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Did the Ancient Greeks Develop a •Œhappy Philology, vol. 4/2018/2019, pp. 9–34 © 2019 Gabriele Roccella - DOI https://doi.org/10.3726/PHIL042019.1 Articles Did the Ancient Greeks Develop a “Happy Mythology” for Pastoral Gods? Exercises in Comparative Approaches to Divine Genealogies Gabriele Roccella University of Calgary, Canada Abstract This essay aims at integrating the study of Greek mythology – with a special focus on Pan, Hermes and Apollo as pastoral gods – through the hermeneutical resources offered by Indo-European (IE) linguistics and comparative approaches. The goal is to ascertain the existence of a special discourse underlying specific Ancient Greek narratives concerning these pastoral gods and the processes through which they came to be associated with the pastoral sphere - when that was not their originary domain. Going from the specifics of Contents the Greek mythological universe to the broader themes which constitute Indo-European thought patterns and back to the Greek context again, this essay suggests that the Ancient Greeks assumed a special, humorous tone when dealing with mythical matter concerning Articles 9 the pastoral sphere, reflecting many aspects of the reality of their daily lives. Did the Ancient Greeks Develop a “Happy Mythology” for Keywords Comparative Mythology, Indo-European, Pastoral gods, Apollo, Pan, Hermes Pastoral Gods? Exercises in Comparative Approaches to Divine Genealogies 9 Gabriele Roccella 9 Introduction This essay aims at integrating the study of Greek mythology – with a spe- cial focus on Pan, Hermes and Apollo as pastoral gods – with the tools and hermeneutical resources offered by recent advancements in Indo- European (IE) linguistics and comparative approaches, both with cognate Indo- European cultures and Near-Eastern, non-IE ones. More specifically, it is my purpose here to verify the possibility of recognizing a special dis- course underlying a few specific Ancient Greek narratives concerning the births of the three pastoral gods mentioned above, and the stories and pro- cesses through which they came to be associated with the pastoral sphere - if that was not an originary domain but an acquired one, as it might be the case for Apollo and, partly, Hermes. Philology, vol. 4/2018/2019 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 10 Gabriele Roccella While I cannot hope to produce a complete survey here, I still intend to demonstrate some possible approaches, going from the specifics of the Greek mythological universe to the broader themes which constitute Indo- European thought patterns, and back to the Greek context again – includ- ing brief incursions into themes that came to the Greeks from their contacts with the Near East. I trust this attempt will encourage more research on these topics in the future. At the same time, I hope I will have succeeded in showing that indeed it appears that the Ancient Greeks assumed a special, more humorous (mock-epic?) and lighter tone when dealing with mythical matter concerning the pastoral sphere, as opposed to the more serious, def- initely epic tone in which they conceived and expressed the genealogies and power struggles of the cosmic rulers Ouranos, Kronos and Zeus1. 1. Hesiod and the Near East In Hesiod’s Theogony, the birth stories and the succession of cosmic rulers are suggestive of a progression towards an increasingly civilized, well- ordered universe. This claim is easily verifiable: let us briefly review the sequence of the first generations2. After a proemial hymn to the Muses (vv. 1 – 115), the deities spawned from the Chasm (Chaos) and Earth (Gaiē) are presented, alongside an account of the pre-eminent power figures and the struggles in their suc- cession. This progression goes from a primeval, violent rule of Earth’s 1 This essay originates from one of the (many) essay questions I was given by my Supervisory Committee as aids and starting points for developing the themes I am investigating in my PhD dissertation. Namely, the question was as follows: “Hesiod’s succession of gods moves from primordial forces to a civilized, well-ordered cosmos. Is there a similar pattern in the succession of pastoral, solar deities? Is this Greek only or is there an Indo-European pattern?”. My answers to this question gave shape to most of the following paper, which constitutes a snapshot of my ongoing research on these topics. This will help the reader to understand and, hopefully, forgive certain disparities in the treatment of my mythical subjects (Apollo in particular is a victim of this work-in-progress) which will be corrected in my future studies. 2 For a brief outline of the sections into which the poem can be divided according to the description of the genealogies, see Most 2006, pp. XXIV – XXVI. Philology, vol. 4/2018/2019 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Did the Ancient Greeks Develop a “Happy Mythology” for Pastoral Gods? 11 son-husband Ouranos (Sky), who would not let his offspring come out of Earth, to the vengeance of his son Kronos who, by castrating the Sky, separates it from Earth and liberates his brothers and sisters, acquiring the right to rule. In Puhvel’s words, “with his male powers gone, Ouranos is eo ipso dethroned”3. Kronos’ rule then follows a similar pattern: having mar- ried Rhea, he does not let his children live free but swallows them himself. Zeus is hidden from his father at birth and grows up to be an avenger on Kronos, making him regurgitate all of his siblings4, overthrowing his rule and establishing his own, thanks to the liberation of the Hekatoncheiroi (Hundred-Handed Giants) and the defeat of a final opponent, the mon- strous dragon-like Typhon, with the weapons of thunder and lightning (as well as with Aegipan’s help – see below). The gods’ functions are then apportioned. No more violent succes- sions are allowed to take place: in a similar manner to Kronos, Zeus swal- lows Metis, his first wife, whose pregnancy would have brought forth the one destined to overthrow him. By “appropriating her essence and pre- venting the possibility of a further succession”5, the chain of violent over- throwing is broken. Zeus is the eternal ruler6. The current scholarly consensus, arisen “from the time of the discovery of the Hittite texts Kingship in Heaven and The Myth of Ullikummi”7, recog- nizes this violent succession model as originating in Near Eastern cultural contexts. The version in Hesiod’s Theogony would reveal to relay an incorp- oration into Greek beliefs of older sources, that have been heavily influenced by Phoenician and Babylonian (possibly even Sumerian) theogonic accounts8. Since the Hittite texts too appear to have elaborated this model on Hurrite sources9, this view does not seem to admit the possibility of an 3 Puhvel 1987, p. 27. 4 His act of freeing them from within Kronos is counted as a second birth and makes Zeus an older brother to all of them; see below on the importance of age for asserting authority. 5 Harrell 1991, p. 322. 6 See Felson 2011, pp. 255 ff. for an outline of structural patterns in succession myths, in Hesiod and other Greek texts. 7 Penglase 1997, p. 156. 8 See West 1971, pp. 28 – 30; in particular, the parallels with the Babylonian Enuma Eliš are significant. A more recent synthesis of Near Eastern elements in the poetry of Hesiod can be found in West 1997. 9 West 1971, pp. 20. Philology, vol. 4/2018/2019 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 12 Gabriele Roccella Indo-European origin for this violent model of the succession myth. What is assumed is that there was a cultural koinē across the ancient Mediterra- nean during the Bronze Age and the so-called Greek Dark Ages10. Indeed, contacts with the Near East were very frequent in the Minoan-Mycenaean period, making it possible for foreign elements to have been (almost) seam- lessly incorporated by the eighth century BC, that is, Hesiod’s times11. This violent pattern is then, quite certainly, not Indo-European. How- ever, it is undeniable that it did serve a purpose within Greek mythical (and religious) thought: in Hesiod’s poem, it allowed for a systematization of the spheres of power, illustrating a principle of just power through the overthrowing of a series of bad sovereigns; Zeus’ “reign both expresses and guarantees cosmic justice and order”12 through his weddings to Themis (Law), fathering Eunomia (Good Order), Dikē (Justice) and Eirēnē (Peace). By elaborating on a mixture of traditional and inherited motifs and characters with other traits and elements acquired by contact with other Mediterranean cultures (and beyond), Hesiod’s poetry gave an ordered dir- ection to the pantheon that is indisputably Greek in its purpose13. Thinking of other gods as being the sons of Zeus, or his younger brothers and sisters, allows the superimposition of another power structure, that of familial roles: older age and parenting are perceived, in Greek myths, as attributes conferring authority and control14. What about the Ancient Greek solar pastoral gods, focusing in par- ticular on Apollo, Pan and Hermes? We do not have a succession as the one we have seen with Sky/Kronos/Zeus in Hesiod, but how does their genealogy work? The mythological narratives have variously re-written the genealogical relationships between Apollo, Hermes and Pan15. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss each of these gods and the possibility of recognizing patterns in their genealogies, or in the stories (and actual history) which explain how they acquired their prominence in the pastoral 10 See Most 2006, p.
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