Women Representation in Hesiod's Theogony

-


Women Representation in Hesiod's Theogony

Samantha Louise R. Carimpong

III-2 BEE

        The Theogony is a poem written by Hesiod in 8th-century BCE. It narrates the origin of the world and the lineage of the Greek gods starting from Chaos until the Olympian gods became the ruler of the world (Wasson, 2017). In the poem, Hesiod described the genealogy of each supreme being incorporating the events happened during that time as well as the significant roles they played in each event. However, in the entirety of the text, men had dominated the significant parts and was celebrated whereas women behaved only in response to the actions of men. Hence, women representation in Hesiod's Theogony can be seen in terms of motherhood and source of evil.

Motherhood
        
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/b/ba/Feuerbach_Gaea.jpg
Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/images/mythology/
rhea_large_image_16.jpg
    
        There are plenty of goddesses who are mothers in the Theogony, however, Earth and Rhea had played significant roles in Greek mythology as both of them retaliated to their respective husbands which brought change in their history. Earth and Uranus bore the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires but Uranus hated them so he decided to hide them inside Earth as soon as they were born. Due to that, she called her other children to avenge those hated children with Cronus taking the challenge and successfully castrated and defeated his father.
        Rhea, on the other hand, hid Zeus from Cronus to save him from being devoured and tricked Cronus into swallowing a stone wrapped in cloth instead. When Zeus grew up, he successfully freed his siblings and overthrew his father, thus making him the king of the gods.
     Hence, their retaliation showed that women as mothers would do anything for their children and they refuse to be denied the responsibility to nurture and care for their children (Pace University, n.d.). However, looking at the text in a wider scope, women were merely seen to only bear children for men.

Source of Evil

Source: https://cdn.britannica.com/63/131663-050-173DA80F/
Artist-box-Pandora-interpretation-evil-misery.jpg
      As Hesiod narrated the events about Prometheus, a significant event happened which is the creation of a woman, which was revealed to be Pandora in Works and Days, as punishment for granting people with fire. Referring to her story, she freed all evil in this world when she opened the box that Zeus gave to her. According to Taveras (n.d.), this story of Pandora showed that Hesiod viewed women as the root of all evil. 
    In the poem, Hesiod also showed that women bring trouble to men as they are only companions in times of wealth. He also compared women to drones who stay at home and take advantage of the achievements or the result of hard work of bees which are the men.
    With that said, it can be seen that women are viewed as tormentors of men who only cause problems to them.

Conclusion

Source: https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.
goodreads.com/books/1405291888l/17141349.jpg



    Looking at the entirety of the Theogony, women are merely seen as child bearers as most of their roles in the events pertain to the number of children they had bore and their actions as mothers. In addition, they are also viewed negatively as they are believed to bring evil to men thus, causing problems. Hence, Hesiod's Theogony showed that in their context, women are inferior to men as they only act based on the actions of men around them and they are viewed lesser than men (Taveras, n.d.) which reflects the ancient Greek society as women's sole purpose is to bear children and manage the household (Cartwright, 2016). 






References:
  • Cartwright, M. (2016, July 27). Women in ancient Greece. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.ancient.eu/article/927/women-in-ancient-greece/
  • Pace University. (n.d.). Motherhood in Greco-Roman myths. http://webpage.pace.edu/nreagin/tempmotherhood/fall2003/11/pages/llitpage.html
  • Taveras, R. (n.d.). Women in Theogony. Baruch College. https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/theogonyfinalproject/
  • Wasson, D. L. (2017, December 19). Theogony. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.ancient.eu/Theogony/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disney’s Hercules: A Hero’s Journey

-
Image
  Disney’s Hercules: A Hero’s Journey By: SAN JUAN, Rendel P.      Before starting I just want to point out some of the changes Disney changed, the first one being the name of the main character ‘Hercules’. Hercules is the Roman counterpart of Heracles in Greek mythology and since the name of the gods are obviously from the Greek pantheon and this might be just a conscious change for Disney as Hercules rolls off the tongue better. Then there was Hercules’ parents, in the movie he was said to be the son of Zeus and Hera but in actuality Hercules is the son of Zeus and one of his countless mistresses in this case Alcemene, “Heracles,/The son of Zeus (but of the house of Amphitryon)/Who used merciless bronze to despoil the monster/With Iolaos’ help and Athena’s strategy” (Hesiod, line 316-319). This obviously made Hera extremely angry and Zeus trying to appease her wrath and hoping that Hercules can avoid it as well he was given her namesake Hera which made his name Heracles. So unlike in
Read more

Women of Mythology

-
Image
  Women of Mythology It is not an unknown fact that there has been a difference on how society viewed and treated men and women. In today's time, more people are starting to be enlightened and are fighting to abolish this thinking and misogynies. However, It couldn't be denied that it is still existing and an issue that should be payed more attention to. Even in literature, a lot of texts depicted how women are viewed and treated differently and the Theogony isn't really very different from them.   The theogony, although depicted strong female gods, still told stories on how these very same powerful and capable women were oppressed by male entities for power. Take Gaia whose mate; Ouranos did things that are against her will. And Metis, who was swallowed by Zeus to attain her power.    Also, the theogony depicted how women were viewed by male entities; sexual objects. They are viewed to be someone to help men reproduce. These things aren't the only circumstances that th
Read more

Work in Progress: A Hero's 10 Step Journey

-
Image
 - Reflection written by Princess Jane A. Segovia What does it take to be a hero? Can an individual be born for heroic deeds or is it a decision anyone can make? Who will decide if one is fit to be a hero; the gods or themselves? According to the American Professor John Campbell, there is such a thing referred to as monomyth or a universal structure of myths and stories all over the world. This structure follows a certain flow of the story where the hero undergoes different trial and meets various individuals that would contribute to his transformation in becoming a praise-worthy hero. What does it take to be a hero?  The steps are as follows:    1. The Ordinary World - this is where the world the hero has been living in is introduced and established for the readers / viewers. This includes his normal day-to-day routine. 2. The Call to Adventure - this refers to the transition of the hero from the ordinary world he is used to towards the new, special world he will be exploring.  3. Cro
Read more