To my surprise, I wrote quite a few quizzes since
becoming part of Hour 25,
Harvard's community Development effort via the Center
for Hellenic Studies. Here are the
quizzes. I hope you enjoy.
Showing posts with label Greek mythology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greek mythology. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
TFBT: Before and After the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
“I loved her better than myself, but after obtaining possession the balance (swung the other way)” paraphrase from The Memoirs of Casanova,
Chapter XIX
Quoting an eighteenth century adventurer might seem an odd start to a classical study. But, when studying seduction, who would be a better reference. It is clear in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite that the mighty goddess will say whatever it takes to consummate her Zeus given passion for the Trojan prince Anchises. Traditional scholarship assumes that Anchises is being honest in his interactions with the disguised goddess. In this paper I propose that Anchises exaggerates and lies just as much as golden Aphrodite and for the same reason.
I Loved Her Better Than Myself
After a long preamble and scene setting the action starts around line 81 with “She stood before him, the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, looking like an unwed maiden in size of length and appearance.” Clearly she didn’t want to scare off the royal shepherd, so she began her seduction of the Trojan by disguising her appearance.
At 91”Seized with love, Anchises said to her: “Hail, my Lady, you who come here to this home, whichever of the blessed ones you are” (Same sort of flattery that liar Odysseus uses on the fair-faced maiden Nausicaa. Both men flatter the young woman out in the middle of nowhere by suggesting she is Artemis. Odyssey 6:145) Anchises then makes a lengthy guessing about which of the goddesses she is; sort of a descending scale of important goddesses in the Trojan Pantheon. “Artemis or Leto or golden Aphrodite or Themis of noble birth or bright-eyed Athena (95) Or perhaps you are one of the Kharites, you who have come here…Or you are one of those Nymphs who range over beautiful groves, (Dryads) or one of those Nymphs who inhabit this beautiful mountain, (Oreads) and the fountainheads of rivers (Oceanides and Naiads) and grassy meadows. (Leimonides). Then he pours on the flattery ( 100) “ For you, on some high peak, in a spot with a view going all round, I will set up an altar, and I will perform for you beautiful sacrifices” Then speaking like some ancient city’s founding father flirting with eponymous nymph he ask “Grant that I become a man who is distinguished among the Trojans. Make the genealogy that comes after me become a flourishing one. And make me (105) live a very long life and see the light of the sun, blessed in the midst of the people. “
At line 110, in order to keep up appearance the disguised deity says, “No, I am a mortal. The mother that bore me was a woman. My father is Otreus… The nursemaid who brought me up in the palace was a Trojan.11 Ever since I was a small child, 115 she brought me up, … That is why I know your language as well as my own...the Argos-killer [Hermes], abducted me, … He carried me over many fields of mortal humans …And he [Hermes] said that I, in your bed, … would be called your lawfully-wedded wife, and that I would give you splendid children." Hmm, let see beautiful wealthy princess falls from Heaven as a gift to Anchises from the gods. She conveniently speaks his language, is lovely, alone and a great distance from father and brothers. And that horn-dog Hermes delivers her with her virginity intact. If Anchises believes this he's not thinking with his noos or thumos
Line 145 ; “If you are mortal, and if a woman was the mother who gave birth to you, and if Otreus is your father, … and if you are to be called my wife for all days to come…". Does he hesitate out of respect or for fear of the bolt that Iason got? (See Calypso at Odyssey 5:116) or out of wisdom like Diomedes (Iliad 6:122) “ then it is impossible for any god or any mortal human (150) to hold me back, right here, from joining with you in making love right now, on the spot - not even if the one who shoots from afar, Apollo himself, takes aim from his silver bow and shoots his arrows that bring misery. Then, O Lady who looks like the gods, I would willingly, once I have been in your bed, go down into the palace of Hades below.” What player hasn’t used the lie that they would die for their lady love.
After, the Balance Swung the Other Way
At Line 172; “Now that her skin was again beautifully covered over, the resplendent goddess stood by the bed, and the well-built roof-beam - her head reached that high up”. Then she awakes her slumbering lover presumably to tell him about his son, “I got myself a child beneath my waistband, having slept with a male mortal." However she gets interrupted when he complains (188) “…don’t let me become disabled don’t let me live on like that among humans! Please, take pity! I know that no man is full of life, able, if he sleeps with immortal goddesses".
Traditionally, it is assumed that Anchises worries about being "unmanned" by the experience. Nowhere else in Ancient Greek literature is Anchises' concern shared by other heroes. Maybe a close reading further along can shed light on his concern. As a matter of fact the goddess says, "You should have no fear of that I would do any kind of bad thing to you,(195) or that any of the other blessed ones would. For you are philos indeed to the gods." She continues by swearing to fulfill his original request (104) “And you will have a philos son, who will be king among the Trojans. And following him will be generations after generations for all time to come. "
Aphrodite goes on to explain what the results could be for sleeping with a goddess. Obviously he could get the thunderbolt if he goes around bragging about bedding the daughter of Zeus.
The other option is what happen to his cousin Tithonus and great-uncle Ganymede ; "together with the immortal ones (with) the gods in the palace of Zeus… a wonder to behold, given his share of timē by all the immortals, " Aside from the threat of a thunderbolt, the only un-manning mentioned is becoming no longer a man, but a god. Aphrodite is preaching to the choir here. This sort of thing happens a lot to Trojan princes, for example Alexander, that seducer of another daughter of Zeus. The fame of the horse rearing Troy is based on the horses descended from a set sent by Zeus to King Tros to compensate for the loss of Ganymede. And Tithonus' sons will come to Troy in its time of need. So Anchises must know that the second option is the likely reward for a Trojan prince who sleeps with a goddess. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out too well for cousin Tithonus. When his lover Eos, Titaness of the Dawn, asked that he receive endless life, she forgot to ask for eternal youth, too. As a consequence, to Tithonus "hateful old age was pressing hard on him, with all its might, and he couldn’t move his limbs, much less lift them up,..and he has no strength at all, ". I suggest that this is the unmanning that Anchises fears. He knows from family lore that he had a good chance that he "would be immortal and ageless, just like the gods." And he took his best shot at attaining it. But Aphrodite’s heartless response was “If you could only stay the way you are, in looks and constitution, staying alive as my lawfully-wedded husband… But now wretched old age will envelop you, “
Their son will be raised by some of the long-lived nymphs Anchises had listed earlier. Aphrodite will bring the child, Aeneas, to Troy someday for his father to raise. One last warning to be discrete and the goddess is gone.
In Summary
Before, in order to seduce Anchises, Aphrodite appears to him as a beautiful, rich virgin alone in the woods. In order to flatter the “maiden” he, just like Odysseus, compares her to a goddess. In order to tempt Anchises she tells him she is far from her father and fated for her bed. Anchises hesitates only a moment then leads her to his bed, their mutual seduction complete.
Afterwards, Aphrodite stays long enough to tell the mortal they will have a son. Anchises makes a backhanded request for endless life and eternal youth. Aphrodite says not.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
TFBT: Send Me to Some Man in Phrygia or Fair Maeonia
From the ramparts of doomed Ilion Helen’s heart yearned [Iliad 3:140] after her former husband, her city, and her parents…” Sitting with her father-in-law King Priam she says (Iliad 3:235) “…many other glancing-eyed Achaeans whose names I could tell you, but there are two whom I can nowhere find, Castor, breaker of horses, and Polydeukes the mighty boxer; they are children of my mother, and own brothers to myself. Either they have not left Lacedaemon, or else, though they have brought their ships, they will not show themselves in battle for the shame and disgrace that I have brought upon them." She knew not that both these heroes were already lying under the earth in their own land of Lacedaemon.”
From the city wall Priam and Helen watched the winner-take-all duel between Menelaus, Helens’ former husband and Paris (Alexander) her current husband. It rapidly becomes clear that Paris will lose the fight.
Just before Menelaus drags the Trojan prince into the ranks of the Achaeans, the goddess Aphrodite snatches her favorite (Paris) from the victor’s grasp. Then she takes the form of Aethra, mother of Theseus an elderly handmaiden “of whom she (Helen) was very fond. Thus disguised she plucked her by perfumed robe and said, (Iliad 3:390] "Come here; Alexander says you are to go to the house; he is on his bed in his own room, radiant with beauty and dressed in gorgeous apparel. No one would think he had just come from fighting, but rather that he was going to a dance or had done dancing and was sitting down." 395 With these words she moved the heart of Helen to anger “ When she marked the beautiful neck of the goddess, her lovely bosom, and sparkling eyes, she marveled at her and said, "Goddess, why do you thus beguile me? (Iliad 3:400) Are you going to send me afield still further to some man whom you have taken up in Phrygia or fair Maeonia? “
Why would Helen think;
1. she was going to be given away again?
2. And why to some man in Phrygia or fair Maeonia?
Why Helen assumed she would be going to Phrygia or Maeonia (Lydia) might most easily be explained by a conversation at Iliad 18:285 “In the old-days the city of Priam was famous the whole world over for its wealth of gold and bronze, [290] but our treasures are wasted out of our houses, and much goods have been sold away to Phrygia and fair Maeonia.” In other words everything else the Trojans had of value ended up in these two nations to support the war effort Why not golden Helen?. Walter Leaf (Troy: a study in Homeric geography) suggests Helen infers that Aphrodite intends to send her to the slave markets there, but that’s not really event in the text and we know that is not the goddess’ intention. However, Helen might have a different perspective on this issue. We will get to her unique perspective on slave auctions shortly. It could also be that she was referring to Aphrodite’s claim to being a princess from Phrygia (The Homeric hymn to Aphrodite 106)
As to why Helen assumed she was going to be given to some man again; that’s probably because that’s what happen last time someone kidnapped her. The previous time some man kidnapped Helen it was Theseus King of Athens. Theseus handed the underage Helen off to his mother Aethra for safe keeping and went off on other adventures. The Sparta army led by her brothers Castor and Polydeukes defeated Athens and took their sister home. (Apollodorus Epitome 1.23) A few months later she was of marriageable age and all the princes of Greece gathered at Sparta plying her father with gifts in hopes of obtaining her hand. Even if Helen got to choose her husband which seems doubtful , the whole affair could look like nothing but a fancy slave auction.
So, here stood Helen upon the windy ramparts of her current kidnapper’s capital, a white shawl across her head and shoulders. Surely during the extensive ceremony preceding the duel, she realized her brothers were dead. They had rescued her before. Every Achaean prince stood before the city. She would have jumped to that sad conclusion. Next she was publicly humiliated when her cowardly kidnapper/husband fled the field of battle. By the terms of the truce Menelaus had won. Based on passed previous experience she would go home with him and a few months later be given to someone else. This hurricane of emotions might explain the anger and vehemence of her response to the goddess of beauty and why Helen assumed Aphrodite was going to “send (her) afield still further to some man whom you have taken up in Phrygia or fair Maeonia”
Thursday, October 25, 2012
TFBT: The Limen Between War and Art in “The Divine Audience”
During my re-reading of “The Divine Audience” I began to notice phrases referencing divine “sublime frivolity and events “intended as plays for the gods” . These reminded me of the Bards words "That all the world is a stage...” And J. Huizinga’s observations that “The “consecrated spot” cannot be formally distinguished from the playground, the arena, the card table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice… are all in form and function play-grounds, forbidden spots, isolated hedged around, hallowed…”[i] I began to recognize the limnality documented in here; the thin line between war and art.
I’ve spoken elsewhere about my appreciation of “Models of Reception in the Divine Audience of the Iliad” by Tobias Anthony Myers. Myers studies the relationship of Zeus and his divine audience on Olympus as he orchestrates the Trojan War to Homer interacting with a mortal audience as he composes the Iliad. “Zeus’ performance mirrors the poet’s: through Zeus, the poet stages” within the war the tale of Troy. In so doing Myers steps back and forth over the limen between the reality of Zeus’ war and the art of Homer. Virtually all the that follows I took verbatim from Myers.
Myers likens the events at Troy to a sporting event. “Moments of distraction from the story encourage the poet’s audience to follow all the more closely, for such moments are typically associated with events unwanted by the god in question. Like sports fans convinced that if they miss a second of play their team will lose, the poet’s audience is prodded to stay alert by the negative consequences of wandering attention. Homer invites his audience to understand their participation in terms of attendance at a live spectacle at which viewers play – or can feel that they play – a more active role than movie-goers or admirers of already crafted imagery.” The Iliad “constitutes a well-defined space into which the audience is invited to enter. It is by entering the sacred space in which the action occurs that individuals assume the role of actors.”
This sacred space corresponds to the “middle” space in which Menelaus and Paris duel. “They marched into the middle of the Trojans and Achaeans, glaring fiercely – and wonder held those watching. Crossing the boundary limned by Hector and Odysseus, marks the beginning of the action: it is by their entry into the arena, their separation from the viewers who remain outside, that viewers and actors assume their roles in earnest.” When Aphrodite plucks her boy-toy from the scene, “Athena leaps onto the hallowed ground and into the sacred space. She leapt into the middle, and (again)wonder held those watching – the horse-taming Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans. They recognize a divine portent and wonder what the gods decided.”
Blurring the lines between reality and theatre, Zeus sends a false dream to Agamemnon urging him to test the army with a proposal to go home. Zeus is taunting his divine audience; provoking his fellow deities to demand the continuation of the performance of the war; that they must not go beyond destiny; that the play must go on. Homer set up his audience to be resistant to the possibility of the Greeks departing before victory. Blurring the roles between Homer and Zeus, the poet is able to speak to his audience without ever ceasing to play the role of Zeus speaking to the gods.
Helen does not even acknowledge the significance of reality. Helen attributes “what for her is a cruel and arbitrary fate to the demands of poetic performance – song-worthiness.”
Myers uses language like “theater of war”. He compares warriors to athletes. Hector and Odysseus “measure out” the space in which the duel will be performed as though architects. He talks about funeral games, how victory in the games prefigures his victory in the arena of combat. He compares to Achilles to a horse in a race and Priam as a fan at the track.
“As Troy corresponds to the arena of the duel, Olympus – the usual site of the gods’ viewing – corresponds to the area of passive viewing outside the duel’s “marked off” space. While the gods play many fundamental roles, the action of the poem takes place not on Olympus but at Troy. Of course, the gods themselves are not always passive viewers: in fact, the Iliad sometimes presents the conflict at Troy as the expression of a divine conflict. Yet the gods never attack one another except within the arena of activity, the Trojan plain, it is striking that when the gods want to act within the story of Achilles’ wrath they first literally enter the arena.”
In conclusion reading Myers is to enter a liminal event. Myers compares the Trojan War to a sporting event, he speaks of the “middle space” as a stage, Homer/Zeus play with their prospective audiences, Helen declares the war nothing but fodder created for the poets and Myers discussed the roles of the gods that can only be performed within the “arena of the duel” And finally the most telling observation of all, “ The implication that the divine audience could decide even at this moment of “performance” to call off the slaughter if they really wanted to communicates complicity beyond that shared by viewers of a staged theatrical performance."
Sunday, September 30, 2012
TFBT: The Death of Structural Analysis, Solar Mythology and …
I was disturbed when I read, my hero, Gregory Nagy announce the demise of structural analysis.1 Specifically, he wrote, “structuralism has become an unstable and even unwieldy concept, which cannot any longer convey the essence of the methodology.” This is quite the disappointment because I still haven’t gotten a handle on structural analysis. Many authors in the past seemed to value this tool and offered examples of the insights it offered. What little I know about this way to study myth came from an article by Claude Levi-Strauss in “Structural Anthropology”. I had the pleasure to read this article is a small dusty rose-colored book I found at a second hand store, “Myth: a Symposium”2
One other thing disturbs be about Professor Nagy’s eulogy to structuralism. In the next paragraph he discusses the work of Parry and Lord. Their work in oral composition was earth-shaking and now the foundation of virtually every Homeric discussion. Let’s hope the classics community treats Parry and Lord better than most.
2 Editor Thomas A Sebeok, Indiana University Press, 1972
The end of structuralism felt just like the “Eclipse of Solar Mythology” which I’d read in the exact same volume. Richard M. Dorson did a fine job of explaining Solar Mythology before lampooning it to death with some deft illustrations and a few quick jabs. In truth, this was more than I’d ever known about Max Muller’s work. (I’ve always wondered if the English translations of his work were burnt by an angry mob of intellectuals with torches and pitchforks.)
As child I’d learned about Solar Mythology from Gayley in “The Classic Myths”. (First Ed. 1893) I loved that book, with the square glossy pages, clear quality etching for illustration and enigmatic endnotes. It was in the reference section at the library and I could never check it out. Everything I knew about Muller came from the back of Gayley. Although I agree that not everyone can be a solar-hero, Muller’s theories were great for helping me with my studies of Norse Mythology (i.e. The death of Balder, Ull and Odin, and the nine mothers of Heimdall.) I would think Solar Mythology would also be helpful in the study of sun-gods.
In Gayley too, I learned about George W. Cox. Even as a child his idyllic theory of shepherds on their backs watching the clouds pass, wasn’t too convincing, but when I hear modern scholars speak of Zeus the cloud-gatherer and refer to him as a storm-god, I feel confident that we learned something from Cox.
Before the internet, Robert Graves’ ”The Greek Myths” provided a wide range of mythological information. About the time I bought my second copy of the two volume set, someone told me that Graves was not held in wide regard by scholars. Which struck me as odd, since his theory on the triple goddess worked pretty well when discussing triple goddesses. And the story of Oedipus makes a lot more sense if you know something about sacrificial kings.
When I purchased Themis by Jane Harrison I read that her writings on ritual-myth were not well-received. However, all her biographers finish by saying how influential her writings were.
Here’s my theory; a researcher in some quiet moment receives inspiration; a bolt of lightning out of the blue or the small still voice of the muse. The sudden insight works well on the material at hand and a few associated topics. A paper is published too much acclaim. A book follows with much additional material, sometimes far from the original source or intent. It attracts followers who declare it a universal tonic. It is re-interpreted, mis-interpreted, “detached from its moorings” and run aground. Everyone declares it a failure and throws the baby out with the bath water. If I may, new each form of analysis or interpretation is elevated by universal acclaim to Olympic heights and then tossed like Hephaestus.
I would suggest that we retain all the forms of interpretation and analysis that have come to us put them in a toolbox and pull them out to use appropriately.
________________________
2 Editor Thomas A Sebeok, Indiana University Press, 1972
Monday, September 24, 2012
TFBT: Mimir, the Monster Sphinx and the Throne of Olympus
I composed several encyclopedic articles that are posted elsewhere, that might be of interest to my readers.
A short piece on Mimir, a "giant" in Norse Mythology and a good friend to Odin, King of the Aesir. Mimir:Norse God of Wisdom
A short piece on the dread and curse of Ancient Thebes, the Sphinx. Sphinx, the Monster Sings
A short piece on Mimir, a "giant" in Norse Mythology and a good friend to Odin, King of the Aesir. Mimir:Norse God of Wisdom
And finally, a more indepth piece on the danger from Zeus' daughters and sisters to the stability of the cosmos. Securing the Throne of Zeus
Sunday, September 23, 2012
TFBT: Homer’s Divine Audience: The Iliad’s Reception on Mount Olympus.
Honestly, I don’t know how I ended up with a copy. I believe it will be published by Cambridge University Press under the title, “Homer’s Divine Audience: The Iliad’s Reception on Mount Olympus.” I do not know Myers who is apparently a lecturer at Columbia University. I certainly feel pleased for having stumbled across his writings.
Myers basic premise is to compare Zeus and “the gods” watching to the Trojan War from Mt. Olympus, with the poet and the mortal audience listening to the tale. Primarily Myers arguments center around the four occasions when the gods are feasting on Olympus, Books 4, 7, 22 and 24. Where there is “sweet nectar from the bowl. And unquenchable laughter“ feasting, happy hearts, and the sweet voices of the muses.
Some arguments are often lengthy, but well-written, easy to follow and satisfying. The benefit of his arguments is that they give sound motivation to actions and scenes that often appear lacking.
Imagine if you wil, that we have the honor to be gathered at a great feast and the entertainment is Homer himself. Like any performer, he would greet us, maybe pick stories that are pertinent or popular in our circles and maybe even play with our expectations. Myers suggests just this sort of interaction between the poet with his audience and Zeus with the divine audience. Homer using Zeus’ voice plays with the gods, suggests alternative endings to the little drama they’ve designed down below, plays with their emotions. In the same breathe the poet is doing the same to his mortal audience.
Myers also incorporates the language of sacred space into his readings of the Iliad which then offers the same performance dynamic for the Greeks and Trojans in the Iliad during games and in the arena. This could all get very complex, but Myers knows how to work his audience. It all comes across as brilliant.
Just a few quotes I’ve been tweeting;
- “The Iliad is a ritual that simultaneously honors Troy in the distant past and wipes it out in the performances moment.”
- In regards to the gods feasting on Mt. Olympus, Myers suggests, “it is striking that for the gods this situation seems to be an invention of epic.”
- “Paris is responsible for the Trojan predicament, but Hector is responsible for Troy.”
- "The Iliad’s power depends partly on the fact that in spite of this basic Achaean orientation it does not demonize the Trojans but instead portrays them more sympathetically than it does the Achaeans."
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
TFBT: Combatants of the Titanomachy
“For the Titan gods and as many as sprang from Cronus had long been fighting together in stubborn war with heart-grieving toil, the lordly Titans from high Othyrs, but the gods, givers of good, whom rich-haired Rhea bare in union with Cronus, from Olympus.” Hesiod, The Theogony 626
Perhaps the “thrice prayed for, most fair, best beloved” goddess Nyx suggested how Zeus might rescue his siblings. Or perhaps it was the deep suggestions of Mother Earth that beguiled great Cronus the wily to bring up again his offspring.[i] Or maybe when Zeus was full-grown, he took Metis, daughter of Ocean, to help him, and she gave Cronus a drug to swallow.[ii] Maybe Zeus’ mother Rhea assisted.[iii] In any case Zeus, the youngest of Cronus’s children endeared himself with the older generation of deities called Titans, meaning The Strainers. Zeus became their cup-bearer. The potion that Zeus slipped into King Cronus’ cup made him “disgorge” the contents of his heavy stomach, including the gods Poseidon and Hades along with their sisters Hera, Demeter and Hestia. They returned to the world fully grown and immediately declared war on Cronus and his brothers the Titans. The children of Cronus took up Mt. Olympus as their abode and the Titans took up Mount Othrys as a strong hold.
So began the Titanomachy, but who were the combatants?
Following Hesiod’s description of the Titanomachy in “The Theogony” the elder Titans who’d aided Cronus in his climb to power still stood by him, his brothers; heir-less Coeus (Intelligence) Crius (Ruler), Iapetos (The Piercer) and Hyperion(He who watches from above). His brother Oceanus remained neutral in the Titanomachy as he did during the revolt against their father Uranus in revenge for his cruelty[iv]. It was Oceanus who fostered Hera and sheltered all the goddesses and Titanesses during the ten year long war that followed. (Hence none of the Titanesses were hurled into Tartarus).[v]
· Iapetos might have served as the general for the Titanic army. Homer refers to him as enthroned next to Cronus in Tartarus[vi] and Valerius Flaccus mentions that the gods battled against Iapetus specifically.[vii] · ML West reports that “the Sun-Titan refrained from assisting the Titans and was rewarded by being stationed in heaven instead of Tartarus. The deity in question was doubtless not Helios but Hyperion.”[viii], Which would explain Homer’s habit of referring to the Sun-god as both Hyperion and Helios
According to Graves, Cronus’ time had passed and the second generation of Titans took over the leadership in their battle against the Olympians. The mixed blood Titans took over the leadership of their cause; these were the sons of water nymphs rather than Titanesses.
· To Crius and Eurybia, the daughter of Pontus, were born sons of mixed-blood great Astraios (Starry), and Pallas (Warrior), and the son-less Perses (Destroyer) who was preeminent among all men in wisdom. Astraios is the father by Eos daughter of Hyperion of the stars and four winds that pull Zeus chariot. Several goatish giants named Pallas are slain by Zeus’ daughter Athena. None of the three are heard of after the Titanomachy and Eos is husbandless.· "Now Iapetos took to wife the neat-ankled maid Klymene, daughter of Okeanos, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas; also she bare very glorious Menoitios and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus."[ix] All the Iapetides (sons of Iapetus) married Oceanides like their father did. Atlas led the Titans in revolt against Zeus. [x] And as consequence for all eternity held up the sky as punishment. For Menoitios’ hubris the far-seeing Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt and sent him down to Tartarus because of his mad presumption and exceeding pride, rather than being hurled in Tartarus and bound like the rest of the Titans. [xi] A daemon of a similar name later served as Hades shepherd. As to Prometheus; "When first the heavenly powers were moved to wrath, and mutual dissension was stirred up among them-- it was then that [Prometheus], although advising them for the best, was unable to persuade the Titanes…they, disdaining counsels of craft.” Through prophecy Prometheus knew the way in which the future was fated to come to pass. All though he argued with the Titans they did not pay any attention to his words. Consequently he joined the side of Zeus bring his brother Epimetheus with him."[xii] Apparently he was the Titans’ herald for some time.[xiii] Prometheus would also be the god who procured celestial fire for early man. The sons of Iapetos were also described as possessing some of the worst of human traits: on an intellectual level, Prometheus is overly sly and crafty, Epimetheus a guileless fool, Atlas overly-daring and arrogant Menoitios prone to rash and violent actions. Their natural traits led each to their downfall.[xiv]
Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos (Dawn) and rich-tressed Selene (Moon) and tireless Helios (Sun)." Although no specific reference is made to the pure-blood Titan Helios in the Titanomachy, (there are few specific references in Hesiod’s report in the Theogony) we can assume Helios participated based on the honors and lands gifted to him and his sisters when the spoils of war were divided. His sister Selene and Eos because the goddesses of the moon and dawn respectively.
Zeus managed to convince the River Styx and the pure-blood Titaness brother-less Hecate to join the Olympian cause, but no female deity is recorded participating in the battles. This males-only protocol is in sharp contrast to the universal involvement of the gods and goddesses in the Gigantomachy. Styx, the deathless daughter of Oceanus brought her daughters Nike (Victory) and Bia (Force) and sons Cratos (Strength) and Zelos (Rivalry), to stand alongside the gods. Zeus rewarded her by making her streams the agent of the binding oath of the gods. It’s possible that Cratos and Zelos participated in battle.
Earth prophesied victory to Zeus if he should have as allies those who had been hurled down to Tartarus. So he slew their jailoress the snakish Campe, and loosed the bonds of the Hecatoncheires and Cyclopes from confinement in Tartarus. In gratitude, the hundred-handed giants, Briareos, blameless Cottus speaker for the brothers [xv] and Gyes insatiate for war joined the battle. Strong Briareos, would most famously aid Thetis in loosing the bonds of Zeus at a later revolt
And the Cyclopes overbearing in spirit, Brontes (Thunder), Steropes (Lightning Bolt) and stubborn-hearted Arges (Vivid Flash), then gave Zeus thunder and lightning and a thunderbolt, and on Hades they bestowed a helmet of invisibility and on Poseidon a trident. Armed with these weapons the gods overcame the Titans, shut them up in Tartarus,
The gods of the sea, great Thaumas and proud Phorcus, and their brother truthful Nereus seemed to retain their honors, but it is noteworthy that Poseidon became “ruler of the deep, briny-swirling seas”. Maybe they followed the example of the Great River Oceanus and maintained neutrality. The sole exception to the Pontides neutrality was Thaumas’ daughter Iris who became a messenger for the Olympians, while her sister Arce, became messenger for the Titans. After the victory Zeus tore off her wings before throwing her into Tartarus[xvi]
Jenny Strauss Clay observed[xvii] “Gaia, whose line(age) remains completely separate from that of Chaos – intercourse between these two fundamentally opposite cosmic entities seems impossible”. The Fates decreed that some specific members of these clans could not meet.[xviii] So we should not expect involvement from the children of the Night.
So in summary; the combatants for the Titans were probably; the elder Titans; Cronus, Coeus, Crius, Iapetos and the mixed-blood Titans; Astraios, Pallas, Perses, Atlas and Menoitios. For the Olympians the elder Titan Hyperion and probably his son Helios, Cronus’ sons; Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the Hecatoncheires; Briareos, Cottus and Gyes, the Cyclopes; Brontes, Steropes and Arges and maybe the sons of Pallas; Cratos and Zelos In an abstract sense; those with foresight; the far-seeing god overcame leadership, intelligence and craftsmanship. Fire and lightning overcame a stubborn, prideful soldiery.
…when the blessed gods had finished their toil, and settled by force their struggle for honours with the Titans, they pressed far-seeing Olympian Zeus to reign and to rule over them, by Earth's prompting. So he divided their dignities amongst them. Hesiod, The Theogony 881 ... (they) threw the lots (Poseidon) received the grey sea as (his) abode, Hades drew the murky darkness, Zeus, however, drew the wide sky of brightness and clouds; the earth is common to all, and spacious Olympus." Iliad 15.187
[i] Hesiod Th. 493ff.,
[ii] Apollodorus, Library [1.2.1]
[iii] The Universe, the Gods, and Men: Ancient Greek Myths Told by Jean-Pierre Vernant, Page 18
[iv] Virgil, Aeneid 6.580
[v] Aaron J. Atsma, www.theoi.com Oceanus
[viii] ML West 'EUMELOS': A CORINTHIAN EPIC CYCLE?* referencing Virgil Aeneid 6.580
[ix] Hesiod, Theogony 507
[x] Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 150
[xi] Hesiod, Theogony 507
[xii] Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 200
[xiii] Eumelus, Fragment 5 (from Hesychius Lexicon 1. 387) "Ithas: The Titanes' herald, Prometheus. Some write Ithax."
[xv] Hesiod, Theogony 654
[xvi] Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Bk6 as summarized in Photius, Myriobiblon 190
[xvii] Hesiod’s Cosmos , page 16
[xviii] Ovid, Metamorphoses, 8.791
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