CHAPTER3
MYTHS OF CREATION
There were many myths about creation among the Greeks and Romans, and
these myths have many parallels in other mythologies, such as Egyptian, Sumer-
ian, Babylonian, and Hebraic. Homer (ca. 800 B.C.)^1 has the Titans Oceanus and
Tethys (identified later in this chapter) responsible for the origin of the gods (Il-
iad 14. 201) and reflects a primitive belief in the geographical nature of the uni-
verse as a flat disc with hills, touched at its rim by the vast dome of the heav-
ens. The deity Oceanus is the stream of ocean that encircles the earth (see figure
on page 585). But Homer does not by any means provide a complete account of
genesis. Hesiod (ca. 700), as far as we can tell, was the first to give literary ex-
pression to a systematic explanation of how the gods, the universe, and hu-
mankind came into being. At any rate his, the earliest account to survive, may
be considered the classic Greek version. The genealogical scheme is presented
in his Theogony, while his Works and Days adds significant details.CREATION ACCORDING TO HESIOD
In the opening of the Theogony, Hesiod devotes many lines to the beauty and
power of the Muses, with particular emphasis upon their ability to inspire the
infallible revelation of the poet (a complete translation of the opening section of
the poem is found in the Additional Reading at the end of this chapter). This ar-
dent invocation to the Muses is no mere artistic convention but rather the ut-
terance of a prophetic visionary.^2 Hesiod's vehement sincerity may be illustrated
by these lines from the Theogony (22-34):f
They, the Muses, once taught Hesiod beautiful song, while he was shepherding
his flocks on holy Mount Helicon; these goddesses of Olympus, daughters of
aegis-bearing Zeus first of all spoke this word to me, "Oh, you shepherds of the
fields, base and lowly things, little more than bellies, we know how to tell many
falsehoods that seem like truths but we also know, when we so desire, how to
utter the absolute truth."
Thus they spoke, the fluent daughters of great Zeus. Plucking a branch, to
me they gave a staff of laurel, a wondrous thing, and into me they breathed a
divine voice, so that I might celebrate both the things that are to be and the
things that were before; and they ordered me to honor, in my song, the race of5i