Origins of Ancient Origin Myth: Theogony

Sanglap Das

Department of English, Jadavpur University

Class- UG3

Class roll no- 001600401050

Abstract: The Ancient Greek poem Theogony by Hesiod has been discussed comparing with other origin stories mainly focusing on Enuma Elish and The Song of Kumarbi. Various common themes among the origin stories and their significance have been discussed.

Theogony (Greek: Θεογονία, Theogonía, Attic Greek: [tʰeoɡoníaː], i.e. “the genealogy or birth of the gods”)

Theogony is a poem written by Hesiod in Ancient Greek. This poem describes the genealogies of Greek gods and the origin story of the universe. The Theogony is often used as the source book of Greek mythology. It starts with the invocation of Muses and then the origin of the Gods followed by the reign of Zeus. Throughout human civilisation it is prevalent how one culture dominated the conquered ones and often internalised their culture. It’s important to remember that the idea of separate “western” and “eastern” cultures is a fairly modern one, and ancient Greeks adapted much of their cultural material from cultures in the area that became the modern Middle East, such as Persia and Egypt. It is also important to note that Babylon, a kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia that was conquered by the Greeks, was located in what is now Iraq. Its culture was centered along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Salt water and fresh water mingled at the delta where the Tigris and Euphrates met the sea. Thus their environment may have shaped their understanding of how they created their gods. Near Eastern influence on Hesiod’s Theogony is very much noticeable. The presence of one Anatolian tradition in this epos has been familiar for about half a century. Castration of the first god by the second, births from the seed or blood of the castrated god, the swallowing of the children by the father because they are dangerous, and the stone motif regardless of the nuances of its treatment form inescapable proofs for Hesiod’s large debt to this Near-Eastern story. The Near Eastern myths comparable to the Theogony the overthrow and banishment of the older gods had tacitly been accepted as a part of the main story. That the two traditions are distinct and in their conception independent of one another may be observed also on the Greek side and in particular as we shall presently realize in Hesiod. Still there is clearly an effort to build bridges between the two traditions. Texts indicative of a fusion – are found in Homer as well as in Hesiod. 

The Enuma Elish is the Mesopotamian creation myth. Though the influence of ‘the Orient’ in Greek art and Greek science has long been axiomatic, in the field of literature, mythology and philosophy little solid ground has yet appeared from the waters. Hesiod’s work is being discussed in those territories. The plots and setups of Enuma Elish and Theogony are uncannily similar. The universe begins in a similarly formless way: in the Enuma Elish, it is made of undifferentiated matter; in the Theogony it is Chaos. The first gods who appear in the Enuma Elish—Tiamat, goddess of the salty waters, and Apsu, god of the sweet waters, are imperfect and can be challenged, just as Ouranos and Kronos were challenged by younger rivals. In the Enuma Elish, Apsu, the first father, wants to kill his children, and Tiamat, the first mother objects. When earth and water god Ea overhears this plan, he slays Apsu and fathers Marduk with his wife, Damkina. This murder of the father starts a civil war in the heavens, led by Tiamat, who wants to avenge the death of her husband, with some of her children, against other of her children. That is reminiscent of the civil war between the Titans and the Olympians in the Theogony. Young Marduk bears many similarities to Zeus as well. He is a sky god. He is attractive and powerful. He has the ability to persuade others to join him—Marduk goes before an assembly, and Zeus gains the help of the other Olympian gods. And they both battle dragons that have an association with female goddesses. Tiamat herself is a female dragon. And Typhoeus, the dragon that Zeus battles late in the Theogony, is the final child of Gaia and the one who, uncharacteristically, causes her to turn against her other children. Furthermore, Marduk is often, like Zeus, depicted holding a thunderbolt.  Marduk and Zeus both could be called as third generation gods.

Another origin myth of ‘the Orient’ that influenced Theogony in great extends is The Hurro-Hittite Song of Going Forth or The Song of Kumarbi. The Hurro-Hittite Song of Going Forth For as far as preserved, this text describes the succession of three divine kings, Alalu, Anu, and Kumarbi, and the birth of the storm-god from the latter. Not much remains of the text after this; but as the storm-god was the supreme deity of the Hittite pantheon, probably his ascension to the throne was narrated as well. In this text and in Theogony there is a clear succession of divine kings, which features a deity called ‘heaven’—Anu, Ouranos—as an early ruler. Both Anu and Ouranos are castrated by their successors, Kumarbi and Kronos. These successors at some point carry their children inside them. Kumarbi and Kronos both intend to eat at least one of their children, and in the case of their own eventual successors, the storm-god and Zeus, they are fed a rock instead. This rock subsequently becomes an object of worship. As mentioned, the section of the Song of Going Forth in which the storm-god gains kingship is lost, but it seems certain that he did, as in the Theogony. Finally, in both texts the earth-goddess begets offspring in a late stage of the story. But as this episode in the Song of Going Forth does not survive beyond part of the birth story, it is uncertain whether or not the offspring concerns an opponent of the storm-god, similar to Typhoeus in the Theogony.

One common theme among the stories is the concept of ‘Kingship in Heaven’. It is commonly acknowledged that praising Zeus is the foremost purpose of Theogony. But the notable thing is the comparison between Zeus and his predecessors: Ouranos and Kronos and how Zeus was the superior monarch. The term ‘Kingship in Heaven’-theme’ is a general designation (alternatively, ‘Succession Myth’) for any narrative concerning a succession of kings of the gods. Many versions are possible, varying, for example, in the number of kings, their mutual relationships, and how they succeed each other. Similar things happen in Song of Kumarbi. Both Kronos and Kumarbi intended to eat their children and were excelled by their ancestors in various aspects. Also in Enuma Elish, Marduk was the supreme conqueror, the one just monarch. Though the story of succession is not as clear in case of Marduk. In Theogony the description of city-state is a very detailed one which indicates towards the civic development of the Greeks. But in all the origin myths the development from chaos to order under the light of ‘Kingship in Heaven’ is very prominent.

Neither the Babylonians nor the Greeks ever claimed in their mythology that God created the universe. Creation doesn’t seem to be a religious question. A similar thing in both the works is the pre-creation condition. In the beginning, there was only undifferentiated water swirling in chaos. The reference to the mingling of water might be an indication towards sexual reproduction. Or, as discussed earlier in this paper, the fall of Tigris and Euphrates rivers to the sea was a landmark of Mesopotamian civilisation. The rivers helped them in many ways to grow further. This might be the reason of the presence of large water bodies before creation. In Theogony when Ouranos comes to lie in love with Gaia, Kronos cuts off his father’s genitals with the sickle and flings them into the sea. Drops of the blood of Ouranos fall upon Gaia, causing her to give birth to the Furies, who punish those who kill or attack their parents, the Giants, and the nymphs known as Meliae. The genitals, floating on the sea first near Cythera and then near Cyprus, collect foam around them and grow into a girl who becomes Aphrodite (later the Olympian goddess of love and beauty), whose name is sometimes interpreted as “the foam-risen.” The connection between creation, ancient lands and sea is prominent by such incidents depicted in the creation myths. A cosmic ocean or celestial river is a mythological motif found in the mythology of many cultures and civilizations, representing the world or cosmos as enveloped by primordial waters. In creation myths, the primordial waters are often represented as originally having filled the entire universe, being the first source of the gods’ cosmos with the act of creation corresponding to the establishment of an inhabitable space separate from the enveloping waters.  Hesiod’s chaos has been interpreted as either “the gaping void above the Earth created when Earth and Sky are separated from their primordial unity” or “the gaping space below the Earth on which Earth rests”.  In Hesiod’s Theogony, Chaos was the first thing to exist: “at first Chaos came to be” but next (possibly out of Chaos) came Gaia, Tartarus and Eros. In Enuma Elish at the beginning, there was only undifferentiated water swirling in chaos. Out of this swirl, the waters divided into sweet, fresh water, known as the god Apsu, and salty bitter water, the goddess Tiamat. Once differentiated, the union of these two entities gave birth to the younger gods. The concept of cosmic ocean is seen in many other mythologies too. In Hindu mythology, Amrita (the source of life) was churned from the Great Sea. The presence of enormous water bodies before life came into being validate the actual geographical facts too.

The word epic is derived from the Greek epos, which means “word,” “speech,” or “poem” and thus underscores the poetic nature of the genre. In ancient Greece epics were recited by bards, rhapsodes, or singers, at special occasions. Cultures transmitted them orally for centuries before writing them down. A very common them of ancient epics were the origin myths. An origin myth is a myth that purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the cosmogonic myth, which describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have stories set after the cosmogonic myth, which describe the origin of natural phenomena and human institutions within a pre-existing universe. The historical relationship between Greek religion and the ancient Near East is one that scholars have pondered, investigated, and debated for many years. Approaches to the subject have ranged from the merely suggestive to the fiercely polemical. The observations presented in this paper shows how Ancient Greek mythologies were influenced by the near Eastern ones in various aspects and themes.

In fact, the names of nearly all the gods came to Hellas from Egypt. For I am convinced by inquiry that they have come from foreign parts, and I believe that they came chiefly from Egypt.

(Herodotus, 2.50.1, ca. 450 BC)

 

References

1. Dongen, Erik van. The ‘Kingship in Heaven’-Theme of the Hesiodic Theogony: Origin, Function, Composition. University of Helsinki: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 2011.
2. Solmsen, Friedrich. The Two Near Eastern Sources of Hesiod. Chapel Hill University.
3. Dongen, Eric van. The Hittite Song of Going Forth (CTH 344): A Reconsideration of the Narrative. University of Helsinki: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 2010.
4. Noegel, Scott B. The Blackwell Companion to Greek Religion. Blackwell, London. 2006.