Lecture Six.

Immortals and Mortals

 

Theogony concentrates on the coming-into-being of the gods; it does not contain a creation story for humans at all.

-          The subject of Theogony is the gods, and its purpose is to describe how they arranged the developed their society. Humans are largely irrelevant in this context.

-          Humans are mentioned in Theogony, but the creation of men (as opposed to women) is not described; they are simply there.

-          Men appear in Theogony when Hesiod describes the first sacrifice at a place called Mekone. This leads into the story of Prometheus and of Pandora, the first woman.

Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetos (brother of Cronos). In Hesiod’s account, Prometheus tries to trick Zeus into taking the less desirable portion of the first sacrifice so that men will have the better portion. In retaliation, Zeus punishes humans.

-          Zeus’s first reaction to Prometheus is deceit is to hide fire from man.

-          Because Zeus is a god of justice, it is striking that he acts here in what seems to be a very unjust way, punishing humans for Prometheus’s transgressions.

-          This is our first view of the relationship between gods and humans in Greek myth. The gods do not love humans or feel compelled to treat them fairly; rather, humans are useful but expendable.

-          In his role as god of justice, Zeus supervises justice between humans. This does not necessarily imply that a comparable form of justice exists between gods and humans.

-          Prometheus steals the fire back for humanity, which brings down further punishment.

-          Prometheus is chained to a pillar to have his liver eaten daily by an eagle, Zeus’s sacred bird. The liver regenerates and is eaten again the next day.

-          Men are punished by the creation of the first woman, Pandora.

-          The Prometheus story highlights several of the problems of studying myth through literature that I mentioned in the first lecture.

-          The story includes unexplained elements. Zeus seems to have a particular grudge against Prometheus’s entire family, but Hesiod does not say why.

-          Nor does he say why Prometheus wants to help humans. According to some later authors, Prometheus created humans, but Hesiod does not say so.

Prometheus’s story is obviously very important.

-          Notice that fire equals to civilization, or “culture.”

-          What Prometheus brings men is culture. Later authors specifically make this equation.

-          The impetus for his story- the first sacrifice- is very important in this context. Sacrifice can be seen as representing the transition from precivilization to civilization.

-          Burkert believes that sacrifice is a means to displace the guilt felt over hunting and killing animals.

-          The first sacrifice would be the moment at which hominids made the transition from guilt-free animals to guilt-feeling humans, the moment at which civilization, or society in general, comes into being.

-          If the myth is read in this way, it is probably no surprise that sex appears at just this point, because one function of society is to regulate the relationship between the sexes.

-          Guilt over killing animals is not the only possible guilt men might feel over sacrifice.

-          When we look at the myth from outside its original culture, we understand why humans eat the sacrificed animal.

-          Within the culture that developed this myth, the fact that the gods receive the inferior portion of sacrifice would be troubling. Thus, the idea that the establishment of sacrifice somehow entailed punishment makes sense.

The story of Pandora also occurs in Hesiod’s other great work, works and days. In Theogony the emphasis is on Prometheus’s wrongdoing and his punishment, but in Works and Days the emphasis is on Pandora herself.

-          In Works and Days, the first woman is named; in Theogony, she is nameless. The name Pandora is ambiguous; it may mean “gift of all” or “all giver”

-          In work and days, Pandora’s creation is described in more detail.

-          She is sent not to men in general but to Prometheus’s brother Epimetheus.

-          She has a jar that contains all the evils of the world, as well as Hope. When Pandora opens the jar, the evils fly out, but Hope remains just under the lid of the jar.

Pandora’s story is often compared to that of the biblical Eve. The differences seem more striking than the similarities, however, and have several important implications for our understanding of the relationship between the sexes in Greek mythology.

-          Both Pandora and Eve are responsible for the advent of evil into the world.

-          Eve was created in the first place as a helper for Adam

-          Pandora is evil from her very creation.

-          Eve is created out of Adam’s body, but Pandora is a different type of creature. This seems to imply those women are seen as different in kind from men, rather than as simply the female sex of the human species.

-          This is our first example of the deep-seated misogyny that runs through much of classical myth.

The presence of Hope in Pandora’s jar is both striking and difficult to interpret.

-          The most common modern interpretation is that no matter how bad things get, “we still have hope.” This view ignores two points:

-          Hope is still in the jar, not out in the world they way the evils are.

-          If Hope is a good thing, why is it in the jar of evils to begin with?

-          Another interpretation is that Hope’s retention in the jar is meant to indicate that there is no hope, that even that small relief of evil is absent for mankind.

-          The key may be that the word translated as Hope, elepis, is in fact ambiguous, both good and evil, more like expectation. It is being caught under the lip of the jar may indicate the two-edged nature of elpis.

The myth of Pandora lends itself especially well to psychological interpretations.

-          The jar can be read as representing Pandora’s womb.

-          Pandora- and all women- are responsible for evil in that they are responsible for life itself, by giving birth.

-          At the same time that birth inflicts all the evils of life on the one born, it is also the only hope for continuity available to humans.

-          Thus, the jar/ womb contain both evil and hope.

-          One a deeper level, the description of Pandora can be seen as reflecting male anxieties about and resentments of sexual reproduction.

-          In a strongly patriarchal society, it is all-important for men to have sons.

-          The only way to achieve sons is through women.

-          The woman can be seen as controlling the man’s ultimate destiny.

-          The jar, which Pandora can choose to open could represent this fear/ resentment of female power.

-          We will see other examples of this anxiety and resentment about women, along with fears of what they would do if they gained power.

At this point, we need to pull together several threads and consider the overall relationship of gods and humans. First, we will recap the essential nature of the gods.

-          The term “god” is regularly used to translate the Greek Theos, but for modern readers this translation can bring serious misconceptions.

-          Modern Western readers tend to assume that a god must by definition be good, merciful and just.

-          We tend to assume that a god must by definition be omniscient and omnipotent.

-          We ten to assume that a god must by definition have created the universe and must feel love toward human beings.

-          Despite the anthropomorphic language often used to describe God, we tend to assume that god does not really have a body or human-like appetites and passions.

-          All these assumptions are false for the gods of classical mythology.

-          They are not consistently good, or merciful or even (apparently) just. Their anthropomorphism means that they share in humanity’s less appealing attributes and emotions. They can be jealous, spiteful, and cruel.

-          Though they know a great deal, they are not omniscient; though very powerful, they are not omnipotent.

-          They are not transcendent. In other words, they did not create the universe but are part of it. According to the earliest traditions, they did not even create human beings.

-          They are not loving, devoted caretakers of humanity. They do not care about us as a species and rarely even as individuals.

-          Although they are more personifications of natural forces, emotions, or processes, such personification is an important element of their characters. This helps to explain their emotional detachment from humans and their mercilessness.