Theogony Research Articles

The genitourinary system in ancient Greece: a historical perspective.

The Ancient Greeks were great innovators in all academic fields, including medicine. Hippocrates of Kos, the Father of Medicine, established many terms for the genitourinary (GU) system, such as nephros, urethra, urogenital, and adenocarcinoma. According to Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was born off the coast of Kythera, from the foam produced by Uranus's genitals, after his son Cronus had thrown them into to the sea. In this review, we present the etymology of the GU vocabulary, review the Ancient Greeks' understanding of the GU system and the origins of Greek myths related to the male genitals.

Meister Eckhart on the World-Shaping Power of an Equal Mind

Abstract: The focus of this essay is Meister Eckhart's references in the sixth of his "Talks on Discernment" to having an "equal mind." This rather unassuming early metaphor foreshadows many of Eckhart's better-known teachings, such as the "just man," the "ground of the soul," and the "birth of God in the soul." The goal of the essay is to demonstrate the potential of the daily practice of an "equal mind" to transform one's view of the "other," and so to neutralize the ultimately and frighteningly destructive tendency in current discourse to polarize and divide.

Religious Traditions in Tamil Nadu during the Devaram Period

Tamil devotional literature which was prevalent in Tamil Nadu during the Devar period was heavily influenced by Sanskrit literature. On this basis, it is known that many ancient historical incidents have been mentioned in the songs of Devaram. Birth of Gods, the manner in which their relationship is taught, the historical events of the gods, and their heroic deeds can be seen in the devaram. This article explains about the daughter of Umai Malaiyarasan, God Murugan Sivashakti, the story of Brahma and Vishnu searching for a foothold, the story of Vishnu's, the attributes of Shiva bearing Umadevi and Vishnu with half of his body and about the belief in the worship of natural objects such as the moon, Ganges, and Navagraha. It is worth noting that mythological information about the characteristics of minor deities, Indra, Varuna, Agni, Atatiku Balakas, etc., etc., are scattered throughout the Devaram. The purpose of this article is to explore all these in detail.

Philosophy

I begin with two books about the cosmos. The first one is Olaf Almqvist's Chaos, Cosmos and Creation in Early Greek Theogonies. This monograph skilfully combines approaches from classical studies, anthropology, and philosophy to offer an in-depth analysis of three competing cosmologies: Hesiod's Theogony, the Orphic theogony, and the creation myth in Plato's Protagoras. It also explores the repercussions of these tensions on ritual life. The book introduces it all through a lucid and enjoyable analysis of the opening lines of Pindar's Nemean Six, which the author sees as stressing the ontological tensions present in early Greek creation myths and blurring the lines between myth and philosophy.

Майстер Екгарт: принципи його містики й метафізики

Meister Eckhart’s mysticism of the ground of the soul is considered as the inner connection between God and man. The ground of the soul and the ground of God are in reality one ground. Author argues that the term “Ground,” for Meister Eckhart, refers to the uncreated and eternal in the soul, which is also called the divine spark. In this detachment and in this Ground, the birth of God takes place, the unio mystica, which denotes the divinisation of the human being. Meister Eckhart describes the path into this mystical unio as a path of detachment and abandonment or cutting off. Finally, Eckhart’s famous poem Granum Sinapis (mustard seed) is presented as a poetic summary of his mysticism of union with the highest reality of God.

General

One of my favourite undergraduate classes to teach is Greek mythology. At American universities, Greek myth is a popular choice for satisfying humanities credit requirements, and professors are faced with a double dilemma. On the one hand, students have very different levels of knowledge, ranging from, say, a science major with virtually no idea about the ancient world to a know-it-all myth-whiz Classics major at the other end of the scale. The second problem is the choice and organization of material. Tough decisions have to be made, especially if a professor insists on students reading ancient Greek and Latin texts in translation, instead of relying on a modern retelling of myth. Which tragedies to choose? Which sections of Ovid's Metamorphoses? The whole of Homer or just select books? The challenges are real, but the rewards are great. After the initial struggle with Hesiod's Theogony (despite collective grumbling, Hesiod is non-negotiable for me), witnessing the magic of Greek myth at work never ceases to amaze me. In a blink of an eye, the class is passionately defending or attacking Phaedra, or debating fate and the gods; and, of course, everyone is united in hating Jason. It was my early fascination with Greek myth that attracted me to study Classics (the main culprit was the generously illustrated Serbian translation of Gustav Schwab's Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece) and the crushing sense of responsibility for sparking that first interest in my students is only matched by joy upon seeing it work. I take mythology books very seriously because they are often the gateway to the Classics. Several books on myth landed on my desk this year and I'll start with three general introductions. None of these could serve as introductions to myth for children or young adults, but each could be an excellent first step for those wishing to know more about various scholarly approaches to Greek myths and cults.

Shimaumi: Aquapelagic imagery and poetics of ‘island-laying’ in Kojiki

Kojiki, one of the oldest surviving records of Japanese history and mythology compiled in 712 CE, tells of the origin of the Japanese archipelago and nation. The initial chapter is known as shimaumi, or ‘island-laying’, where the birth of gods also gives rise to the formation of Japanese islands. This paper considers two aspects of shimaumi, firstly the spatiality of the myth and how aquapelagic imagery occurs both within shima (a locus of livelihood) and within the choice of kanji. Secondly, this paper considers how the aquapelagic imagery of shimaumi can be characterised as territorializing the sacred through ‘island-naming as a god’. Additionally, while Kojiki is mostly written in classical Chinese, some Japanese words and phrases are used for island names, onomatopoeia, mystical words and transliterated poetry within Chinese syntax. Performance, particularly of these Japanese elements, means that Kojiki can be viewed as an act of totohogi; a rejuvenation of the world in Japanese cosmology that is as individual as each re-telling.

The man behind the honors Dr. P. M. MacLeod MD FRCPC FCCMG DABG.

The man behind the honors Dr. P. M. MacLeod MD FRCPC FCCMG DABG.

A Cycle in a Cycle: “Rizdvo” and “Koliada” in the Context of B.-I. Antonych’s “Try Persteni” Collection

The article analyzes the main symbols, chronotop, and the implicit subtexts of the “Rizdvo” and “Koliada” diptych in the context of the collection as a lyrical cycle. A remarkable feature of the poetry of Bohdan Ihor Antonych is the interaction and interpenetration of heterogenous motifs that unfold in an integral organic text. The deep senses of this text (the diptych in particular) are revealed through its compositional organization as well as through a variety of symbolism and imagery. The article depicts the main motifs and symbols of “Rizdvo” and “Koliada”, which correlate with mythical heritage, Ukrainian folklore, and Christian tradition. Among them are the birth of God, the Virgin, solar and lunar symbolism (the moon, the sun), the seasons (winter, spring), the motif of a road to the Unknown (to the future). The chronotope of this poem is also special, because time – the past and the present – exist in parallel and create a unique time paradigm that is peculiar in its combination of day and night and spring and winter changes. The location of the mini-cycle affect on the general semantics of the cycle, creating new meaning, is traced. It is shown that the leading motifs of “Try persteni” and the diptych are closely related with each other and constitute a unity that is common for a particular type of poetic integrity (a cycle).

Eckhart’s Thought of Spirituality and Its Implications for Education: A Relationship between Vita Contemplativa and Vita Activa

오늘날 교육이 과도한 경쟁적 분위기 속에서 개인적 욕망실현이나 사회적 필요의 충족을 위한 수단으로 간주되는 것은 교육에서 관조적 삶과 활동적 삶의 조화와 균형이 상실된 데 기인한다. 에크하르트의 영성 사상은 그 양자의 관계에 관한 대안적 관점을 시사한다. 그의 사상에서 인간 영혼은 그 근저에서 신을 알 수 있고, 또 신과 합일을 이룰 수 있는 존재로 간주된다. 신과의 합일은 곧 영성의 실현이요, 그 과정에서 기준이 되는 것이 ‘초탈’이다. ‘초탈’에는 인간 영혼이 신의 근저로 이행하는 ‘돌파’와 함께 ‘영혼 안에서의 신의 탄생’이라는 의미가 포함된다. 초탈은 자기애, 자기 집착, 온갖 욕망에서 벗어나고, 모든 피조물에게서 심지어는 신의 관념에서조차 벗어나 그 어떠한 것의 영향도 받지 않는 철저한 비움, 버림의 과정과 그것이 완결된 경지를 가리킨다. ‘초탈’의 경지에서 사람은 ‘이유 없이’ 그리고 ‘수단 없이’ 사는 삶, 관조와 활동이 조화를 이루는 삶을 영위할 수 있다. ‘앎의 교사’인 동시에 ‘삶의 교사’인 에크하르트의 사상은 그러한 삶의 가능성을 보여주며, 현대 교육이 관조의 망각에서 벗어나도록 촉구한다.Today education suffers from the Vita Activa s overwhelming victory over the Vita Contemplativa. Education has been regarded as means of fulfillment of personal desires and social needs for long. Consequently students compete each other excessively and do not have opportunities to learn the value of mutual corporation in their class. Eckhart’ thought of spirituality implies an alternative view point to escape from this predicament. Eckhart says that each person has his soul s own ground, where one’s spirituality is rooted in God’s ground. The two can be united in one, rather they are essentially the same. Eckhart urges us to maintain ‘detachment(Abgeschiedenheit)’, toward the only one purpose, that is, the unity of God and man. ‘Detachment’ can be characterized as the absolute negativity of emptiness and abandonment, which is not affected by anything other than divinity, such as self-love, self-obsession, all desires. A person who has reached the status of ‘detatchment’ does not act as a means for any purpose, but lives a life ‘without reason.’ ‘Detachment’ includes the ‘breakthrough(Durchbruch)’and ‘birth of God in spirit(Gottesgeburt in der Seele)’ as its essential components of meaning. Eckhart’ thought of spirituality suggests the better way of understanding the relationship between Vita Contemplativa and Vita Activa. That relationship can be seen as one of possibility and reality, beginning and end, bud and fruit, creation and existence. They belong to each other, widen each other, and penetrate each other. In his interpretation of the story about Maria and Marta, the latter is a more mature person who lives a life of action that flows from contemplation, but the former symbolized the merely contemplative life. The meaning of contemplation is satisfied and fullfilled only in a active life. But this interpretation presupposes that an action without contemplation is nothing other than a meaningless abstraction. Eckhart’ thought of spirituality can serve as a mirror and a corrective for the modern wave of educational thoughts which has been overwhelmed by instrumentalism. It urges us to know and recover our divine nature in our educational practice.

Visual Theogonies: Chance, control and automation in algorithmic art

Abstract

Hesiod, Ouranos, Kronos, and the Emasculation at the Beginning of Time

In this article, it is argued that Kronos' emasculation of Ouranos in Hesiod's Theogony is depicted as the genesis of the seasons and years. Hesiod insistently speaks of afterwards in the context ...

Palabras de Musas (Hes. Theog. 22-35)

Comentario de los versos 22 a 35 de la Teogonía centrado en la interpretación y función de los insultos que pronuncian las Musas y en la entrega del cetro como símbolo de la transformación del pastor en poeta.

Hesiod's Theogony: From Near Eastern Creation Myths to Paradise Lost by Stephen Scully

Reviewed by: Hesiod's Theogony: From Near Eastern Creation Myths to Paradise Lost by Stephen Scully Deborah Lyons Stephen Scully. Hesiod's Theogony: From Near Eastern Creation Myths to Paradise Lost. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. xiv + 268 pp. Cloth, $85.00. The heart of Stephen Scully's book is a masterful inquiry into the place of the Theogony in literary history, in the course of which he makes important observations about the evolution of ancient Greek ideas of the cosmos, divinity, sexuality and gender, justice, and the polis. He prefaces his historical investigations with a careful reading of the poem on its own terms, before looking backward toward its sources and then forward toward the influence it exerted on later texts. Literary analysis and literary history are carefully interwoven, as Scully's initial reading of the poem provides a road map for the historical sections of the book. The introduction briefly addresses contemporary cosmogonic thinking, before going on to explore theogonic themes in the work of Sigmund Freud. Here, Scully highlights his interest in the conflict between anarchic sexuality and social order, which will later reappear in his detailed treatment of Hesiod's poem and in the historical sections. Chapter 1 compares first Homer to Hesiod and then the Theogony to Genesis. Chapter 2 offers a reading of the Theogony that highlights both its formal and thematic aspects. These features will turn out to have central importance for his situation of the Theogony in the earlier and later traditions. His focus on the political reverberates throughout his discussion of ancient Mesopotamian and Indo-European traditions and the later influence of the poem, while observations about Hesiod's poetics come back into play especially in his reading of Milton. In Chapter 3, the author discusses the candidates for ancient sources—Mesopotamian, Phoenician, and Egyptian—for the myths of the Theogony. This part of the book draws heavily on the work of previous scholars (West, López-Ruiz, etc.) but is nonetheless useful for the clarity of its exposition of a complex topic in a relatively short space. Chapters 4 through 6 detail the influence of the Theogony on later writers, first Greeks and Romans, followed by early Christians, and then (with increasingly sparse material) through later periods, before arriving at his end-point, Milton's Paradise Lost. The last section on Milton finally offers enough material to allow for an extended—and rewarding—parallel reading of the two poems. Scully's insights about the poem, while based on previous scholarship, are well developed and relevant to his larger theme. Drawing on the work of Thalmann (1984), he shows how Hesiod's choice of words frequently activates the meanings inherent in the names and personified abstractions that people this heavily [End Page 181] populated text. For example, lines 64–71 introduce the Muses, describing them in words that prefigure their names: thaliēs eratēn … melpontai … kleiousin … opi kalei, etc. When their actual names appear in the following lines (75–79), we have already heard them in the descriptions of their activities. Zeroing in on the ways that the poet sometimes anticipates and at other times follows the introduction of a mythic personage with related nouns and verbs that activate the meaning of the figure in question, he shows that the text is far more fully inhabited by these divine beings than a casual reading—or a reading in translation—can possibly reveal. Indeed, Scully has interesting things to say about the dilemmas posed for text editors (and even more for translators) in deciding which abstractions should be capitalized as personifications, and which are simply common nouns. Scully's other, and ultimately more consequential, major interpretive move is to make the strong case for a political (in the root sense of the word) reading of the poem. According to this line of thought, the telos of the poem's violent generational battles of succession is the creation of a proto-polis on Olympus, a reserve of calm amidst the violence of the surrounding universe, which will serve as a model for mortals. The Zeus of Hesiod is not an orderer of the universe, but a provider...

Theology after the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and Culture

Theology after the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and Culture

Introduction and General

Introduction and General John Thomas Willis, Christopher T. Begg, John W. Wright, David A. Bosworth, Joseph E. Jensen, and Katherine E. Brown 623. Ellis R. Brotzman and Eric J. Tulley, Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016). Pp. xv + 255. Paper $24. ISBN 978-0-8010-9753-9. This intermediate textbook for OT textual criticism covers the topics of writing in the ANE, the textual witnesses and transmission history of the OT, and modern critical tools. In comparison to their first edition, the authors have expanded and rewritten much of the material in light of research since 1994 in order to take better account of current understandings of the composition and transmission of texts in the ancient world. This 2nd edition also discusses how to use both BHS and BHQ.—B.C.G. 624. John H. Elliott, Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World, Vol. 1. Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2015). Pp. xxii + 209. Paper $27. ISBN 978-1-62032-147-8. The broad purpose of E.'s work is to provide an update on the large amount of research on the Evil Eye done since the classic works of O. Jahn, F. T. Elworthy, and S. Seligmann in the first decade of the twentieth century. Its more specific purpose is to provide the first monograph ever dealing with all the Evil Eye texts of the Bible in the context of Evil Eye beliefs and practices from Sumeria in 3,000 b.c.e. to Late Roman Antiquity in 600 c.e. E.'s analysis treats the relevant biblical texts in relation to their specific geographical, historical, economic, social, cultural, and religious contexts. The concept of the Evil Eye was one of the most widespread and behaviorally influential beliefs in the ancient world. This belief holds that certain humans, gods, demons, animals, and mythological figures have an eye whose powerful gaze can harm or destroy any object on which it falls. The Evil Eye can injure, wither, obliterate health and life, means of sustenance and livelihood, familial honor, and personal well-being of its hapless victims, with birth, marriage, and encounters with strangers being times when the Evil Eye might especially be expected to be operational. Major means for warding off the power of the Evil Eye are apotropaic charms and amulets, words, and gestures. See also #625 and OTA 39 (2016) #2175.—J.W. [End Page 170] 625. John H. Elliott, Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World, Vol. 2. Greece and Rome (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2016). Pp. xxxv + 334. Paper $43. ISBN 978-1-4982-0499-6. Greek and Roman literature from 800 b.c.e. to 600 c.e. reveals the geographical expansion of the belief and practice of the Evil Eye known from Mesopotamia and Egypt in previous centuries. The primary features of the Evil Eye notion are the human eye as a key organ of information, the eye as active, not passive, the eye as a channel of emotions (especially envy) and dispositions, especially of envy arising in the heart, possessors, victims, defensive strategies, and amulets. In personal Greek and Roman letters, it was customary to include the wish that the recipient and/or members of the recipient's family remain unharmed by the Evil Eye or be kept from the Evil Eye, with use of forms of the adjective or adverb abaskantos. References to the Evil Eye appear in Homer's Iliad, Hesiod's Theogony, Pindar's Fourth Nemian Ode, Herodotus' History, Aristophanes' Knights, Sophocles' tragedy Electra, Plutarch's Table Talk, and many other works. The Evil Eye has a strong connection with envy, especially its operation through the physical eye, looking, and the deadly glance; its negative valuation and worst ranking among the vices; its omnipresent danger to valuable possessions; its arousal by admiration and praise; its antipathy toward those who stand out; its causing injury to self and others; its common association with figures like Megaera; its link with the color blue-green; its danger to individuals and communities; the...

THE DISEASE OF MORTALITY IN HESIOD'STHEOGONY: PROMETHEUS, HERAKLES, AND THE INVENTION OFKLEOS

Hesiod'sTheogonyis not overtly concerned with the world of mortals. The place of humans in theTheogonynevertheless holds a certain fascination, perhaps more for what isnotrevealed—our origins, for example—than for what is. Focusing on a relatively neglected passage of the poem (Theogony521-32), I want to trace here the way Hesiod lays out the cosmic coordinates ofkleos(‘fame’ or ‘glory’) with a view to better situating the condition of mortality within the poem as a whole.Kleos, as we will see, is part of the fallout for humans of the battle of wits between Zeus and Prometheus: it is the compensation for their new, temporally inflected existence.

Theology After the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and Culture, written by F. Leron Shults

Theology After the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and Culture, written by F. Leron Shults

When the Gods Were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East

Ancient Greece has for too long been studied in isolation from its Near Eastern neighbors. And the ancient Near East itself has for too long been seen as an undifferentiated cultural monolith. Classics and Near Eastern Studies, in our modern universities, continue to be separated by various disciplinary, linguistic, and ideological walls. Yet there is a growing trend to dismantle these divides and look at the Greek world within its fullest geographical and cultural contexts. This book aims to bring the comparative study of Greek and Near Eastern cosmogonies to a new level. It analyzes themes such as succession myths, expressions of poetic inspiration, and claims to cosmic knowledge, as well as the role of itinerant specialists in the transmission of theogonies. Rather than compiling literary parallels from different periods and languages and treating the Near East as a monolithic matrix, the author focuses on the motifs specific to the North-West Semitic tradition with which the Greeks had direct contact in the Archaic period. Focusing on Hesiod's Theogony, the Orphic texts, and their Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Hebrew counterparts, Carolina Lopez-Ruiz avoids traditional diffusionist assumptions and proposes instead that dynamic cultural interaction led to the oral and intimate transmission of stories and beliefs.

Book Review: Theology after the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and Culture. By F. LeRon Shults

Book Review: Theology after the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and Culture. By F. LeRon Shults