CLA204H1 Lecture 2: Creation Myths
Document Summary
Writer of theogony and works and days. Roughly contemporary with homer (both writers existed around late 8th c. bce) Known for epic poems, often didactic (written with intention of being informative as well as entertaining) Cosmogony birth of the universe [etiologic attempt to explain how the world was created] Illustrate how zeus, youngest son of kronos, became the king of gods [succession myths] Origin of man [humans were created by the gods] 9 muses [daughters of zeus and mnemosyne ( memory )] Mnemosyne = a form/inspiration of the arts, memory to the purpose of the arts [arts and memory are closely connected to each other] Within the myth, hesiod referred to himself [existed in history] Hesiod is a vessel for the muses at mount helicon [a location closely associated with the arts] In the myth, the muses appeared to hesiod and told him their stories. Because of this, it inspired hesiod to write down the myth [inspirare to breathe into]
