sign in sign up
<<
Home , Chios (mythology), Hesiod, Sky father, Theia, Theogony

Greek Religion and The Tradition of Religion

• Religion • An institutionalized system of rituals. • An institution is a “system of ideas whose object is to explain the world” (Durkheim, 1965: 476). • Spiritualism • A belief in forces that exist outside of space and time but that can act within those domains Culture and Belief

• “Religion is sociologically interesting not because, as vulgar positivism would have it, it describes the social order...but because... it shapes it” (Geertz 1973, 119). • “The social function of myth is to bind together social groups as wholes or, in other words, to establish a social consensus” (Halpern 1961, 137). Mythos

• Archaic Greek: a story, speech, utterance. • Essentially declarative in nature • Classical Greek: An unsubstantiated claim • Mythographos • Logographos • Logopoios Modern Definitions

• “…Myth is defined as a complex of traditional tales in which significant human situations are united in fantastic combinations to form a polyvalent semiotic system which is used in multifarious ways to illuminate reality…” • (Burkert 1985: 120).

• “A with collective importance” • (Powell, 2009: 2) Logos

• An argument • A statement or story based on comparative evaluation or collection of data • The result of a process • A study • Bio-logy, Socio-logy, mytho-logy • Powell: • logos is defined by authorship, it has a known origin, • mythos is anonymous, it exists in a social milieu undefined by its origin Truth and Falsehood

• “The poet and the historian differ not by writing in verse or in prose… The true difference is that one relates what has happened, the other what may happen. , therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular.” • ( Poetics 1451a. 35 – b.5) • The ‘truth’ about the past did not matter. “Acceptance and belief where what counted” (Finley, 1965: 299). Greekness

• Greek: • Is a cultural definition • Language • Custom • Religious practices • Direct connection to the myth cycle • The only reason to preserve community memory beyond the stories of three or four generations is for the explanation or justification of religious and socio-political orders. Oral tradition is a tool for the maintenance of the status quo (Finley, 1965: 297-8). A myth is…

• A myth is any communally ratified narrative that serves to define or legitimate membership in the community, but which is not, and must not be, subject to examination. Indeed, any expression of doubt or skepticism identifies the miscreant as an alien. (just my thoughts…) Tradition

• Orally transmitted through bards: • Aiodos • Ode • Mythode • • Stories are handed down generation to generation essentially intact… • But they are subject to change Olympian Gods

• • • • • • • • • • • • Zeus

• Indo-European Father? • Dewos PIE • Zeus, Dios : Greek • Daiva: Old Persian • Deva: Sanksrit • Tues: Germanic • Diespiter: Old Latin • (Dies Pater: the Father) • Latin Ca. 750 BC Legacy

• : – Socio-economic treatise – and • : – Origins of the world from – Origins of the gods • : – Songs of praise to individual gods Theogony

• From the Heliconian let us begin to sing… • Hesiod Theogony 1.

• And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, • Hesiod Theogony 25. The Muses’ Claim

‘Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame, mere bellies, we know how to speak many false things as though they were true; but we know, when we will, to speak true things.' Hesiod Theogony 26 – 28 • Myth and religion are not ‘true.’ They are paradigms of the truth; representations. • Myth is a cultural charter: • It is not content that matters… • It is the knowing Theogony

• From the void emerged: – Chaos – () – (Love) – (A place beneath ) • It takes nine days to fall from Earth to Tartarus (Theog. 721-23). Theogony Creation from the Void:

Chaos

Erebus Nux (Night) A dark place between Earth and Hades

Aether (Atmosphere) Hemere (Day) Theogony Creation from the Void:

Gaia (Earth)

Uranus (Heaven) (Sea)

Oceanus Cruis Mnemosune The First Struggle

• Heaven was hated by his children • Cronus castrated Heaven and the blood of Heaven produced:

Erinyes Aphrodite = Eros Desire Cronus then became King of the gods and trapped his brothers inside Earth

Titans and Gods Heaven = Earth

Cronus = Rhea

Hestia Hera Demeter Hades Poseidon Zeus

• Cronus, fearing his children, swallowed the first five. • Rhea appealed to Heaven and Earth and they protected Zeus and hid him on Zeus

• Defeated Cronus • Freed his own siblings • Freed the , brothers of Cronus • As a reward, they gave Zeus the thunder and lightning • Zeus divided the spheres amongst his brothers: • Zeus, Heaven: • Hades, Underworld: • Poseidon, the Sea. Titans and Mortals

• Zeus defeated the Titans • • Imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus • Zeus created a fourth race: • “righteous god-like race” • Some died at Thebes • Some died at • The rest live on the Islands of the Blessed ruled by Cronus The Greek Mind

• Humans exist outside of the natural and divine matrix • Events are predetermined by Fate • There is no free will because fate cannot be changed • It is God’s will. • Is that not an abrogation of responsibility? • In the ; the gods made me miss, the gods broke my spear, the gods made me run away… The Three Maxims

ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ ΜΗ∆ΕΝ ΑΓΑΝ ΕΓΓΥΑ ΠΑΡΑ ∆ ΑΤΑ • Know yourself • Nothing in Excess • An oath sworn will be your ruin The Tragic Trilogy

• • Pride, entitlement, a sense of superiority. • Ate • Foolishness, recklessness • • Divine retribution Legacy

• Iliad: – Story of the dispute between and – “Sing to me oh Muses the wrath of Achilles…” • : – Story of ’ ten year voyage home from Troy. Legacy

• Defined “Greekness” – Hesiod and Homer gave the their conception of the gods (Hdt. ii.53) • Foundational texts of Greek culture • Similar to the : – Basis for cultural and religious instruction – Common reference • Earliest epics in Western world – Still regarded amongst the greatest works of Who Was Homer?

• Lived ca 1050- ca 850 BC • Nineteen birthplaces • Most Likely: – Lived ca 850 BC – From (Chios) – Composed (collected) the works as songs – A single epithet representing a number of unknowable sources