Greek theogony. Greek Theogony: The Victory of Gods against Titans 2022-10-23

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The Greek theogony, also known as the "birth of the gods," is an ancient Greek mythological text that tells the story of the origins of the gods and the cosmos. It was written by the poet Hesiod in the 8th century BC and is one of the foundational texts of Western literature.

According to the theogony, the universe began as a formless void known as Chaos, from which arose the primal deities Gaea (the earth) and Uranus (the sky). Gaea and Uranus gave birth to numerous children, including the Titans, who were the first generation of gods. The most famous of the Titans were Cronus, who eventually overthrew his father Uranus, and Prometheus, who is credited with giving fire to mankind.

Cronus, however, was not content to rule alone and feared that one of his children would eventually overthrow him as he had done to his own father. To prevent this, he swallowed all of his children as soon as they were born. His wife, Rhea, managed to save one of their children, Zeus, by substituting a rock wrapped in cloth in place of the baby. When Zeus grew up, he defeated his father and the other Titans in a great battle, becoming the ruler of the gods.

Zeus then married his sister, Hera, and together they had numerous children, including Athena, Apollo, and Artemis. Zeus also fathered many other children with various mortal women, including Hercules, who became a hero known for his great strength and courage.

The theogony also tells the stories of many other gods and goddesses, including Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility, and Hades, the god of the underworld. It also includes stories about the creation of humans, the first woman Pandora, and the great flood.

Overall, the Greek theogony is a complex and fascinating text that provides a rich tapestry of myths and stories about the gods and the origins of the universe. It remains an important part of the Western literary tradition and continues to be studied and admired by readers around the world.

Theogony (Article)

greek theogony

And because this is how we call these planets in Greece and this is how everybody should call them. Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And from the beginning this honor has she, and this part has she obtained by lot among men and immortal gods, 205 the amorous converse of maidens, their smiles and wiles, their sweet delights, their love, and blandishment. And Styx, daughter of Okeanus was joined to Pallas and bare Zelus and Again Phoebe came to embrace Hymn to Hekate, Children of Kronus And she bare But Lyetus and to Lyctus at night, then to a remote cave beneath Mount Aegeum. And truly a thing past help would have happened on that day, and he would have come to reign over mortals and immortals, had not the father of men and gods been quick to perceive it. But their stories are so fascinating and entertaining that still around, and they live on just like the best of tales that the human mind ever made. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at anothers, sounds like whelps, wonderful to hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains re-echoed.

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HESIOD, THEOGONY

greek theogony

Now these were in other respects, it is true, like to gods, but a single eye was fixed in their mid-foreheads. But Khrysaor, by union with Kallirhoe, daughter of famous Okeanos, begat three-headed Geryon. And again she bore a third, the evil-minded Hydra of Lerna, whom the goddess, white-armed Hera nourished, being angry beyond measure with the mighty Heracles. Titanomachy But when first their father became angry in spirit against Briareus, Kottos, and Gyes, he bound them with a strong bond, admiring their overweening courage, and also their form 620 and bulk; and he made them dwell beneath the roomy earth. From the sea foam came Eros and Spirits of Night Nyx bare hateful Ker Fate and Oneiroi Dreams. So, then, they launched their grievous shafts upon one another, and the cry of both armies as they shouted reached to starry heaven; and they met together with a great battle-cry. The Biblical Worldview Truth and Perversion the alteration of something from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended: , which is an alteration of the truth.


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Theogony by Hesiod Plot Summary

greek theogony

Around the deep-blue spring, with dainty feet, they dance, and around the altar of the mighty son of Kronos. The Great Escape of Zeus from the Threat of Cronus Soon afterwards, Cronus rescued his brothers and sisters and shared the World the Cosmos with them. Why Uranus hated his children is also not clear. Tell me these things, Olympian Muses, you who abide in Olympus, 115 tell it from the beginning, about what was generated first from among them all. More Children of Gaea After arranging for Uranus to be castrated, Gaea took her son Pontus as a new mate. But the insolent Menoitios wide-seeing Zeus 515 thrust down to Erebos, having stricken him with flaming lightning, on account of his arrogance, and overweening strength.


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Greek Theogony: The Victory of Gods against Titans

greek theogony

But until then, they kept at one another and fought continually in cruel war. And all earth and sky and sea were boiling; and huge billows roared around the shores about and around, beneath the violence of gods; and unallayed quaking arose. Her did Pegasus and noble Bellerophon slay; but Echidna was subject in love to Orthus and brought forth the deadly Sphinx which destroyed the Cadmeans, and the Nemean lion, which Hera, the good wife of Zeus, brought up and made to haunt the hills of Nemea, a plague to men. The poem then details another episode of trickery, as Prometheus attempts to trick Zeus into taking a smaller cut of meat after a sacrifice. So she conceived and brought forth fierce offspring; first she bare Orthus the hound of Geryones, and then again she bare a second, a monster not to be overcome and that may not be described, Cerberus who eats raw flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-headed, relentless and strong.

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Theogony • Greek Gods & Goddesses

greek theogony

Hades or Plouton became the new God of the underworld and Hestia became the goddess of the hearth. He killed an ox, butchered it, and made two piles. Later versions of the story would name the woman The Titanomachy Zeus spent his childhood in hiding. Human beings relate best to one another and to the world at large when they use the archetypes of the collective unconscious as tools of perception and interpretation, and our ancient ancestors would have been no different. But when Zeus had conquered him and lashed him with strokes, Typhoeus was hurled down, a maimed wreck, so that the huge earth groaned.

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Hesiod, Theogony

greek theogony

And Keto mingling in love with Phorkys, brought forth, as youngest-born, a terrible serpent, 335 which in hiding-places of dark earth, guards all-golden apples, in wide bounds. The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts. The parthenogenic children of Chaos were Gaia the Earth , Eros Desire or sexual love , Tartarus the Underworld , Erebus Darkness and Nyx Night. In this way, Chaos the principle of division is the natural opposite of Eros the principle of unification. Doves brought him ambrosia from far away to eat and an eagle brought him nectar to drink.

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Hesiod THEOGONY : Full text, in English

greek theogony

Then came vast Sky bringing Night with him, and, eager for love, brooded around Earth, and lay stretched on all sides: but his son from out his ambush grasped at him with his left hand, while in his right he took the huge sickle, long and jagged-toothed, and hastily 180 mowed off the genitals of his father, and threw them backwards to be carried away behind him. These four are the parents of all the other Titans. And as he promised, so he performed fully unto them all. Therefore there was another war, the Gigantomachy that lasted equally long. Typhoeus was one of the most grotesque and deadly monsters of all time, reaching as high as the stars, his hands reaching east and west with a hundred dragon heads on each, his bottom half composed of gigantic hissing viper coils, and his whole body covered in wings and with fire flashing from his eyes.

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Is there a 'bible' for Greek mythology! : GreekMythology

greek theogony

And they duly heard and complied with their dear daughter, 475 and explained to her as much as it had been fated should come to pass concerning king Kronos, and his strong-hearted son. These are a god-sent kind, and a great blessing to men; but the others blow fitfully upon the seas. But she, the destructive Echidna, was confined in Arima beneath the earth, 305 a nymph immortal, and all her days insensible to age. Tell how at the first gods and earth came to be, and rivers, and the boundless sea with its raging swell, and the gleaming stars, and the wide heaven above, and the gods who were born of them, givers of good things, and how they divided their wealth, and how they shared their honours amongst them, and also how at the first they took many-folded Olympus. And it was a wonder to behold. Then, Cronus married his sister Rhea and together they created children who would later on become the Olympian gods. This is the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys.

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Theogony

greek theogony

. So deathless Styx came first to Olympus with her children through the wit of her dear father. At the same moment, two deities appeared instantly, Chronos which is the start of time and space, and Anangee, which is the need for Creation. The poem then returns to succession, detailing the children born to Kronos and Rhea. Cronos who was the youngest of the Titans was the only one brave enough to do so.


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