The Ironies, Confusion, and Chaos in Hesiod's Theogony

It is without  a doubt that Greek Mythology is a whole another universe, however nonexistent or unreal it is. It is just another setting that a lot of good plots can be produced from which some authors did a pretty good job with (Percy Jackson, for an instance). Despite the good mood and imagery it emits though are the irony, confusion, and chaos it is enclosed with. These three are the main topics this blog will try to discuss.

The structure of Greek Mythology is very interesting and chaotic as well. In this type of setting, marriage happen between siblings which is not acceptable in today's generation or ever, but is such a normal thing for the Titans and Greek Gods. From the very start of the story it is already structured in chaos-- everything that has happened between the Titans and the Gods is a havoc and war at that. Basically, given that creatures, Titans, and Gods were offspring of siblings, all the chaos is just like a huge family quarrel but with powers involved. This family clash were the root of all the problems in this myth and this may be rooted to the ironies of the Theogony.

 If ironies will be talked about, there are tons to be discussed. First, Titans and Gods represents different symbols that makes up the whole world. They were said to uphold these symbols to make the world balanced. However, these symbols, although being in the form of Gods and Titans, were far form being exercised mostly by Titans and Gods themselves. They are dismissing these symbols maybe because they have the power to do so or maybe just because they can. The way they dismiss these elements (love, time, harmony, and etc.) and do whatever they want reflects the humanity in general. In this case, Gods act as humans and the only difference is how they can do things just by waving their hands. Aphrodite, for example, she is the Goddess of Love, and Love as what others always tell should always be true, pure and reserved only for one person. These, however, were disregarded as Aphrodite had an affair with Ares even with the fact that she's supposed to be with Hephaestus. This may be valid as she did not really love Hephaestus but still, Gods still cheat. Athena, the Goddess of wisdom, also makes mistakes. There a lot to discuss about how Gods and Titans treat themselves as symbols of something but still fail to act like one. 

Lastly, a lot may relate to this. Hesiod's Theogony has a lot of characters that it brings confusion. Yes, the creatures are very interesting and all but the characters gets confusing especially when it's about who their parents are. The only clear characters for the majority are the 12 Olympians and the Titans but the older characters like Gaea and the first Titans were unfamiliar for a lot. Although all the abilities, appearances, and history of characters were amusing, it also gets very confusion over time unless you're really interested in it. Good thing is how these are being depicted in novels because the characters were being described well. 

All in all, Hesiod's Theogony has a lot of things to explain and it will take patient readers to get the hang of it. Greek Mythology is very interesting, it gives us ideas about how the world may be formed or simply how people of the past think about the creation of the world as humans who did not get to see the beginning, we can only reflect from the past through myths and stories, and keep these alive as it gives us explanation of things that we can't explain ourselves. Nevertheless, myths and legends will forever be a part of us and our history.

Nariz, Princess G.

III-2 BEE