Over at the Kosmos Society we were
discussing the slyness of certain Greek gods; Zeus, Cronus and Prometheus in
particular. Or maybe I should say especially, because in general the
Olympians are pretty trustworthy as a group. (Well, of course as Casanova
says, as to the deceit perpetrated in the name of Love, we must let it pass).
The Olympians had the River Styx to swear by, Earth, Sky and Sun to
witness oaths and rules of behavior to live by in their society.
The Aesir, the Norse version of the Olympians are
notoriously deceitful. They cheated the craftsman who built Asgard, (their
Mount Olympus) they tricked a clan of craftsmen into building several amazing
tools which were never paid for, every arranged marriage and hostage swap was a
fraud. The ever growing list of enemies and accumulating bad karma
eventually tipped the scales and their universe came tumbling down.
When it comes to deceit the most famous battle of
wits in Greek Mythology is the battle between King Zeus and the Titan
Prometheus. Comparative mythology tries to make the Norse god
Loki a counterpart to sly Prometheus, but the two trickster-gods had little in
common. The Titan is the god of smithies, craftsmen and the creator of
mankind. Loki is the god of malicious mischief, eventually evil manifest. Though they seem to have nothing in common maybe
upon analysis their stories have something in common and some insights for us.
I will try to make the stories short.
At the city of Mecone in a golden age when gods and
men still dined together and the living was easy, Prometheus set out meat
portions for the gods and mankind. He tricked King Zeus into selecting
the worse portion for the gods. In retaliation Zeus withheld (cooking)
fire from mortals. Prometheus
stole fire on our behalf . Zeus returned
the favor by marrying Pandora to Prometheus’ brother. Her dowry included
all the afflictions and illnesses of mankind. Prometheus was chained to a
mountain and a eagle gnawed at his self-rejuvenating liver daily.
Eventually, “even immortal Zeus released the Titans”. Prometheus
too joined his brothers on the Island of the Blessed where gods, the
spirits of the heroes and souls of the pure found the living was easy.
In Norse mythology, Balder was the god of everything
wonderful. Like everything, like sunshine which is a big thing if you
live in Scandinavia. Loki tricked the blind god Hod into slaying Balder.
Hod was slain by the Aesir in revenge and King Odin sends a messenger to
the underworld in hopes of rescuing his son Balder. His messenger found
Balder and Hod sitting down to a splendid dinner with their hostess the goddess
Hel herself. Hel could only release Balder if everything in the world wept for
Balder. Did I mention that Balder was the god of everything wonderful.
The Aesir’s worse enemies the Frost Giants wept for Balder, the other gods the
Vanir, men, elves, monsters, rocks, trees all wept, everything, except one mean
old lady. Eventually the Aesir realize that Loki is the actual murderer
of Balder and the mean old lady in disguise. In revenge Loki is chained
with a viper hung over his head that drips venom into his face.
Eventually he escapes and leads the forces of chaos that destroy the
universe at Raganork. After the Fire Giants destroy what is left, from the boiling
sea arises Balder’s estate with Hod, a handful of gods and the innocents who
had hidden in his forested lands. The
game of dice, with which the gods played in their youth while they were yet free
from care, is found again among the flowers on the new earth
It never occurred to me that Prometheus was the one
that destroyed the golden age that began under the reign of Zeus’ predecessor .
A state of existence the gods too seemed to enjoy considering the number
of times Zeus attempted to duplicate it at dinner parties (Ixion,
Tantalus)
These tales seem to speak of the power of
forgiveness. Maybe Gaia cut a deal with Zeus for the release of the Titans, no
more Typhons and Gigantes. But maybe forgiveness was what saved Zeus’ world
from the destruction that Odin’ world suffered
Good comparison! Indeed, Olympians were better than the Aesir.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, however, that the Mecone party was still in the Golden Age. The Theogony 535 says that it was a "separating" event. It was presumably called to clarify the terms of the "divorce" between gods and humans and to regulate the interaction between them in the future by the institution of sacrifice.
To me, this is why the act of Prometheus was "once & always". If it was just a regular Golden Age party, we'd expect him to be bound by earlier "once & always" generous distribution of meat. But there was no precedent, Prometheus was the "First Sacrificer". Hesiod says that he volunteered for this role, but keeps silence why Zeus agreed.
Tricksters, Rebel gods, aré the true saviors of mankind. Enki, Lucifer, Loki, Prometheus, Samyaza were punished to give knowledge to mankind and face the tirany and hipocrisy of the "good" gods. These "villains" represents liberation, freedom and change to the chains of the true villains (abrahamic religions)
ReplyDeletefeel the same way
DeleteAn enduring truth.
DeleteBoth stories seem to represent the same character, especially as ancient mythologies were not, as you present them, written in stone. For example Prometheus' release seems to be a late addition by action of Chiron, the wise centaur. It seems that men (who are the creators of these stories after all, unless it's women) pitied their creator and benefactor and decided to save him from eternal torment. But in the original (unedited) story he's still suffering torment chained to Mt. Caucasus.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the Norse mythology version does not depict Loki as benefactor of humankind in any way, although, for his association to the jotun, he's clearly an outsider in Valhalla, much like Prometheus is as titan.
As the Germanics and Greeks had not been connected since the time of Indoeuropean conquest of Central Europe (Corded Ware and Vucedol cultures), this implies IMO that both myths are the same at their core but have been adapted through the centuries (maybe 2000 years or more) to different contexts.
Much like the Hebrew Yaweh has (very especially in derived sects like Christianity and Islam) an antagonist (Satan, which shares as "the serpent of Eden" characteristics with Prometheus, the knowledge-giver, a clear symptom of partial East Mediterranean mythological synchretism of some sort), the Indoeuropean supreme god (Zeus-Odin) has apparently this need for an antagonist, which is always associated to pre-Indoeuropean belief layers (jotuns in the Nordic case, representing Vasconic megalithic cosmology, titans in the Greek case, representing Pelasgo-Tyrsenian one).