4: Mortals Flashcards
Versions of the creation of mortals
- Hesiod’s Theogony
-main focus is the ‘Creation of Woman’
-Later: the 5 ages of Man(kind) - Ovid’s Metamorphoses has two versions
1. Creator of Universe: makes mortals from divine seed
2. Prometheus creates mortals from earth and water and traces of divine seed. Theomorphic (dieties in human form)
Hesiod’s Myth of the 5 Ages
- In Works & Days: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroes, Iron
Gold Age
- Hesiod’s Myth of the 5 Ages in Works & Days
- created by olympians
- time where cronus ruled
- Gold: almost immortal, painless death. In death: “holy spirits”
Silver Age
- Hesiod’s Myth of the 5 Ages in Works & Days
- created by Olympians
- childlike until 100
- prime of life is short and violent
- Silver: refused to honor gods. in death: “blessed”
Bronze Age
- Hesiod’s Myth of the 5 Ages in Works & Days
- Created by Zeus from ash trees
- wagers of war (bronze weapons)
- Bronze: death by mutual annihilation and sent to Hades
Heroes Age
- Hesiod’s Myth of the 5 Ages in Works & Days
- Created by Zeus
- “Godlike race of heroes”
- Death for most are sent to Hades but for a select few are sent to Islands of the Blessed
Iron Age
- Hesiod’s and our own age
- Endless labor and strife
- some good mixed with much evil
- acopalyptic passage: “Zeus will destroy this race of mortals …”
- AIdos and Nemesis depart for Olympus
-Aidos: sense of modesty/shame
-Nemesis: sense of righteous indignation
Hesiod’s myth of the 5 ages vs other creation stories
- near eastern 4 fold metallic lassification
- intrusion of “Heroes” which accounts for Legends of Trojan War
- Ovid’s Metamorphosis –> omits Age of Heroes
- In Hesiod’s 5 ages –> Inverse relationship of progress in technology and regress in morality
Who is Prometheus
- in Hesiod’s Theogony
-Son of Titan Iapetus and Oceanid Cylmene so cousin of Zeus - Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound
-Son of Gaia and therefore a Titan
-or son of Themis (Titan) - Etymologically significant name
-Prometheus = “Forethought” and his brother Epimetheus is “Afterthought”
-trickster figure and culture hero: gives us all the arts of civilization
-philanthropist: benefactor of mortals, wants to take down Zeus
Prometheus vs Zeus
- “For the one group in the dispute he placed flesh and the rich and fatty innards on the hide and wrapped them all up in the ox’s paunch; for the other group he arranged and set forth with devious art the white bones of the ox, wrapping them up in white fat” and offered the bones wrapped in fat to Zeus
- Zeus punishes mortals by removing fire, no direct contact with gods, and creating woman
- Prometheus steals back the fire for mortals with hollow fennel stalk
Prometheus’ Punishment
- Prometheus is bound to a pillar where his liver is devoured daily by an eagle and it grows back
- Zeus allows Heracles to kill eagle and free Prometheus because Prometheus knows the answer to the prophecy of “Child greather than father to be born to a certain woman”
- The woman is Thetis (a Nereid), who’s father is Peleus (a mortal) and the child is Achilles
Origin of Woman from Hesiod
from Hesiod’s Theogony and Works & Days
* Origins of woman, marriage, and suffering –> Pandora was made as a punishment for men because Prometheus stole the fire back from Zeus
* Second punishment: those who flee marriage comes to ruinous old age
* Zeus commissions gods to create ‘gift’ –> Pandora
-Hephaestus: mix earth with water and implant a human voice and make her beautiful
-Athena: teach her skills of weaving
-Aphrodite: shed grace about her head and painful longing that permeate the body
-Hermes: put in her the mind of a bitch and the character of a thief
from Works & Days
* Pandora named = “All-Gifted” or “All-Giver”: Earth mother, doblet of Gaia who is given to Epimetheus (Prometheus’ brother)
* Pandora’s Jar: “Hope alone remained within” Blessing or a curse?
-if opened evil escapes
-beautiful on the outside but evil on the inside
How was the name Pandora’s box named?
- Hesiod’s Pithos: Ceramic Jar
- Greek Pyxis: Small box
- Erasmus’ mistranslates Pithos for Pyxis aka Pandora’s box
Who wrote Prometheus Bound and what is it
- written by Aeschylus
- Punished for being mankind’s benefactor
- Bound by strength (Kratos) and Force (Bia)
- Hephaestus secures chains on Zeus’ orders
- Theme is that Prometheus is philanthropic and Zeus is tyrannical
What did Aeschylus write
Prometheus Bound
