First Gods

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First Gods

• Hesiods Theogony

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Greek Influence on Roman Religion

• Greeks were a much older civilization (height of
  their civilization was 5th century BCE)
• Romans, when they conquered the Greeks in the 146
  BCE, were very impressed by the art and
  literature of the Greeks. This art and
  literature was highly influenced by their
  mythology/religion, so the Romans incorporated
  much Greek religion as their own religious
  beliefs. Romans were also influenced by the
  Etruscans who lived in Northern Italy and
  followed Greek religion.

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Hesiods Theogony

• Hesiod was Greek poet born in the 700s BCE. He
  wrote (or simply wrote down) two poems, the
  Theogony and Works and Days.
• The Theogony outlines the Birth of the Gods,
  but since the Greeks believed the gods
  represented the universe and all things in it,
  this also is a story about the Birth of the
  Universe or cosmogony (Like Genesis it is a
  creation story)

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Theogony

• Lines 117 - 289

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Highlights from the Theogony

• In the beginning, there was
• Abyss
• Gaia earth (Tellus)
• Tartaros underground
• Eros love as creative energy/force (Cupid)

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Highlights from the Theogony (contd)

• Gaia, by parthenogenesis, gave birth to
• Ouranos starry heaven (Uranos)
• Mountains
• Sea

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Highlights from the Theogony (contd)

• Gaia coupled with Ouranos and bore
• The Titans overreaching
• including in this number Kronos/Cronus (Saturn)
  and Rheia/Rhea (Magna Mater)
• The Cyclopes
• The Hundred-handers
• Ouranos (Uranus), however, pushed these children
  back into Gaia (Tellus) because he feared an
  loathed them. Kronos (Saturn) finally castrated
  his father and set himself and his siblings free.

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Highlights from the Theogony (contd)

• The castration of Ouranos created
• From the blood
• Furies
• Giants
• Meliai
• From the genitals
• Aphrodite (Venus)

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Highlights from the Theogony (contd)

• Kronos forced himself on Reia and produced the
  Olympians
• Hestia (Vesta) Demeter (Ceres)
• Hera (Juno) Hades (Pluto)
• Poseidon (Neptune) Zeus (Jove/Jupiter)
• Kronos (Saturn), however, afraid to be overthrown
  by one of his children, swallowed his children as
  soon as they were born. Zeus (Jupiter), having
  been hidden away by his mother, eventually
  tricked Kronos (Saturn) into throwing up his
  siblings.

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Highlights from the Theogony (contd)

• Titanomachy
• Kronos (Saturn) was not happy with Zeus (Jupiter)
  and gathered the other Titans against Him and his
  siblings (Olympians).
• Zeus freed the hundred-handers and the Cyclopes.
  He received the lightning bolt from the Cyclopes
  and with the fighting power of the
  hundred-handers and the Olympians, defeated the
  Titans and kept them from overtaking Mount
  Olympus.
• Atlas, as leader of the Titans, forced to
  support the sky because he did not support
  Zeus and Titans are imprisoned in Tartaros.

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Highlights from the Theogony (contd)

• Zeus will have to go through a few more trials
  before gaining power, but that is for next time

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Interpretations

• How is this world created?
• How is this story patriarchal?
• Is there evolution in this story and its
  characters?
• How does this story mimic nature?
• What does this story tell us about the Greeks?

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