Classical Mythology

52 THE MYTHS OF CREATION: THE GODS

the blessed gods who exist forever, but always to sing of them themselves, the

Muses, both first and last.

Hesiod's attention to the Muses is steeped in a religious aura of divinely in-

spired revelation. As he begins his genesis, Hesiod asks the Muses, "Tell me

how first gods, earth, rivers, the boundless sea... the shining stars, and the

wide heavens above came into being." This is their answer (Theogony 116-125):

f

Verily, very first of all Chaos came into being, but then Gaia wide-bosomed, se-

cure foundation of all forever, and dark Tartarus in the depth of the broad land

and Eros, the most beautiful of all the immortal gods, who loosens the limbs

and overcomes judgment and sagacious counsel in the breast of gods and all

humans. From Chaos, Erebus [the gloom of Tartarus] and black Night came into

being; but from Night were born Aether [the upper atmosphere] and Day, whom

Night bore when she became pregnant after mingling in love with Erebus.

The Greek word Chaos suggests a "yawning void." Exactly what it means to

Hesiod is difficult to establish.^3 His account of creation, fraught with problems,

begins paratactically, that is, very first of all Chaos (not a deity particularly, but a

beginning or a first principle, perhaps a void) came into being (or was), but

then (next) came Gaia (Gaea or Ge, Earth)^4 and the others, all presumably out of

Chaos, just as Hesiod actually states that "from Chaos" came Erebus and dark

Night. Although some are adamant in their disagreement, we believe that this

is the correct translation and interpretation of Hesiod (see Ovid's description of

Chaos as the primal source, discussed later in this chapter). Tartarus is a place

deep in the depths of the earth (Theogony 713 ff.); Erebus is the gloomy darkness

of Tartarus; later it may be equated with Tartarus itself.

THE PRIMACY AND MYSTERY OF EROS

Love, typically a potent force in tales of creation and procreation, inevitably ap-

pears early in the Theogony. Hesiod, as we have just seen, characterizes the most

beautiful Eros by one of his many descriptive touches, which strive to lift his di-

dacticism to the realm of poetry. For the Romans, Eros was called Cupid (or Amor).

Chaos

I I I I I

Ge Tartarus Eros Erebus m. Night

r-S 1 r-

1

—i

Uranus Mountains Pontus Day Aether

Figure 3.1. Descendants of Chaos