Violence and Power: What's Not to Myth in Hesiod's Theogony

    

    In reading the unsettlingly lengthy epic poem written by Hesiod, one thing I could not miss (or myth!) is the recurring themes of violence and power.

    Theogony literally means the “birth or genealogy of the gods," so there's nothing to expect but the life of Greek gods and goddesses unfolding before our eyes, at least in a didactic poem. Composed around 700BCE, making it one of the earliest texts of Greek mythology along with "The Illiad" and of course, "The Odyssey" both by Homer.

    This epic poem, a combination of genealogy and history, narrates stories of the first Greek gods and their many descendants. It got everything covered down to the last detail of appearances, names in order, scenes of love, birth, and rebirth, death, war, and chaos.

    Theogony is important, not just because it's one of the oldest surviving texts of ancient Greece, but it also provides a picture of the Greek literature and reflections of their religious traditions during its time of writing.

    A huge part of Theogony focuses on genealogies, in which we can also see patterns similar to the Christian's Bible, or the "begat passages". However, unlike the Bible which relied its stories on fathers and sons, Theogony listed both parents, and/or both male and female characters.

    It also tackles some narratives on the world's creation which is like the Bible's Genesis.

  
    One theme evidently present in this epic poem is the extreme and intense display of violence. It is usually used t maintain and/or obtain power. Right from the start, when Kronos sees his children as threats to her throne, up to exploits of the Heroic Age, and some other bloodshed and brutality.

    It comes often in the forms of rape, coercion, and adultery, which affects women characters, more than men, thus, showing continued dominance and power only for gods. It becomes more problematic when these acts of violence are learned to be used as keys to perpetuating oneself, control descendants, and ensure a legacy.

    As shown by Kronos' swallowing his children, Zeus swallowing his wife Metis, and keeping descendants trapped against their will, it is obvious that the poem utilized disturbing violence against women and children to control lineages and get to the top of the existing power dynamics.

    Although gruesome, violence is not always gratuitous in the epic, as it sometimes can serve a greater purpose. Some of them resulted in success, and even though it is destructive when for example, the Olympians must obtain power, violence becomes productive.

    Violence can also be seen in punishments brought by Gods to other Gods and humans, such as Prometheus who has been bound to be chained to a rock and Zeus sent an eagle to eat his liver. This establishes the power of God and its effects on all of the people.

    Like in the world's collection of mythology, with Gods and Goddesses as characters, it is hard to myth these themes of violence and power, most especially when violence is used as a tool to maintain or annihilate the power. While we find this extremely disturbing, this might just reflect the humanities' darkest impulses and fatal flaws.

References:

(n. a.). (2017). Greek Gods Goddesses. Retrieved from https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/myths/theogony/

Wack, Margaret. "Theogony Themes: Violence and Power." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 23 Feb 2019. Web. 4 Apr 2021.