OUA HST 140 Assessment task 1

by Feodor Weissmann

student ID 40899152

In Theogony (greek for creation of gods) Hesoid portrays layered creation of universe (cosmos) and gods in it. Zeus is portrayed as third generation god and a youngest son of Kronos and Rhea. His brothers are (in birth order) Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. After overthrowing his father Kronos end establishing the rule of his generation, Zeus was recognised as their leader and took no less then seven child bearing wives. First Metis, whom he swallowed while she was carring his child, Tritogeneia (Pallas-Athene) was born directly from him as a result. Scund was Themis, and that union produced seven children, ment to control aspects of life, three Horae (Hours) – Eunomia (Order), Dike (Justice), Eirene (Peace), to govern orderly life, three Moirae (Fates) – Klotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Alotter), Atropos (Unturned) had powers to set a course of life from birth to death and Tyche (Luck), that controlled fortune and prosperity of a polis (city). Zeus`s third mate, Eurynome, bears the three Charites (Graces), Aglaea (Beauty), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer) who are goddesses of charm, beauty, creativity and fertility. The fourth wife is his sister Demeter, who bears Persephone (future wife of Hades) . From Mnemosyne, fith wife came the nine Muses – Kleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsikhore, Erato, Polymnia, Urania, and Kalliope. The sixth wife was Leto, who gives birth to twins, Apollo (Phoebus) and Artemis. Zeuses final wife is Hera, who gives birth to Hebe, Ares, Enyo, Hephastios,and Eileithyia. Aside with the marriges Zeus has affairs with diffreren women leading to children such as Dionysus and Heracles that are described in different Greek meths. Another Greek POET, Homer, deliveres more flat scheme of creation, he also treats Aphrodite as doughtier of Zeus, as oppose to Hesoid`s story of Aphrodite being forged from foam that covered Uranus testicle while it was floating in the ocean. Those differences might be result of focal points of the 2 authors, Hesoid concentrating on gods in his ODY and Homer portraying the gods as inspiring to mortal heroes.

I most of divine religions, super-being share characteristics and attributes with humans, and Greek Pantheon is not an exception, it remains a theological argument, worthy for streets of Constantinople itself if those qualities are part of divine nature or our understanding of their actions through consequences. Good example of god`s human like behavior located in "Book I" of The Iliad by Homer. Apollo parts Olympus in a rage and carnage Greeks for more then a week after Agamemnon captures a beautiful maiden and refuses to give her up to her father, Chryses, a priest of Apollo. In nature, vengeance is domain of only one critter. In Theogany Hera is enraged with birth of Athena, perhaps seeing that as encroachment to women`s domain of childbirth, she immediately demonstrate that she can produce children on her own by giving birth to Hephaestus. God`s anthropomorphism is visualised in paintings with Olympians portrayed in human bodies, then they appear in any other form, it is explained that they shifted form, making human body a default. Again it could be argued that such portrays are indeed human understanding of divine essence.