Theogony • Greek gods & goddesses, 2017). It is composed of 1, 022 lines about the origins of the cosmos and the interconnectedness of the supreme beings of the ancient Greeks, and considered one of the oldest known literary works from ancient Greece. The poem begins with Hesiod’s invocation telling that the Muses – goddesses and daughters of Zeus that inspire artists – themselves visited him and bestowed upon him the gift of writing and poetry. Saying it this way, he is similar to a prophet, a person who utters divine revelations.

So how and what is the beginning according to Theogony? Chaos, the nothingness out of which the first objects of existence appeared, arose spontaneously. The parthenogenic children of Chaos were Gaia (the Earth), Eros (Desire or sexual love), Tartarus (the Underworld), Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night) (Theogony - Hesiod | Summary & analysis | Ancient Greece - Classical literature, 2020). As you may notice, it did not begin with a supreme being creating all the other things unlike in what we know from most creation stories and actually, this is just one of the many interesting things that this piece can give. Looking deeper in Theogony can take much time (such as understanding the great family tree of the gods and goddesses), and we might consume more than just one cup of coffee. Hence, I’ll be giving you the gist – from the story of the evolution of nature and the gods as the developing offspring of Chasm (Chaos) and Earth, through the generation of the Titans, then on to that of the Olympian gods.

Another thing that is worth sharing about Theogony, is its implications and themes. We could not deny the fact that whenever we hear the words ‘gods’ and goddesses’ we always thought of them as ethereal beings, the embodiment of perfection but after reading this text, who would have thought that words such as ‘cruel’, ‘brutal’, ‘flawed’, ‘immoral’ can also be associated with them. Serious issues such as incest and infidelity, and acts of deceits and betrayals are also themes that can be observed and clearly, the more you know about it, the more you find yourself lost: like Alice falling down a rabbit hole but it’s you falling in the twisted world of these gods and goddesses. However, along with these realizations, also comes the thought of acknowledging the fact that said beings are like humans. The only difference lies in the lifespan and power: obviously, gods and goddesses are immortal and possess power while humans are mortal and, well, just humans but other than that, both are the same – the same to feel anger, jealousy, hatred. Its deep other subjects such as dominance, order, and power make you realize that no matter what the context is, a fact remains that it is always the strong who wins while the weak are oppressed, unless a strong motivation pushes the weak to either fight, overpower, or to be of equal standing as the strong which is very evident in today’s world: the government and the people, the employer and the employee, the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated.

Truly, one may be overwhelmed with the information the Theogony has to offer at first glance or when first introduced to but the themes you can get from it to reflect on are worth talking over a cup of coffee, that the learnings you get from it transcend time that although it may be from many years before, it is still relevant as it continues to give you wider perspectives and new lenses to understand the world.

 

References:

Theogony - Hesiod | Summary & analysis | Ancient Greece - Classical literature. (2020, April 6). Ancient Literature. https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_hesiod_theogony.html

Theogony • Greek gods & goddesses. (2017, February 22). Greek Gods & Goddesses. https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/myths/theogony/

 

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