Over the Thanksgiving holiday I read Jenny Strauss
Clay’s “Hesiod’s Cosmos”. Looking at
previous blogposts. Apparently this is
my third read-through. Apparently, her
insights are sticking, because as I read through my posts and studied the
underlined items in the text, I said to myself, “I knew this already.”
So the insights I offer here are a little different
for a couple of reasons. 1) My next big article will be about Aeacus and
Arbitration in Ancient Greek myth.
2) Freed from having to follow
the now well-known arguments, I could now read for enjoyment alone. I hope you will do the same. All quotes are
from Clay unless noted otherwise.
Aeacus
and Arbitration
“To favored kings they (the Muses) dispense
the mollifying rhetoric that has the power to resolve even a great quarrel;
those who have been wronged are sooth and reconciled.”
“The people all look to him as he discerns the
ordinances with straight judgments and he speaking without stumbling, quickly
and expertly makes and end even to a big quarrel.”
Theogony 84-87
“The setting is
clearly a communal feast shared by gods and men[i] a dias, whose very name derives from the act of
division or apportionment; hence the formulaic expression, dais eish,
referring to a fair and equitable distribution.
As a social institution, the dias
eish
involves two distinct kinds of apportionment; the first is a division into
strictly equal parts…the second constitutes the portion of honor the geras, assigned in recognition of particular
excellence or esteem. With his division
of the meat, Prometheus honors men by giving them all the edible parts of the
ox. By this very act, he deprives the
gods of that part of the dais eish
that legitimately belong to them.”
Random
Notes
“The
gods in their blissful state needed the presence of inferior creatures to enjoy
their superiority fully.”
“Pandora, who is coeval with the hiding of bios” Hey, same as Eve.
μηδέ ποτ᾽ οὐλομένην πενίην
θυμοφθόρον ἀνδρὶ τέτλαθ᾽ ὀνειδίζειν,
Don’t ever dare to blame
a man for cursed soul-destroying poverty.
Theogony
717
“Cereberus
will later receive a place and function in the organization of Tartarus,
ensuring that the dead cannot escape from the underworld.” This is wrong. Cereberus is there to keep the living from
accidentally wandering in.
“At the outset,
the cosmos came into being when Gaia became oppressed by the burden of her
children within; so now in a parallel fashion
the external pressure of human population weighs her down.” I think a better parallel is that the cosmos
came into being when Gaia was oppressed by the constant weight of Uranus upon
her and now “the external pressure of
human population weighs her down”. Gee, what does that say about us? The severing of the demi-gods from their
lives at Thebes and Troy constitutes a new dispensation, because the gods like
their grandfather Uranus pull back from the earth. “It
renders permanent the gulf separating the eternal gods from ephemeral mortals.”
It is the birth of the Iron Age, when
Man rules.
“I am convinced
that meaning inheres in form.”
“The
succession of races is not linear but cyclical; at the end of the age of
iron…the cycle of races stars again with a new golden age or more likely a new
age of heroes as the sequence reverse itself.”
“Thebes,
traditionally reputed to be the first city.”
“Thebes
and Troy where the heroes demonstrate their valor – and perhaps provide
entertainment for the gods.”
[i]
The feast at Mecone celebrating the victory of the Olympians and their allies
over the Titans. It is the time of the
Great Dispensation when Zeus allotted each their prerogatives, privileges and
powers.
Bill,
ReplyDeleteI just love how Clay and other authors describe the minor incident at Mecone.
They do not dwell on speculations about how it comes that gods and humans got at Mecone negotiating, and Prometheus got the knife in his hand. Is there any clue in Hesiod's text that it was a feast, or that something was actually eatern there? Methinks that all talk of the happy feast allegedly disturbed by Prometheus was a later invention. I also suppose that the story, if told in entirety, would contain more unpleasing moments for Zeus, because it is about these moments that Hesiod likes to keep silence.
I also wonder why gods are considered by these authors "justly" entitled to 50% (or more) of an animal that is 100% supplied by humans. Even gods don't share this opinion. No god except Zeus is said to be angry after the Mecone trick. When gods want a sacrifice, they have their methods to secure it. And they never demand "strictly equal parts". Incinerating 50% of food would bring any ancient society to starvation.
About Cerberus I agree with Clay. I even wonder, was Cerberus truly alive? What if he didn't survive his struggle with Heracles?
Maya,
ReplyDeleteYes it was a feast, a diaz, celebrating their victory over the Titans. Here is where they divided up the spoils. It wasn’t just the gods who got honors and privelges, but men (and animals too, but I don’t recall a reference) There are certain advantages to mortality as Chiron can attest.
The thing I find puzzlingly about the debate over the sacrifice is why the gods cared at all. Admittedly the divine society’s shift in dietary laws was evolutionary. And yes the generation before had no problem gulping down wine, meat and bread. But the generation of gods after the Titanomachy like Hermes would not even be able to eat meat at all. They would live on ambrosia and nectar solely. ( How come we have no foundation myths about the food of the gods?)
Prometheus was apportioning every’s share of the roast because he was their male herald before falling from grace
Cereberus was actually the ghost of Cereberus? Now there is a thought
Bill
Bill,
ReplyDeleteSo you think that there was just one Mecone conference? The gathering where Prometheus divided meat was the same one where Zeus exiled his brother to the barren sea and told the other brother, literally, to go to Hell? Interesting. I suppose that not only Prometheus but also many Olympians were not happy with the allocation of domains. This explains also why no Olympian except Zeus is said to be angry at Prometheus.
If so, then before this event gods feasted with mortals because the former were Titan gods who did not need ambrosia and could eat meat. Olympians seem to have inborn errors of metabolism; they (or at least some of them) cannot eat meat without becoming mortal; it also seems that they depend on ambrosia and would become mortal without it, though, as far as I know, this is not stated directly anywhere.
Incidentally, every case of Olympian rebellion against Zeus about which we have information is either in alliance with mortals (Demeter) or because of mortals (Apollo, Hera and all cases in the Iliad except Hephaestus, who is however helped by mortals afterwards). Zeus has a good reason to "pull the veil" separating gods and mortals.
Maya,
ReplyDeleteThere is that theory that there are two Mecone like events.
Ares almost died whe two giants stuffed him in an urn for 7 months. If the Cyclops and 100-Handers were in Tartarus weren’t they technicaly “dead” until revived by ambrosia and nectar?
Bill
Bill,
ReplyDeleteWe know that different parts of mythology do not fit together well. If a god deprived of ambrosia falls into vita minima, he would not be dangerous, at least not until someone offers him an ambrosia snack. However, the imprisoned Titans are chained, well guarded and regarded as a constant threat.
At the same time, the Hymn to Demeter implies that gods would starve without sacrifices, and Aristophanes' Birds is based on this premise. (This is of course only for Olympians; Titans are just fine without any sacrifices.)
Maya,
ReplyDeleteYou got to wonder how they are doing these days
Bill
My guess:
ReplyDelete"...There round the Islands of the Blest (Nesoi Makaron), the winds of Okeanos (Oceanus) play, and golden blossoms burn, some nursed upon the waters, others on land on glorious trees..." "...the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year..." "Snow and tempest and thunderstorms never enter there..."
http://www.theoi.com/Kosmos/Elysion.html
Maya,
DeleteNice thought for the evening. Thank you