{"id":57,"date":"2021-06-01T14:59:50","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T18:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/myths\/?post_type=chapter&p=57"},"modified":"2022-08-30T18:23:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T22:23:10","slug":"lesson-3-guided-hypothesis-annotation-exercise","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/chapter\/lesson-3-guided-hypothesis-annotation-exercise\/","title":{"raw":"L3 Hesiod's Theogony (1-152): the Muses & Creation","rendered":"L3 Hesiod’s Theogony (1-152): the Muses & Creation"},"content":{"raw":"

Hesiod, Theogony<\/em>, lines 1-152<\/h2>\r\ntranslated by R. Nickel\r\n

Proem = Introduction<\/h1>\r\nLet us begin our song with the Helikonian Muses\r\nwho inhabit the great and holy mountain of Helikon.\r\nThey dance on soft feet around\r\na violet spring and an altar to Kronos\u2019 powerful son.\r\nOnce they\u2019ve washed their soft skin in the spring called Permessus5<\/span>\r\nor the spring of the winged horse Pegasus or in the holy river Olmeius,\r\non the topmost peaks of Mount Helikon, they devise beautiful dances\r\nthat excite desire, their feet moving like water.\r\nSetting out from this place, veiling themselves in a dense mist,\r\nthey move through the night, sending out a glorious song10<\/span>\r\nthat celebrates Zeus, the aegis-bearer, and queenly Hera\r\nof Argos who goes about on golden sandals,\r\nand the daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, owl-eyed Athena,\r\nPhoebus Apollo and arrow-pouring Artemis,\r\nPoseidon, earth-holder and earth shaker,15<\/span>\r\nexalted Themis and quick-glancing Aphrodite,\r\ngolden-crowned Hebe and beautiful Dion\u00ea,\r\nEos, the Dawn; great Helios, the Sun; and radiant Selen\u00ea, the Moon;\r\nGaia, the Earth; mighty Ocean; and black Night;20<\/span>\r\nand the holy family of all the other gods who are forever.\r\n

The Epiphany of the Muses<\/h1>\r\nThe Muses once taught Hesiod the noble art of song,\r\nas I was tending my sheep on the slopes of holy Mount Helikon.\r\nThese are the very first words they spoke to me,\r\nthe Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus:25<\/span>\r\n\u201cCountry shepherds, disgusting dolts, nothing more than bellies!\r\nWe know how to tell many lies that seem real\r\nand, whenever we want to, we know how to sing the truth.\u201d\r\nSo spoke the swift-speaking daughters of great Zeus,\r\nand they gave me a sceptre, breaking off a branch of lush, green laurel,30<\/span>\r\nexquisite to behold, and they breathed their divine voice into me\r\nso that I might sing of what is to come and what happened before,\r\nand they ordered me to celebrate the family of the carefree ones who are forever,\r\nand always to begin and end my song with them.\r\n\r\n[But come now, why am I talking about myself so much?35<\/span>\r\nI might as well be talking about an oak-tree or a stone!]\r\nBut come now, am I really able to sing like a prophet?35<\/span>\r\nAm I like the holy stone at Delphi or the talking oaks of Dodona?35b<\/span>\r\n

Hesiod\u2019s Hymn to the Muses<\/h1>\r\nBut you, Hesiod, let us sing about the Muses, whose singing\r\ndelights the great mind of father Zeus on Olympus.\r\nThey tell of things that are, that will be, and that happened before,\r\nwith voices in harmony. Their never-tiring song flows\r\nsweetly from their mouths. The palace of loud-thundering, father Zeus40<\/span>\r\nfills with laughter as the delicate voices of the goddesses\r\nspreads far and wide. The peaks of snowy Olympus echo,\r\nas do the homes the immortals. Sending forth a sound like ambrosia,\r\nfirst they celebrate with song the revered family of the gods,\r\nfrom the very beginning, those whom Gaia and wide Ouranos bore,45<\/span>\r\nand the gods, givers of good things, born from them.\r\nNext the goddesses sing of Zeus, father of gods and men,\r\nbeginning and ending their song with him,\r\nhow he is most powerful of the gods in strength, and greatest.\r\nThen, singing about the race of Humans and of the mighty Giants,50<\/span>\r\nthe Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus\r\ndelight the mind of Zeus on Olympus.\r\n

The Birth of the Muses<\/h1>\r\nIn Pieria, Mnemosyne, who protects the hills of Boeotian Eleutherae,\r\njoining in love with their father, bore them to Kronos\u2019 son\r\nto be a forgetting of evils and a respite from cares.55<\/span>\r\nFor nine nights wise and clever Zeus united with her,\r\nfar away from the immortals, coming into their holy marriage bed.\r\nWhen a year had gone by and the seasons turned around,\r\nas the months came to an end, and many days were completed,\r\nshe bore nine like-minded daughters, whose hearts60<\/span>\r\ncare only for song and never grow weary,\r\nin Pieria, just below the topmost peak of snowy Olympus.\r\nThere they have their gleaming dancing floors and beautiful homes.\r\nBeside them, the Graces and Desire reside\r\nin festivity. As they sing, a lovely sound issues from their lips,65<\/span>\r\nas they celebrate the customs and cherished practices\r\nof the immortals, with enchanting song.\r\n\r\nAfter their birth, they went to Olympus, exulting in their beautiful sound,\r\ntheir song like ambrosia. All around, the black earth resounded\r\nwith their singing. A lovely rhythmic pulse arose beneath their feet70<\/span>\r\nas they moved toward their father. He rules in the sky;\r\npossessing thunder and blazing lightning,\r\nhe defeated his father Kronos by strength. Justly he issues\r\ncomplex commands for the immortals and oversees their honours.\r\nAbout all this, they sing, the Muses who have their homes on Olympus,75<\/span>\r\nnine daughters born from great Zeus:\r\n\r\nCleio<\/strong> who glorifies, Euterp\u00ea<\/strong> who delights,\r\nFestive Thalia<\/strong> and ever-singing Melpomen\u00ea<\/strong>,77b<\/span>\r\nTerpsichor\u00ea<\/strong> who dances with lovely Erato<\/strong>,\r\nPolyhymnia<\/strong>, filled with song, heavenly Ourania<\/strong>,78b<\/span>\r\nand Calliop\u00ea<\/strong>, with her beautiful voice, best of them all,\r\nfor she is the companion of revered kings.80<\/span>\r\n

The Muses\u2019 timai<\/em><\/h1>\r\nWhomever of divinely favoured kings\r\nZeus\u2019s daughters honour and look to when he\u2019s born,\r\nupon his tongue they pour sweet dew,\r\nand from his lips flows honey. His people\r\nall look to him as he establishes decrees85<\/span>\r\nwith straight judgments. With sure and steady speech,\r\nquickly and skillfully he resolves even a great conflict.\r\nKings are sensible for this reason: when the people are wronged,\r\nin the public square they determine a just compensation\r\neasily, persuading all with gentle words.90<\/span>\r\nWhen he comes into the assembly, they exalt him like a god\r\nwith gracious reverence, and among those assembled he is preeminent.\r\nSuch is the Muses\u2019 holy gift to men and women.\r\n\r\nFor from the Muses and far-shooting Apollo\r\nmen all over the earth are singers and lyre-players.95<\/span>\r\nBut kings are from Zeus. He whom the Muses\r\nlove prospers. A sweet voice flows from his lips.\r\nFor if a person feels sorrow in his fresh-grieving heart\r\nand his soul dries up in grief, and a poet \u2014\r\na companion of the Muses \u2013 sings of the glorious deeds100<\/span>\r\nof men and women of long ago and the carefree gods who dwell on Olympus,\r\nstraightaway he forgets his cares and remembers\r\nnone of his sorrows. Swiftly the goddesses\u2019 gift turns them aside.\r\n

Invocation of the Muses<\/h1>\r\nGreetings, children of Zeus, grant me a lovely song,\r\nand celebrate the holy family of the immortals who are forever,105<\/span>\r\nthose who were born from Gaia and starry Ouranos, the Sky,\r\nand from dark Night, and those whom the salty Sea reared.\r\nSay how first Gods and Earth were born,\r\nand Rivers and the immense Sea, surging with enormous waves,\r\nand shining Stars and the vast Sky above them.110<\/span>\r\nThe Gods, givers of good things, who were born from all these \u2013\r\nhow did they distribute wealth and divide up honours,\r\nhow first did they take possession of Olympus, with its many valleys?\r\nTell me all these things, Muses who make your home on Olympus,\r\nfrom the beginning. Tell me which of them was born first.115<\/span>\r\n

The Primal Beings<\/h1>\r\nBefore all others, Chaos<\/strong>, vast and empty, was born. Then came\r\nGaia<\/strong>, wide-breasted Earth, unmoving foundation for all\r\nthe immortals who dwell on the peaks of snowy Olympus.\r\nNext, misty Tartarus<\/strong>, the Underworld, in a hollow of wide-wayed Earth,\r\nand Eros<\/strong>. Among all the immortal gods, he is most beautiful;120<\/span>\r\nlimb-loosener. For all gods and all men and women,\r\nhe crushes balanced thought and sensible plans in their breasts.\r\n\r\nFrom Chaos, Darkness and black Night were born.\r\nFrom Night, Brightness and Day arose.\r\nNight conceived and bore them, uniting in love with Darkness.125<\/span>\r\n\r\nGaia first gave birth to a being equal to herself,\r\nstarry Ouranos, to enclose her all around,\r\nso that she might always be an unmoving foundation for the carefree gods.\r\nShe then gave birth to high Mountains, lovely habitats for goddesses,\r\nNymphs who dwell on wooded mountains.130<\/span>\r\nShe bore Pontos, the desolate Sea, surging with high waves,\r\nwithout the delightful act of love.\r\n

The Children of Gaia & Ouranos: Titans, Cyclopes, & Hundred Handers<\/h1>\r\n
Next, uniting with Ouranos,<\/div>\r\n
she bore the Titans: Ocean, with his strong currents,\r\nKoios, Kreios, Hyperion, and Iapetus,\r\nTheia, Rhea, Themis, and Mnemosyne who remembers,135<\/span>\r\nGold-crowned Phoeb\u00ea and lovely Tethys.\r\nAfter these, she bore her youngest, crooked-counseling Kronos,\r\nmost terrifying of her children, and he despised his potent father.\r\nThen she gave birth to the Cyclopes, who possess a violent heart:\r\nthundering Brontes, blazing Steropes, and strong-hearted Arg\u00eas.140<\/span>\r\nThey gave thunder to Zeus and crafted lightning for him.\r\nIn all other ways they resembled the gods,\r\nexcept that a single eye was fixed in their foreheads.\r\nThey were called Cyclopes because one cylindrical eye\r\nwas fixed in the middle of their foreheads.145<\/span>\r\nStrength and violence and ingenious craft was in their works.\r\nThree other children were born from the union of Gaia and Ouranos \u2013\r\nmassive, violent children who should not be named:\r\nKottos, Briareus, and Gyges \u2013 magnificent, arrogant children.\r\nFrom their shoulders, one hundred arms shot out,150<\/span>\r\nindescribable. From each one\u2019s shoulders\r\nfifty heads grew on powerful bodies.\r\nAdded to their massive form, they possessed unapproachable, powerful strength.<\/div>","rendered":"

Hesiod, Theogony<\/em>, lines 1-152<\/h2>\n

translated by R. Nickel<\/p>\n

Proem = Introduction<\/h1>\n

Let us begin our song with the Helikonian Muses
\nwho inhabit the great and holy mountain of Helikon.
\nThey dance on soft feet around
\na violet spring and an altar to Kronos\u2019 powerful son.
\nOnce they\u2019ve washed their soft skin in the spring called Permessus5<\/span>
\nor the spring of the winged horse Pegasus or in the holy river Olmeius,
\non the topmost peaks of Mount Helikon, they devise beautiful dances
\nthat excite desire, their feet moving like water.
\nSetting out from this place, veiling themselves in a dense mist,
\nthey move through the night, sending out a glorious song10<\/span>
\nthat celebrates Zeus, the aegis-bearer, and queenly Hera
\nof Argos who goes about on golden sandals,
\nand the daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, owl-eyed Athena,
\nPhoebus Apollo and arrow-pouring Artemis,
\nPoseidon, earth-holder and earth shaker,15<\/span>
\nexalted Themis and quick-glancing Aphrodite,
\ngolden-crowned Hebe and beautiful Dion\u00ea,
\nEos, the Dawn; great Helios, the Sun; and radiant Selen\u00ea, the Moon;
\nGaia, the Earth; mighty Ocean; and black Night;20<\/span>
\nand the holy family of all the other gods who are forever.<\/p>\n

The Epiphany of the Muses<\/h1>\n

The Muses once taught Hesiod the noble art of song,
\nas I was tending my sheep on the slopes of holy Mount Helikon.
\nThese are the very first words they spoke to me,
\nthe Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus:25<\/span>
\n\u201cCountry shepherds, disgusting dolts, nothing more than bellies!
\nWe know how to tell many lies that seem real
\nand, whenever we want to, we know how to sing the truth.\u201d
\nSo spoke the swift-speaking daughters of great Zeus,
\nand they gave me a sceptre, breaking off a branch of lush, green laurel,30<\/span>
\nexquisite to behold, and they breathed their divine voice into me
\nso that I might sing of what is to come and what happened before,
\nand they ordered me to celebrate the family of the carefree ones who are forever,
\nand always to begin and end my song with them.<\/p>\n

[But come now, why am I talking about myself so much?35<\/span>
\nI might as well be talking about an oak-tree or a stone!]
\nBut come now, am I really able to sing like a prophet?35<\/span>
\nAm I like the holy stone at Delphi or the talking oaks of Dodona?35b<\/span><\/p>\n

Hesiod\u2019s Hymn to the Muses<\/h1>\n

But you, Hesiod, let us sing about the Muses, whose singing
\ndelights the great mind of father Zeus on Olympus.
\nThey tell of things that are, that will be, and that happened before,
\nwith voices in harmony. Their never-tiring song flows
\nsweetly from their mouths. The palace of loud-thundering, father Zeus40<\/span>
\nfills with laughter as the delicate voices of the goddesses
\nspreads far and wide. The peaks of snowy Olympus echo,
\nas do the homes the immortals. Sending forth a sound like ambrosia,
\nfirst they celebrate with song the revered family of the gods,
\nfrom the very beginning, those whom Gaia and wide Ouranos bore,45<\/span>
\nand the gods, givers of good things, born from them.
\nNext the goddesses sing of Zeus, father of gods and men,
\nbeginning and ending their song with him,
\nhow he is most powerful of the gods in strength, and greatest.
\nThen, singing about the race of Humans and of the mighty Giants,50<\/span>
\nthe Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus
\ndelight the mind of Zeus on Olympus.<\/p>\n

The Birth of the Muses<\/h1>\n

In Pieria, Mnemosyne, who protects the hills of Boeotian Eleutherae,
\njoining in love with their father, bore them to Kronos\u2019 son
\nto be a forgetting of evils and a respite from cares.55<\/span>
\nFor nine nights wise and clever Zeus united with her,
\nfar away from the immortals, coming into their holy marriage bed.
\nWhen a year had gone by and the seasons turned around,
\nas the months came to an end, and many days were completed,
\nshe bore nine like-minded daughters, whose hearts60<\/span>
\ncare only for song and never grow weary,
\nin Pieria, just below the topmost peak of snowy Olympus.
\nThere they have their gleaming dancing floors and beautiful homes.
\nBeside them, the Graces and Desire reside
\nin festivity. As they sing, a lovely sound issues from their lips,65<\/span>
\nas they celebrate the customs and cherished practices
\nof the immortals, with enchanting song.<\/p>\n

After their birth, they went to Olympus, exulting in their beautiful sound,
\ntheir song like ambrosia. All around, the black earth resounded
\nwith their singing. A lovely rhythmic pulse arose beneath their feet70<\/span>
\nas they moved toward their father. He rules in the sky;
\npossessing thunder and blazing lightning,
\nhe defeated his father Kronos by strength. Justly he issues
\ncomplex commands for the immortals and oversees their honours.
\nAbout all this, they sing, the Muses who have their homes on Olympus,75<\/span>
\nnine daughters born from great Zeus:<\/p>\n

Cleio<\/strong> who glorifies, Euterp\u00ea<\/strong> who delights,
\nFestive Thalia<\/strong> and ever-singing Melpomen\u00ea<\/strong>,77b<\/span>
\nTerpsichor\u00ea<\/strong> who dances with lovely Erato<\/strong>,
\nPolyhymnia<\/strong>, filled with song, heavenly Ourania<\/strong>,78b<\/span>
\nand Calliop\u00ea<\/strong>, with her beautiful voice, best of them all,
\nfor she is the companion of revered kings.80<\/span><\/p>\n

The Muses\u2019 timai<\/em><\/h1>\n

Whomever of divinely favoured kings
\nZeus\u2019s daughters honour and look to when he\u2019s born,
\nupon his tongue they pour sweet dew,
\nand from his lips flows honey. His people
\nall look to him as he establishes decrees85<\/span>
\nwith straight judgments. With sure and steady speech,
\nquickly and skillfully he resolves even a great conflict.
\nKings are sensible for this reason: when the people are wronged,
\nin the public square they determine a just compensation
\neasily, persuading all with gentle words.90<\/span>
\nWhen he comes into the assembly, they exalt him like a god
\nwith gracious reverence, and among those assembled he is preeminent.
\nSuch is the Muses\u2019 holy gift to men and women.<\/p>\n

For from the Muses and far-shooting Apollo
\nmen all over the earth are singers and lyre-players.95<\/span>
\nBut kings are from Zeus. He whom the Muses
\nlove prospers. A sweet voice flows from his lips.
\nFor if a person feels sorrow in his fresh-grieving heart
\nand his soul dries up in grief, and a poet \u2014
\na companion of the Muses \u2013 sings of the glorious deeds100<\/span>
\nof men and women of long ago and the carefree gods who dwell on Olympus,
\nstraightaway he forgets his cares and remembers
\nnone of his sorrows. Swiftly the goddesses\u2019 gift turns them aside.<\/p>\n

Invocation of the Muses<\/h1>\n

Greetings, children of Zeus, grant me a lovely song,
\nand celebrate the holy family of the immortals who are forever,105<\/span>
\nthose who were born from Gaia and starry Ouranos, the Sky,
\nand from dark Night, and those whom the salty Sea reared.
\nSay how first Gods and Earth were born,
\nand Rivers and the immense Sea, surging with enormous waves,
\nand shining Stars and the vast Sky above them.110<\/span>
\nThe Gods, givers of good things, who were born from all these \u2013
\nhow did they distribute wealth and divide up honours,
\nhow first did they take possession of Olympus, with its many valleys?
\nTell me all these things, Muses who make your home on Olympus,
\nfrom the beginning. Tell me which of them was born first.115<\/span><\/p>\n

The Primal Beings<\/h1>\n

Before all others, Chaos<\/strong>, vast and empty, was born. Then came
\nGaia<\/strong>, wide-breasted Earth, unmoving foundation for all
\nthe immortals who dwell on the peaks of snowy Olympus.
\nNext, misty Tartarus<\/strong>, the Underworld, in a hollow of wide-wayed Earth,
\nand Eros<\/strong>. Among all the immortal gods, he is most beautiful;120<\/span>
\nlimb-loosener. For all gods and all men and women,
\nhe crushes balanced thought and sensible plans in their breasts.<\/p>\n

From Chaos, Darkness and black Night were born.
\nFrom Night, Brightness and Day arose.
\nNight conceived and bore them, uniting in love with Darkness.125<\/span><\/p>\n

Gaia first gave birth to a being equal to herself,
\nstarry Ouranos, to enclose her all around,
\nso that she might always be an unmoving foundation for the carefree gods.
\nShe then gave birth to high Mountains, lovely habitats for goddesses,
\nNymphs who dwell on wooded mountains.130<\/span>
\nShe bore Pontos, the desolate Sea, surging with high waves,
\nwithout the delightful act of love.<\/p>\n

The Children of Gaia & Ouranos: Titans, Cyclopes, & Hundred Handers<\/h1>\n
Next, uniting with Ouranos,<\/div>\n
she bore the Titans: Ocean, with his strong currents,
\nKoios, Kreios, Hyperion, and Iapetus,
\nTheia, Rhea, Themis, and Mnemosyne who remembers,135<\/span>
\nGold-crowned Phoeb\u00ea and lovely Tethys.
\nAfter these, she bore her youngest, crooked-counseling Kronos,
\nmost terrifying of her children, and he despised his potent father.
\nThen she gave birth to the Cyclopes, who possess a violent heart:
\nthundering Brontes, blazing Steropes, and strong-hearted Arg\u00eas.140<\/span>
\nThey gave thunder to Zeus and crafted lightning for him.
\nIn all other ways they resembled the gods,
\nexcept that a single eye was fixed in their foreheads.
\nThey were called Cyclopes because one cylindrical eye
\nwas fixed in the middle of their foreheads.145<\/span>
\nStrength and violence and ingenious craft was in their works.
\nThree other children were born from the union of Gaia and Ouranos \u2013
\nmassive, violent children who should not be named:
\nKottos, Briareus, and Gyges \u2013 magnificent, arrogant children.
\nFrom their shoulders, one hundred arms shot out,150<\/span>
\nindescribable. From each one\u2019s shoulders
\nfifty heads grew on powerful bodies.
\nAdded to their massive form, they possessed unapproachable, powerful strength.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-57","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57\/revisions\/271"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}