{"id":78,"date":"2021-06-10T12:08:22","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T16:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/myths\/?post_type=chapter&p=78"},"modified":"2022-08-30T18:26:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T22:26:23","slug":"the-succession-myth","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/chapter\/the-succession-myth\/","title":{"raw":"L4-Hesiod's Theogony (the Succession Myth)","rendered":"L4-Hesiod’s Theogony (the Succession Myth)"},"content":{"raw":"

Hesiod, Theogony<\/em> (lines 132-232, 453-506, 617-735, 811-961)<\/h2>\r\n(translated by R. Nickel)\r\n\r\nTranslator\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe following extracts are taken from Hesiod\u2019s Theogony to provide a continuous reading of the\u00a0 Succession Myth. Note that the title headings are my own, and not Hesiod\u2019s.\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nAt times, Hesiod uses the terms \u201cGaia,\u201d \u201cOuranos,\u201d \u201cTartarus,\u201d \u201cOcean,\u201d and \u201cSea\u201d to refer\u00a0 to ancient gods who came into being at the beginning of the universe. At other times, he uses\u00a0 these terms to refer simply to geography: the earth, the sky, the underworld, and the ocean and\u00a0 the sea. In my translation, I alternate between using Gaia, Ouranos, Tartarus etc. as the proper\u00a0 names of gods involved in the story and as geographical features of our world. When the names\u00a0 are being used primarily to indicate geography, I replace \u201cGaia\u201d in the Greek with \u201cEarth\u201d,\u00a0 Ouranos with \u201cSky\u201d and so on. I use capital letters (the Sea, Ocean, the Sky etc.) as a way of\u00a0 indicating that, to an ancient Greek, the earth is always simultaneously a geographical place\u00a0 and a goddess, that the ocean is at one and the same time a huge expanse of water and the eldest\u00a0 of the Titan gods, and the sky above us also and always the god who is Gaia\u2019s eldest son, first\u00a0 husband and first ruler of the universe.<\/em>\r\n

The Children of Gaia & Ouranos: Titans, Cyclopes, & Hundred Handers<\/h1>\r\n
Next, uniting with Ouranos,<\/div>\r\n
Gaia 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>\r\n

The Succession Myth: Part 1<\/h1>\r\nAll those who were born from Gaia and Ouranos\r\nwere awe-inspiring children, and their own father hated them155<\/span>\r\nfrom the beginning. When first any of them was born,\r\nhe would hide them all away, not allowing them to come up to the light,\r\nin a hole of Gaia. Ouranos took delight\r\nin his evil deed. But she, vast Gaia, groaned becoming more\r\ncrowded within, and she pondered a deceitful, evil craft.160<\/span>\r\nRight away, creating the class of metal known as grey adamant,\r\nshe fashioned a giant sickle and showed it to her children.\r\nShe spoke words of courage, though she grieved in her heart:\r\n

\u201cChildren of me and an arrogant father, if only you are willing\r\nto obey, we could take vengeance for the evil outrage165<\/span>\r\nof your father, for he first plotted despicable actions.\u201d<\/p>\r\nSo she spoke, and fear seized them all. No one\r\nspoke a word. But then, almost at once, great crooked-counseling Kronos\r\nbravely addressed these words to his revered mother:\r\n

\u201cMother, I would undertake and accomplish this action,170<\/span>\r\nfor I feel no respect for the one wrongly called father,\r\nour father. For he first plotted despicable actions.\u201d<\/p>\r\nSo he spoke and vast Gaia rejoiced greatly in her heart.\r\nShe set him down, hidden in ambush, put in his hands\r\na sickle with jagged teeth, and revealed the whole cunning plot.175<\/span>\r\n\r\nThen he came, great Ouranos bringing Night with him, and all around Gaia,\r\nin his desire for love-making, he stretched out and grew longer,\r\nall of him. But his son, from his place of ambush, reached out\r\nwith his left hand; with his right, he grasped the vast sickle,\r\nwith its long jagged teeth, and eagerly sheared away180<\/span>\r\nthe genitals of his own father. He hurled them away to be carried\r\nbehind him. Not without result did they fly from his hand.\r\nThe drops of blood that fell down,\r\nGaia received them all, and in the course of the revolving year,\r\nshe bore the powerful Furies and the massive Giants,185<\/span>\r\ngleaming in their armour and holding long spears in their hands,\r\nand the nymphs they call the Ash-Tree Nymphs, all along the limitless earth.\r\n

The Birth of Aphrodite<\/h1>\r\nWhen first he cut off the genitals with adamant,\r\nhe threw them away from dry land into the surging sea,\r\nand so they floated on the sea\u2019s surface for a long time; all around, white foam190<\/span>\r\narose from the immortal flesh, and in the foam\r\na maiden grew. First she drew near the holy island of Cythera;\r\nfrom there she came to sea-girt Cyprus.\r\nA revered and beautiful god emerged. Everywhere\r\ngrass grew beneath her slender feet. Aphrodite,195<\/span>\r\nfoam-born goddess, well-garlanded Cythereia \u2014\r\nso gods and men alike call her, because she was formed\r\nin foam, but also Cythereia, since she came past Cythera,\r\nand Cyprogeneia, Cyprus-born, since she was born on wave-washed Cyprus.\r\nAnd Philommeid\u00eas, laughter-loving, because she appeared from the genitals.200<\/span>\r\nEros accompanied her, and lovely Desire followed,\r\nwhen first she was born and as she entered the company of the gods.\r\n\r\nFrom the beginning she has held this honour and received\r\nthis fated portion among women and men and immortal gods:\r\nmaidens\u2019 whispers, smiles, and deceptions,205<\/span>\r\nsweet delight and delightful love-making.\r\n\r\nBut great Ouranos, their father, now called his children Titans, Overreachers,\r\nquarrelling with the children he himself begot.\r\nHe kept saying that they had recklessly overreached and committed\r\na monstrous deed, for which in time to come there would be vengeance.210<\/span>\r\n

The Children of Night<\/h1>\r\nNight bore hateful Doom and black Destiny\r\nand Death. She bore sleep, and the tribe of Dreams.\r\nNext gloomy Night gave birth to Blame and painful Suffering,\r\nthough she lay with no one,\r\nand the Hesperides who tend beautiful golden apples215<\/span>\r\nand fruit-bearing trees beyond the boundaries of famous Ocean.\r\nShe also bore the Fates and ruthless Dooms \u2014\r\nKlotho who spins, Lachesis who apportions, and Atropos who cuts the thread.\r\nThe Fates provide both good and evil to mortals at the time of their birth,\r\nand pursue the transgressions of men and gods alike;220<\/span>\r\nthese goddesses never let go of their fearsome anger\r\nuntil they exact an ugly vengeance from anyone who sins.\r\nDeadly Night also bore Nemesis \u2014 Retribution \u2014 a curse\r\nfor mortal men and women. Then she bore Deception and Affection,225<\/span>\r\ndestructive Old Age and strong-hearted Strife.\r\n

The Children of Strife<\/h1>\r\nHateful Strife bore painful Toil,\r\nForgetfulness, Famine and tearful Pains;\r\nQuarrels, Lies, Words, and Disputes;\r\nBad Government and Ruin who know one another well;230<\/span>\r\nand Oath, who most of all brings misery\r\nto mortal men and women whenever they swear a false oath.\r\n\r\n(For the next 220 lines, Hesiod continues with long catalogue lists of the birth of hundreds of\u00a0 divine beings, including nymphs in the sea, monsters, and rivers. The narrative of the\u00a0 Succession Myth continues at line 453 below.)\u00a0<\/em>\r\n

The Succession Myth: Part 2 (Kronos)<\/h1>\r\nRhea gave birth to shining children, overpowered by Kronos:\r\nHestia, Demeter, and Hera of the golden sandals;\r\nstrong Hades, who makes his home beneath the earth,455<\/span>\r\nhis heart without pity; loud-sounding Poseidon;\r\nand cunning Zeus, father of gods and men,\r\nwhose thunder makes the wide earth tremble.\r\n\r\nGreat Kronos swallowed them all, as each one\r\nemerged from their mother\u2019s womb to her knees,460<\/span>\r\nintending that none of Ouranos\u2019 grandchildren\r\never possess the honour of kingship among the immortals.\r\nFor he learned from Gaia and starry Ouranos\r\nthat he was fated to be overpowered by his own son,\r\nin spite of his strength, through the plans of great Zeus.465<\/span>\r\nAnd so his vigilance was not careless, but watching closely\r\nhe swallowed down his children, and unceasing grief took hold of Rhea.\r\n\r\nBut when she was about to give birth to Zeus,\r\nfather of gods and men, she implored\r\nher beloved parents, Gaia and starry Ouranos470<\/span>\r\nto devise a cunning plan so that she could bear her beloved child\r\nunnoticed and the Furies of her father could exact vengeance\r\nfor the children great, crooked-counselling Kronos swallowed.\r\nThey listened eagerly to their beloved daughter, and obeyed.\r\nThey revealed to her all that was fated to happen475<\/span>\r\nconcerning Kronos, the king, and his strong-hearted son.\r\nThey sent her to Lyktos, in the rich community of Crete,\r\nwhen the time came for her to give birth to her youngest,\r\ngreat Zeus. Immense Gaia received the child from her\r\nto raise and keep safe in broad Crete.480<\/span>\r\nCarrying him through the swift dark night, she came first\r\nto Lyktos. Taking the child in her arms, she hid him away\r\nin a deep cave, beneath the hiding places of holy earth,\r\non the forest-covered mountain of Aegaion.\r\n\r\nWrapping a large stone in a baby\u2019s blanket, Rhea offered it485<\/span>\r\nto Ouranos\u2019 wide-ruling son, king of the earlier gods.\r\nTaking it in his hands, he put it down inside his belly,\r\nthe vile fool. He did not think in his mind that,\r\nin place of the stone, his son remained for the future\r\nuntroubled, undefeated, soon to overpower him,490<\/span>\r\ndeprive him of his honour, and rule among the immortals.\r\n\r\nSwiftly the strength and shining limbs\r\nof our king grew, and in the course of a year,\r\ntricked by Gaia\u2019s cunning advice,\r\ngreat, crooked-counselling Kronos disgorged his children,495<\/span>\r\ndefeated by the skill and strength of his son.\r\nFirst he vomited out the stone which he\u2019d swallowed last.\r\nZeus set it down in the wide-wayed earth,\r\nin holy Delphi, in the vales of Mount Parnassus,\r\nto serve as a sign hereafter, a wonder for mortal men and women.500<\/span>\r\n

Zeus releases the Cyclopes<\/h1>\r\nHe then released his uncles from cruel bondage,\r\n[thundering Brontes, blazing Steropes, and strong-hearted Arg\u00eas,]\r\nsons of Ouranos, their father, who had foolishly imprisoned them.\r\nThey repaid the favour of Zeus\u2019s kindness\r\nand gave him thunder and the fiery thunderbolt\r\nand lightning which earlier vast Gaia had concealed.505<\/span>\r\nTrusting in these he rules over mortals and immortals.\r\n\r\n[Hesiod now interrupts the Succession Myth with a lengthy digression on the god Prometheus\u00a0 and how he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. We will skip over this for now, since\u00a0 Prometheus will be the focus of Lessons 5 and 6.\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nHesiod returns to the Succession Myth, picking up where he\u2019d left off. After Zeus releases his\u00a0 uncles the Cyclopes, he releases his other triplet uncles, the Hundred Handers. Both sets of\u00a0 uncles will be Zeus\u2019s faithful allies in the war against the Titans that is about to begin.]\u00a0<\/em>\r\n

Zeus releases the Hundred Handers<\/h1>\r\nWhen their father, Ouranos, first became angry in his soul with the Hundred Handers \u2013\r\nBriareus, Kottos, and Gyges \u2014 he bound them with powerful chains,\r\nenvying their extreme manliness, form, and size.\r\nHe settled them beneath the wide-wayed earth.620<\/span>\r\nThere, enduring pain as they dwell beneath the Earth,\r\nthey sit, at the farthest limits of vast Gaia,\r\ngrieving deeply and experiencing much sorrow in their hearts.\r\n

The Titanomachy<\/h1>\r\nBut the son of Kronos and the other immortal gods,\r\nthose whom fair-haired Rhea bore through intercourse with Kronos,625<\/span>\r\nbrought the Hundred Handers up into the light again, following the advice of Gaia.\r\nFor Gaia told them everything in detail:\r\nthat, with the aid of these ones, they would win victory and glorious renown.\r\nFor much too long the Titans and all the gods fathered by Kronos had been fighting,\r\nagainst one another in powerful battles, achieving only painful toil.630<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe famous Titans were fighting from the top of Mount Othrys,\r\nand the gods who are givers of good things from the top of Mount Olympus,\r\nthose gods whom fair-haired Rhea bore, going to bed with Kronos.\r\nEnduring painful battles against one another,\r\nthey fought without end for ten years.635<\/span>\r\nThere was no release from harsh strife, no end\r\nfor either side. The war\u2019s outcome hung in the balance.\r\nBut then Zeus gave the Hundred Handers what they lacked \u2013\r\nnectar and ambrosia, the food of the gods.\r\nImmense strength then grew in their chests,640<\/span>\r\n\r\nThen Zeus, father of gods and men, spoke to them:\r\n

\u201cHear me, glorious children of Gaia and Ouranos,\r\nthat I might speak what the spirit in my breast compels me to say.\r\nFor too long now against one another645<\/span>\r\nWe have been fighting every day for victory and power,\r\nthe immortal Titans and those of us fathered by Kronos.\r\nReveal your great strength and invincible arms\r\nto the Titans, as you oppose them in painful battle.\r\nRemember my kind friendship, and all that you suffered650<\/span>\r\nbeneath the misty darkness before you came up to the light\r\nfrom painful bondage through my wise planning.\u201d<\/p>\r\nSo spoke Zeus, and straightaway blameless Kottos answered him:\r\n

\u201cYou are a strange one! You reveal what is not unknown.\r\nWe ourselves know that your mind and your judgment are superior,655<\/span>\r\nand you were born to be the immortals\u2019 champion against deadly cold harm.\r\nBy your goodwill, from misty Darkness and our harsh chains\r\nwe have come up once again, lordly son of Kronos,\r\ngaining that which we thought beyond hope.\r\nAnd so now, with stubborn purpose and a willing spirit,660<\/span>\r\nwe shall defend your power in the dreadful din of battle,\r\nas we fight against the Titans in strong encounters.\u201d<\/p>\r\nSo spoke Kottos, the Hundred Hander, and the gods, givers of good things,\r\npraised him when they heard his words. Their spirits longed for war\r\nmore than ever before. They roused up unenviable battle,665<\/span>\r\nall of them, males and females both, on that day,\r\nthe Titans and all those whom Kronos sired,\r\nand those ones Zeus brought up from Darkness beneath Earth to the light,\r\nterrifying and powerful beings possessing infinite strength.\r\nOne hundred arms jut out from their shoulders,670<\/span>\r\nfor each one of them, and each has fifty heads\r\ngrowing up from their shoulders on powerful necks.\r\n\r\nThen they took their places against the Titans in the grievous conflict,\r\nholding giant rocks in their massive hands.675<\/span>\r\nThe Titans, from the other side, strengthened their ranks\r\neagerly. Both sides revealed the violent work of their hands.\r\nAll around, infinite Pontos, the Sea, resounded dreadfully.\r\nGaia, the Earth, roared loudly and the wide Ouranos, the Sky, groaned\r\nas he was shaken. From its very foundations, tall Olympus quaked680<\/span>\r\nbeneath the force of the immortals. The heavy pounding of their feet,\r\nthe shrill noise of unspeakable retreat\r\nand powerful weapons came all the way to misty Tartarus.\r\nSo they hurled painful missiles at one another,\r\nand the cries of both sides reached up to starry Ouranos,685<\/span>\r\nas they came toward each other with great war cries.\r\n\r\nNo longer did Zeus hold back his strength. But straightaway\r\nhis heart filled with rage, and he revealed all his force.\r\nFrom Sky and from Olympus at once\r\nhe advanced in a hail of lightning. The lightning bolts690<\/span>\r\nflew from his powerful hands in a dense rain\r\nof blazing thunder, a thick, flaming tornado.\r\nAll around, life-bearing Gaia screamed,\r\nas she burned. Limitless forests howled loudly in the fire.\r\nAll the Earth, the streams of Ocean, and the barren Sea695<\/span>\r\nboiled. Hot blasts engulfed the Earth-born Titans,\r\nas never-ending flames reached the shining upper air.\r\nStrong though they were, the blazing flare\r\nof lightning and thunder blinded their eyes.\r\nThe unspeakable heat bore down even on Chaos.700<\/span>\r\nIt seemed to those who had eyes for seeing and ears for hearing\r\nas though Earth and broad Sky were coming together.\r\nSo loud was the thud of Gaia being fallen upon and\r\nand of Ouranos as he fell on her from above.\r\nSo great was the sound of the gods as they came together in strife.705<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe winds caused shaking and clouds of dust,\r\nproducing flashing thunder and blazing lightning,\r\nmissiles of great Zeus, and they brought clamour and shouting\r\ninto the midst of both sides. An infinite roar of deadly strife\r\narose, and the power of their actions was revealed.710<\/span>\r\nThe battle turned against the Titans. Before this they charged at one another\r\nand fought without end through powerful encounters.\r\nNow in the front ranks, Kottos, Briareus,\r\nand Gyges, hungry for battle, roused up bitter war.\r\nFrom their powerful hand they sent three hundred rocks715<\/span>\r\nflying, their missiles casting shadows over the Titans.\r\nThey sent the Titans down beneath the wide-wayed Earth\r\nand bound them fast in painful chains,\r\nvanquishing them, powerful though they were, with their hands.\r\n

The Fate of the Titans & the tim\u00ea of the Hundred Handers<\/h1>\r\nAs far beneath Earth as Sky is above Earth720<\/span>\r\njust so far beneath Earth is misty Tartarus.\r\n\r\nFalling for nine days and nine nights from Sky,\r\na bronze anvil would reach Earth on the tenth day.\r\nEqually from Earth to misty Tartarus,\r\nfalling again for nine days and nine nights from Earth,725<\/span>\r\na bronze anvil would arrive in Tartarus on the tenth day.\r\n\r\nA fence of bronze runs around it. All around Tartarus,\r\nthree rows of Night pour down, encircling his neck. Above him,\r\nthe roots of Earth and the barren Sea grow down.\r\nThere the Titan gods, in misty darkness,\r\nare hidden away through the plans of cloud-gathering Zeus730<\/span>\r\nin a moldy place, at the furthest boundaries of vast Gaia.\r\nFor the Titans, there is no exit. Poseidon made the doors\r\nof bronze, and a wall runs along on both sides.\r\n\r\nThere Kottos, Briareus, and great-hearted Gyges\r\nreside, jailers trusted by aegis-bearing Zeus.735<\/span>\r\n\r\n[Hesiod now provides an extended description of the geography and most famous inhabitants of Tartarus, including Hades, Persephone, Cerberus, the river Styx and many others. This long digression, which we will skip over, answers a fundamental question for the ancient Greeks: what will the afterlife be like? What awaits all of us in the underworld? Because he has become the instrument of the Muses, Hesiod, like all Muse-inspired poets, has access to this knowledge. But can we trust these capricious goddesses? After all, they may know how to tell the truth, but they also know how to tell lies indistinguishable from the truth. We really have no choice but to trust them, since we have no other way of finding out what awaits us in Tartarus. <\/em>\r\n\r\nAfter the digression on Tartarus, Hesiod resumes the main narrative of the Succession Myth, briefly returning to Zeus\u2019s uncles and allies, the Hundred Handers and then moving onto Zeus\u2019s last obstacle before he can become ruler of the universe: the monster Typhoeus.]<\/em>\r\n\r\nThere exist Tartarus\u2019 shining gates and bronze threshold,811<\/span>\r\nunmovable, fixed in place by far-reaching, ever-growing\r\nroots. Beyond and far-removed from all the other gods\r\ndwell the Titans, beyond even gloomy Chaos.\r\n\r\nThe famous allies of loud-thundering Zeus815<\/span>\r\nmake their homes there by the foundations of Ocean \u2014\r\n\r\nKottos and Gyges. Briareus too: the loud-roaring\r\nEarthshaker, Poseidon, made him his son-in-law,\r\nand gave him his own daughter, Cympoleia, to marry.\r\n

The Typhonomachy<\/h1>\r\nBut, once Zeus had driven the Titans from the Sky,820<\/span>\r\nvast Gaia gave birth to her youngest son, Typhoeus,\r\nby intercourse with Tartarus through gold-adorned Aphrodite.\r\nHis hands were strong, able to accomplish his works,\r\nand the feet of this powerful god never grew weary. From his shoulders\r\na hundred snake heads grew, flicking825<\/span>\r\ndark tongues of a terrifying serpent. Fire shot out\r\nfrom his eyes under the brows on his monstrous heads.\r\nFrom all the heads, fire blazed wherever he looked.\r\nIn all the terrifying heads were voices\r\nsending out unspeakable sounds. At one time,830<\/span>\r\nthey made sounds understood by the gods; at another time,\r\ncame the voice of a proud, invincible bull, bellowing its strength;\r\nthen the voice of a lion with shameless spirit,\r\nand at another time, like that of puppies, a wonder to hear.\r\nSometimes he hissed, and the high mountains echoed back the sound.835<\/span>\r\n\r\nOn that day a deed beyond all help would have been accomplished,\r\nand he would have ruled over mortals and immortals,\r\nif the father of gods and men had not thought quickly.\r\nHe thundered hard and powerful. All around, Earth\r\nresounded horribly, so too broad Sky above,840<\/span>\r\nthe Sea, streams of Ocean, and regions underneath Earth.\r\nTall Olympus shook under the immortal feet\r\nof the king as he set out, and Earth groaned.\r\nSearing heat from both of them oppressed the violet-coloured Sea,\r\nfrom thunder and lightning, and from the monster\u2019s fire,845<\/span>\r\nfrom scorching winds and flaming thunderbolts.\r\nAll the Earth boiled, and Sky and Sea too.\r\nAround and over shores and sea cliffs giant waves raged\r\nbeneath the immortals\u2019 onslaught, and an immense earthquake began.\r\nHades, lord of the dead below, trembled;850<\/span>\r\nso did the Titans, allies of Kronos, in the lowest parts of Tartarus,\r\nfrom the endless noise of dreadful battle-strife.\r\n\r\nWhen Zeus unleashed his mighty wrath and seized his weapons \u2014\r\nthunder, lightning, and blazing thunderbolts \u2014\r\nhe leaped from Olympus and struck. He engulfed855<\/span>\r\nall the appalling heads of the terrifying monster in fire.\r\nAnd once he overpowered him, flogging him with blows,\r\nTyphoeus crashed down, his limbs broken, and vast Gaia groaned.\r\nFlames shot up from the thunderstruck lord,\r\nin the dark, rugged valleys of the mountain860<\/span>\r\nwhere he was struck. Most of vast Gaia was on fire\r\nfrom the unspeakable heat, and she melted like tin\r\nmade molten in open cauldrons through the arts\r\nof craftsmen, or as iron, which is strongest of all,\r\nmastered by blazing fire in mountain valleys,865<\/span>\r\nmelts in the shining Earth through Hephaestus\u2019 skill.\r\nJust so, Gaia was melting from the blaze of flaming fire.\r\nZeus, overwhelmed with rage, hurled him into broad Tartarus.\r\n\r\nFrom Typhoeus comes the wrath of wet-blowing winds,\r\nexcept for Notos the South, Boreas the North, and Zephyr the West Wind \u2014870<\/span>\r\nthese come from the gods, a great blessing for mortals.\r\nThe other winds blow without purpose on the Sea,\r\na great torment for mortals; they rage with evil blasts.\r\nThey start howling when you least expect them, scattering ships,\r\nand the sailors drown. No remedy exists for their evil,875<\/span>\r\nnot for the men who encounter them at Sea.\r\nSo too across the infinite blooming Earth,\r\nthey destroy the lovely fields of Earth-dwelling women and men,\r\nand fill Gaia with dust and grievous turmoil.\r\n

Zeus becomes king<\/h1>\r\nBut when the carefree gods had accomplished their labour,\r\nand decided the issue of honours with the Titans, by force,\r\nthen they urged far-seeing Olympian Zeus,\r\nby the shrewd advice of Gaia, to be king and ruler\r\nof the immortals. And he skillfully divided honours among them.885<\/span>\r\n

The Wives of Zeus<\/h1>\r\n1. Metis<\/strong>\r\nZeus, now king of the gods, chose as his first wife Metis<\/strong>,\r\nbecause, among gods and mortal men and women, she knows most.\r\nBut when she was about to give birth to the goddess\r\nowl-eyed Athena<\/span>, he deceived her mind with a trick.\r\nUsing wily words, he placed her down into his belly,890<\/span>\r\nby the shrewd advice of Gaia and starry Ouranos.\r\nFor they advised him, so that no one else of the eternal gods,\r\nother than Zeus, should ever hold the honour of kingship.\r\nFrom Metis, wise children were destined be born,\r\nfirst a daughter, owl-eyed Tritogeneian Athena,895<\/span>\r\nendowed with courage and prudent counsel, equal to her father.\r\nBut then, after that, she was fated to bear a son,\r\na king of gods and men, born with overwhelming strength.\r\nBefore that happened, Zeus placed her down into his belly,\r\nso the goddess might advise him on good and evil.900<\/span>\r\n2. Themis<\/strong>\r\nSecond, Zeus brought home bright, just Themis<\/strong>, who bore the Seasons<\/span> \u2014\r\nGood Governance, Justice, and flowering Peace \u2014\r\nwho oversee the works of mortal men and women.\r\nAnd she bore the Fates<\/span>, whom shrewd Zeus gave an immense honour \u2014\r\nClotho the Spinner, Lachesis the Allotter and Atropos the Unbending:905<\/span>\r\nfor mortal women and men, they assign possession of good and evil.\r\n3. Eurynome<\/strong>\r\nThird, Eurynome<\/strong>, the daughter of Ocean, a goddess of enticing beauty,\r\nbore to Zeus the fair-cheeked Graces<\/span> \u2014\r\nglittering Aglaia, joyful Euphrosyne, and lovely festive Thalia.\r\nFrom their eyes, as they look our way, desire radiates910<\/span>\r\nand loosens our limbs. Under their eyelids, beauty inhabits their glances.\r\n4. Demeter<\/strong>\r\nThen Zeus went to the bed of bountiful Demeter<\/strong>.\r\nShe bore white-armed Persephone<\/span>, whom Aidoneus\r\nseized from her mother, and shrewd Zeus gave his permission.\r\n5. Mnemosyne (Memory)<\/strong>\r\nThen Zeus fell in love with lovely-haired Mnemosyne<\/strong>.915<\/span>\r\nShe bore the Muses<\/span> who wear gold ribbons in their hair,\r\nnine daughters whose delight is festivals and the joy of song.\r\n6. Leto<\/strong>\r\nLeto too joined in love with aegis-bearing Zeus,\r\nand bore Apollo and arrow-pouring Artemis,\r\ncaptivating children surpassing all of Sky\u2019s descendants.920<\/span>\r\n7. Hera<\/strong>\r\nLast of all, Zeus made Hera his lush and fertile wife.\r\nShe gave birth to youthful Heb\u00ea, Ares, and Eileithyia,\r\njoining in love with the king of gods and men.\r\nZeus himself gave birth from his head to owl-eyed Athena,\r\nfearsome rouser of battles, leader of armies, never wearying925<\/span>\r\nqueen who rejoices at the clash of arms, wars, and battles.\r\nBut Hera raged in strife with her husband, and joining\r\nin intercourse with no one, gave birth to renowned Hephaestus,\r\nwho surpassed all the descendants of Ouranos in skill of his hands.\r\n\r\nMore and more children\r\nFrom Amphitrite and the resounding Earth-Shaker,930<\/span>\r\nhuge powerful Triton was born, who in the Sea\u2019s depths\r\nwith his beloved mother and lordly father\r\nlives in a golden palace, an awesome god. And to Ares,\r\nthe piercer of shields, Aphrodite of Cythera bore Fear and Terror \u2014\r\nawful gods who cause panic in crowded battalions of men,935<\/span>\r\nin ice-cold war with city-destroying Ares \u2014\r\nand Harmony, whom bold Cadmus made his wife.\r\n\r\nMaia, daughter of Atlas, bore famous Hermes, the immortals\u2019 messenger,\r\nto Zeus, after she came into his marriage bed.\r\n\r\nCadmus\u2019 daughter, Semele, joining in love with Zeus.940<\/span>\r\nbore a shining son, joyful Dionysus \u2014\r\na mortal mother and an immortal son. Both are gods now.\r\n\r\nAlkmene bore might Herakles,\r\njoining in love with cloud-gathering Zeus.\r\n\r\nFamous broken-footed Hephaestus made Aglaia,945<\/span>\r\nyoungest of the Graces his blooming wife.\r\n\r\nGolden-haired Dionysus took blonde Ariadne,\r\ndaughter of Minos as his blooming wife.\r\nZeus, son of Kronos made her ageless and immortal.\r\n\r\nThe heroic son of fair-ankled Alcmene,950<\/span>\r\nmighty Herakles, once he finished his grievous Labours,\r\nmade the daughter of great Zeus and Hera who walks in golden sandals\r\nhis revered wife, on snow-covered Olympus,\r\nHappy and blessed, who finished his great work and lives\r\namong the immortals, free from pain and old age forever.955<\/span>\r\n\r\nTo Helios, the Sun who never grows weary, the famous daughter of Ocean,\r\nPerseis, bore Circe and king Aietes.\r\nAietes, son of Helios who shines on mortals,\r\nmarried fair-cheeked Idyia, a daughter of Ocean,\r\nthe perfect river. She bore fair-ankled Medea960<\/span>\r\nmastered in lovely intercourse through gold-adorned Aphrodite.\r\n\r\n[The Theogony continues for another 50 or so lines, as Hesiod turns to the children born to goddesses who had sex with mortal men: Demeter, Eos (the Dawn goddess), Thetis, Aphrodite, Circe and so on. In this way, Hesiod ends his poem in a glorious celebration of procreation, as all the gods take their cue from Zeus, joining in love with each other and with mortal men and women to produce more and more gods and heroes.]<\/em>","rendered":"

Hesiod, Theogony<\/em> (lines 132-232, 453-506, 617-735, 811-961)<\/h2>\n

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

Translator\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The following extracts are taken from Hesiod\u2019s Theogony to provide a continuous reading of the\u00a0 Succession Myth. Note that the title headings are my own, and not Hesiod\u2019s.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

At times, Hesiod uses the terms \u201cGaia,\u201d \u201cOuranos,\u201d \u201cTartarus,\u201d \u201cOcean,\u201d and \u201cSea\u201d to refer\u00a0 to ancient gods who came into being at the beginning of the universe. At other times, he uses\u00a0 these terms to refer simply to geography: the earth, the sky, the underworld, and the ocean and\u00a0 the sea. In my translation, I alternate between using Gaia, Ouranos, Tartarus etc. as the proper\u00a0 names of gods involved in the story and as geographical features of our world. When the names\u00a0 are being used primarily to indicate geography, I replace \u201cGaia\u201d in the Greek with \u201cEarth\u201d,\u00a0 Ouranos with \u201cSky\u201d and so on. I use capital letters (the Sea, Ocean, the Sky etc.) as a way of\u00a0 indicating that, to an ancient Greek, the earth is always simultaneously a geographical place\u00a0 and a goddess, that the ocean is at one and the same time a huge expanse of water and the eldest\u00a0 of the Titan gods, and the sky above us also and always the god who is Gaia\u2019s eldest son, first\u00a0 husband and first ruler of the universe.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Children of Gaia & Ouranos: Titans, Cyclopes, & Hundred Handers<\/h1>\n
Next, uniting with Ouranos,<\/div>\n
Gaia 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

The Succession Myth: Part 1<\/h1>\n

All those who were born from Gaia and Ouranos
\nwere awe-inspiring children, and their own father hated them155<\/span>
\nfrom the beginning. When first any of them was born,
\nhe would hide them all away, not allowing them to come up to the light,
\nin a hole of Gaia. Ouranos took delight
\nin his evil deed. But she, vast Gaia, groaned becoming more
\ncrowded within, and she pondered a deceitful, evil craft.160<\/span>
\nRight away, creating the class of metal known as grey adamant,
\nshe fashioned a giant sickle and showed it to her children.
\nShe spoke words of courage, though she grieved in her heart:<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren of me and an arrogant father, if only you are willing
\nto obey, we could take vengeance for the evil outrage165<\/span>
\nof your father, for he first plotted despicable actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

So she spoke, and fear seized them all. No one
\nspoke a word. But then, almost at once, great crooked-counseling Kronos
\nbravely addressed these words to his revered mother:<\/p>\n

\u201cMother, I would undertake and accomplish this action,170<\/span>
\nfor I feel no respect for the one wrongly called father,
\nour father. For he first plotted despicable actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

So he spoke and vast Gaia rejoiced greatly in her heart.
\nShe set him down, hidden in ambush, put in his hands
\na sickle with jagged teeth, and revealed the whole cunning plot.175<\/span><\/p>\n

Then he came, great Ouranos bringing Night with him, and all around Gaia,
\nin his desire for love-making, he stretched out and grew longer,
\nall of him. But his son, from his place of ambush, reached out
\nwith his left hand; with his right, he grasped the vast sickle,
\nwith its long jagged teeth, and eagerly sheared away180<\/span>
\nthe genitals of his own father. He hurled them away to be carried
\nbehind him. Not without result did they fly from his hand.
\nThe drops of blood that fell down,
\nGaia received them all, and in the course of the revolving year,
\nshe bore the powerful Furies and the massive Giants,185<\/span>
\ngleaming in their armour and holding long spears in their hands,
\nand the nymphs they call the Ash-Tree Nymphs, all along the limitless earth.<\/p>\n

The Birth of Aphrodite<\/h1>\n

When first he cut off the genitals with adamant,
\nhe threw them away from dry land into the surging sea,
\nand so they floated on the sea\u2019s surface for a long time; all around, white foam190<\/span>
\narose from the immortal flesh, and in the foam
\na maiden grew. First she drew near the holy island of Cythera;
\nfrom there she came to sea-girt Cyprus.
\nA revered and beautiful god emerged. Everywhere
\ngrass grew beneath her slender feet. Aphrodite,195<\/span>
\nfoam-born goddess, well-garlanded Cythereia \u2014
\nso gods and men alike call her, because she was formed
\nin foam, but also Cythereia, since she came past Cythera,
\nand Cyprogeneia, Cyprus-born, since she was born on wave-washed Cyprus.
\nAnd Philommeid\u00eas, laughter-loving, because she appeared from the genitals.200<\/span>
\nEros accompanied her, and lovely Desire followed,
\nwhen first she was born and as she entered the company of the gods.<\/p>\n

From the beginning she has held this honour and received
\nthis fated portion among women and men and immortal gods:
\nmaidens\u2019 whispers, smiles, and deceptions,205<\/span>
\nsweet delight and delightful love-making.<\/p>\n

But great Ouranos, their father, now called his children Titans, Overreachers,
\nquarrelling with the children he himself begot.
\nHe kept saying that they had recklessly overreached and committed
\na monstrous deed, for which in time to come there would be vengeance.210<\/span><\/p>\n

The Children of Night<\/h1>\n

Night bore hateful Doom and black Destiny
\nand Death. She bore sleep, and the tribe of Dreams.
\nNext gloomy Night gave birth to Blame and painful Suffering,
\nthough she lay with no one,
\nand the Hesperides who tend beautiful golden apples215<\/span>
\nand fruit-bearing trees beyond the boundaries of famous Ocean.
\nShe also bore the Fates and ruthless Dooms \u2014
\nKlotho who spins, Lachesis who apportions, and Atropos who cuts the thread.
\nThe Fates provide both good and evil to mortals at the time of their birth,
\nand pursue the transgressions of men and gods alike;220<\/span>
\nthese goddesses never let go of their fearsome anger
\nuntil they exact an ugly vengeance from anyone who sins.
\nDeadly Night also bore Nemesis \u2014 Retribution \u2014 a curse
\nfor mortal men and women. Then she bore Deception and Affection,225<\/span>
\ndestructive Old Age and strong-hearted Strife.<\/p>\n

The Children of Strife<\/h1>\n

Hateful Strife bore painful Toil,
\nForgetfulness, Famine and tearful Pains;
\nQuarrels, Lies, Words, and Disputes;
\nBad Government and Ruin who know one another well;230<\/span>
\nand Oath, who most of all brings misery
\nto mortal men and women whenever they swear a false oath.<\/p>\n

(For the next 220 lines, Hesiod continues with long catalogue lists of the birth of hundreds of\u00a0 divine beings, including nymphs in the sea, monsters, and rivers. The narrative of the\u00a0 Succession Myth continues at line 453 below.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Succession Myth: Part 2 (Kronos)<\/h1>\n

Rhea gave birth to shining children, overpowered by Kronos:
\nHestia, Demeter, and Hera of the golden sandals;
\nstrong Hades, who makes his home beneath the earth,455<\/span>
\nhis heart without pity; loud-sounding Poseidon;
\nand cunning Zeus, father of gods and men,
\nwhose thunder makes the wide earth tremble.<\/p>\n

Great Kronos swallowed them all, as each one
\nemerged from their mother\u2019s womb to her knees,460<\/span>
\nintending that none of Ouranos\u2019 grandchildren
\never possess the honour of kingship among the immortals.
\nFor he learned from Gaia and starry Ouranos
\nthat he was fated to be overpowered by his own son,
\nin spite of his strength, through the plans of great Zeus.465<\/span>
\nAnd so his vigilance was not careless, but watching closely
\nhe swallowed down his children, and unceasing grief took hold of Rhea.<\/p>\n

But when she was about to give birth to Zeus,
\nfather of gods and men, she implored
\nher beloved parents, Gaia and starry Ouranos470<\/span>
\nto devise a cunning plan so that she could bear her beloved child
\nunnoticed and the Furies of her father could exact vengeance
\nfor the children great, crooked-counselling Kronos swallowed.
\nThey listened eagerly to their beloved daughter, and obeyed.
\nThey revealed to her all that was fated to happen475<\/span>
\nconcerning Kronos, the king, and his strong-hearted son.
\nThey sent her to Lyktos, in the rich community of Crete,
\nwhen the time came for her to give birth to her youngest,
\ngreat Zeus. Immense Gaia received the child from her
\nto raise and keep safe in broad Crete.480<\/span>
\nCarrying him through the swift dark night, she came first
\nto Lyktos. Taking the child in her arms, she hid him away
\nin a deep cave, beneath the hiding places of holy earth,
\non the forest-covered mountain of Aegaion.<\/p>\n

Wrapping a large stone in a baby\u2019s blanket, Rhea offered it485<\/span>
\nto Ouranos\u2019 wide-ruling son, king of the earlier gods.
\nTaking it in his hands, he put it down inside his belly,
\nthe vile fool. He did not think in his mind that,
\nin place of the stone, his son remained for the future
\nuntroubled, undefeated, soon to overpower him,490<\/span>
\ndeprive him of his honour, and rule among the immortals.<\/p>\n

Swiftly the strength and shining limbs
\nof our king grew, and in the course of a year,
\ntricked by Gaia\u2019s cunning advice,
\ngreat, crooked-counselling Kronos disgorged his children,495<\/span>
\ndefeated by the skill and strength of his son.
\nFirst he vomited out the stone which he\u2019d swallowed last.
\nZeus set it down in the wide-wayed earth,
\nin holy Delphi, in the vales of Mount Parnassus,
\nto serve as a sign hereafter, a wonder for mortal men and women.500<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeus releases the Cyclopes<\/h1>\n

He then released his uncles from cruel bondage,
\n[thundering Brontes, blazing Steropes, and strong-hearted Arg\u00eas,]
\nsons of Ouranos, their father, who had foolishly imprisoned them.
\nThey repaid the favour of Zeus\u2019s kindness
\nand gave him thunder and the fiery thunderbolt
\nand lightning which earlier vast Gaia had concealed.505<\/span>
\nTrusting in these he rules over mortals and immortals.<\/p>\n

[Hesiod now interrupts the Succession Myth with a lengthy digression on the god Prometheus\u00a0 and how he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. We will skip over this for now, since\u00a0 Prometheus will be the focus of Lessons 5 and 6.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Hesiod returns to the Succession Myth, picking up where he\u2019d left off. After Zeus releases his\u00a0 uncles the Cyclopes, he releases his other triplet uncles, the Hundred Handers. Both sets of\u00a0 uncles will be Zeus\u2019s faithful allies in the war against the Titans that is about to begin.]\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Zeus releases the Hundred Handers<\/h1>\n

When their father, Ouranos, first became angry in his soul with the Hundred Handers \u2013
\nBriareus, Kottos, and Gyges \u2014 he bound them with powerful chains,
\nenvying their extreme manliness, form, and size.
\nHe settled them beneath the wide-wayed earth.620<\/span>
\nThere, enduring pain as they dwell beneath the Earth,
\nthey sit, at the farthest limits of vast Gaia,
\ngrieving deeply and experiencing much sorrow in their hearts.<\/p>\n

The Titanomachy<\/h1>\n

But the son of Kronos and the other immortal gods,
\nthose whom fair-haired Rhea bore through intercourse with Kronos,625<\/span>
\nbrought the Hundred Handers up into the light again, following the advice of Gaia.
\nFor Gaia told them everything in detail:
\nthat, with the aid of these ones, they would win victory and glorious renown.
\nFor much too long the Titans and all the gods fathered by Kronos had been fighting,
\nagainst one another in powerful battles, achieving only painful toil.630<\/span><\/p>\n

The famous Titans were fighting from the top of Mount Othrys,
\nand the gods who are givers of good things from the top of Mount Olympus,
\nthose gods whom fair-haired Rhea bore, going to bed with Kronos.
\nEnduring painful battles against one another,
\nthey fought without end for ten years.635<\/span>
\nThere was no release from harsh strife, no end
\nfor either side. The war\u2019s outcome hung in the balance.
\nBut then Zeus gave the Hundred Handers what they lacked \u2013
\nnectar and ambrosia, the food of the gods.
\nImmense strength then grew in their chests,640<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Zeus, father of gods and men, spoke to them:<\/p>\n

\u201cHear me, glorious children of Gaia and Ouranos,
\nthat I might speak what the spirit in my breast compels me to say.
\nFor too long now against one another645<\/span>
\nWe have been fighting every day for victory and power,
\nthe immortal Titans and those of us fathered by Kronos.
\nReveal your great strength and invincible arms
\nto the Titans, as you oppose them in painful battle.
\nRemember my kind friendship, and all that you suffered650<\/span>
\nbeneath the misty darkness before you came up to the light
\nfrom painful bondage through my wise planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

So spoke Zeus, and straightaway blameless Kottos answered him:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are a strange one! You reveal what is not unknown.
\nWe ourselves know that your mind and your judgment are superior,655<\/span>
\nand you were born to be the immortals\u2019 champion against deadly cold harm.
\nBy your goodwill, from misty Darkness and our harsh chains
\nwe have come up once again, lordly son of Kronos,
\ngaining that which we thought beyond hope.
\nAnd so now, with stubborn purpose and a willing spirit,660<\/span>
\nwe shall defend your power in the dreadful din of battle,
\nas we fight against the Titans in strong encounters.\u201d<\/p>\n

So spoke Kottos, the Hundred Hander, and the gods, givers of good things,
\npraised him when they heard his words. Their spirits longed for war
\nmore than ever before. They roused up unenviable battle,665<\/span>
\nall of them, males and females both, on that day,
\nthe Titans and all those whom Kronos sired,
\nand those ones Zeus brought up from Darkness beneath Earth to the light,
\nterrifying and powerful beings possessing infinite strength.
\nOne hundred arms jut out from their shoulders,670<\/span>
\nfor each one of them, and each has fifty heads
\ngrowing up from their shoulders on powerful necks.<\/p>\n

Then they took their places against the Titans in the grievous conflict,
\nholding giant rocks in their massive hands.675<\/span>
\nThe Titans, from the other side, strengthened their ranks
\neagerly. Both sides revealed the violent work of their hands.
\nAll around, infinite Pontos, the Sea, resounded dreadfully.
\nGaia, the Earth, roared loudly and the wide Ouranos, the Sky, groaned
\nas he was shaken. From its very foundations, tall Olympus quaked680<\/span>
\nbeneath the force of the immortals. The heavy pounding of their feet,
\nthe shrill noise of unspeakable retreat
\nand powerful weapons came all the way to misty Tartarus.
\nSo they hurled painful missiles at one another,
\nand the cries of both sides reached up to starry Ouranos,685<\/span>
\nas they came toward each other with great war cries.<\/p>\n

No longer did Zeus hold back his strength. But straightaway
\nhis heart filled with rage, and he revealed all his force.
\nFrom Sky and from Olympus at once
\nhe advanced in a hail of lightning. The lightning bolts690<\/span>
\nflew from his powerful hands in a dense rain
\nof blazing thunder, a thick, flaming tornado.
\nAll around, life-bearing Gaia screamed,
\nas she burned. Limitless forests howled loudly in the fire.
\nAll the Earth, the streams of Ocean, and the barren Sea695<\/span>
\nboiled. Hot blasts engulfed the Earth-born Titans,
\nas never-ending flames reached the shining upper air.
\nStrong though they were, the blazing flare
\nof lightning and thunder blinded their eyes.
\nThe unspeakable heat bore down even on Chaos.700<\/span>
\nIt seemed to those who had eyes for seeing and ears for hearing
\nas though Earth and broad Sky were coming together.
\nSo loud was the thud of Gaia being fallen upon and
\nand of Ouranos as he fell on her from above.
\nSo great was the sound of the gods as they came together in strife.705<\/span><\/p>\n

The winds caused shaking and clouds of dust,
\nproducing flashing thunder and blazing lightning,
\nmissiles of great Zeus, and they brought clamour and shouting
\ninto the midst of both sides. An infinite roar of deadly strife
\narose, and the power of their actions was revealed.710<\/span>
\nThe battle turned against the Titans. Before this they charged at one another
\nand fought without end through powerful encounters.
\nNow in the front ranks, Kottos, Briareus,
\nand Gyges, hungry for battle, roused up bitter war.
\nFrom their powerful hand they sent three hundred rocks715<\/span>
\nflying, their missiles casting shadows over the Titans.
\nThey sent the Titans down beneath the wide-wayed Earth
\nand bound them fast in painful chains,
\nvanquishing them, powerful though they were, with their hands.<\/p>\n

The Fate of the Titans & the tim\u00ea of the Hundred Handers<\/h1>\n

As far beneath Earth as Sky is above Earth720<\/span>
\njust so far beneath Earth is misty Tartarus.<\/p>\n

Falling for nine days and nine nights from Sky,
\na bronze anvil would reach Earth on the tenth day.
\nEqually from Earth to misty Tartarus,
\nfalling again for nine days and nine nights from Earth,725<\/span>
\na bronze anvil would arrive in Tartarus on the tenth day.<\/p>\n

A fence of bronze runs around it. All around Tartarus,
\nthree rows of Night pour down, encircling his neck. Above him,
\nthe roots of Earth and the barren Sea grow down.
\nThere the Titan gods, in misty darkness,
\nare hidden away through the plans of cloud-gathering Zeus730<\/span>
\nin a moldy place, at the furthest boundaries of vast Gaia.
\nFor the Titans, there is no exit. Poseidon made the doors
\nof bronze, and a wall runs along on both sides.<\/p>\n

There Kottos, Briareus, and great-hearted Gyges
\nreside, jailers trusted by aegis-bearing Zeus.735<\/span><\/p>\n

[Hesiod now provides an extended description of the geography and most famous inhabitants of Tartarus, including Hades, Persephone, Cerberus, the river Styx and many others. This long digression, which we will skip over, answers a fundamental question for the ancient Greeks: what will the afterlife be like? What awaits all of us in the underworld? Because he has become the instrument of the Muses, Hesiod, like all Muse-inspired poets, has access to this knowledge. But can we trust these capricious goddesses? After all, they may know how to tell the truth, but they also know how to tell lies indistinguishable from the truth. We really have no choice but to trust them, since we have no other way of finding out what awaits us in Tartarus. <\/em><\/p>\n

After the digression on Tartarus, Hesiod resumes the main narrative of the Succession Myth, briefly returning to Zeus\u2019s uncles and allies, the Hundred Handers and then moving onto Zeus\u2019s last obstacle before he can become ruler of the universe: the monster Typhoeus.]<\/em><\/p>\n

There exist Tartarus\u2019 shining gates and bronze threshold,811<\/span>
\nunmovable, fixed in place by far-reaching, ever-growing
\nroots. Beyond and far-removed from all the other gods
\ndwell the Titans, beyond even gloomy Chaos.<\/p>\n

The famous allies of loud-thundering Zeus815<\/span>
\nmake their homes there by the foundations of Ocean \u2014<\/p>\n

Kottos and Gyges. Briareus too: the loud-roaring
\nEarthshaker, Poseidon, made him his son-in-law,
\nand gave him his own daughter, Cympoleia, to marry.<\/p>\n

The Typhonomachy<\/h1>\n

But, once Zeus had driven the Titans from the Sky,820<\/span>
\nvast Gaia gave birth to her youngest son, Typhoeus,
\nby intercourse with Tartarus through gold-adorned Aphrodite.
\nHis hands were strong, able to accomplish his works,
\nand the feet of this powerful god never grew weary. From his shoulders
\na hundred snake heads grew, flicking825<\/span>
\ndark tongues of a terrifying serpent. Fire shot out
\nfrom his eyes under the brows on his monstrous heads.
\nFrom all the heads, fire blazed wherever he looked.
\nIn all the terrifying heads were voices
\nsending out unspeakable sounds. At one time,830<\/span>
\nthey made sounds understood by the gods; at another time,
\ncame the voice of a proud, invincible bull, bellowing its strength;
\nthen the voice of a lion with shameless spirit,
\nand at another time, like that of puppies, a wonder to hear.
\nSometimes he hissed, and the high mountains echoed back the sound.835<\/span><\/p>\n

On that day a deed beyond all help would have been accomplished,
\nand he would have ruled over mortals and immortals,
\nif the father of gods and men had not thought quickly.
\nHe thundered hard and powerful. All around, Earth
\nresounded horribly, so too broad Sky above,840<\/span>
\nthe Sea, streams of Ocean, and regions underneath Earth.
\nTall Olympus shook under the immortal feet
\nof the king as he set out, and Earth groaned.
\nSearing heat from both of them oppressed the violet-coloured Sea,
\nfrom thunder and lightning, and from the monster\u2019s fire,845<\/span>
\nfrom scorching winds and flaming thunderbolts.
\nAll the Earth boiled, and Sky and Sea too.
\nAround and over shores and sea cliffs giant waves raged
\nbeneath the immortals\u2019 onslaught, and an immense earthquake began.
\nHades, lord of the dead below, trembled;850<\/span>
\nso did the Titans, allies of Kronos, in the lowest parts of Tartarus,
\nfrom the endless noise of dreadful battle-strife.<\/p>\n

When Zeus unleashed his mighty wrath and seized his weapons \u2014
\nthunder, lightning, and blazing thunderbolts \u2014
\nhe leaped from Olympus and struck. He engulfed855<\/span>
\nall the appalling heads of the terrifying monster in fire.
\nAnd once he overpowered him, flogging him with blows,
\nTyphoeus crashed down, his limbs broken, and vast Gaia groaned.
\nFlames shot up from the thunderstruck lord,
\nin the dark, rugged valleys of the mountain860<\/span>
\nwhere he was struck. Most of vast Gaia was on fire
\nfrom the unspeakable heat, and she melted like tin
\nmade molten in open cauldrons through the arts
\nof craftsmen, or as iron, which is strongest of all,
\nmastered by blazing fire in mountain valleys,865<\/span>
\nmelts in the shining Earth through Hephaestus\u2019 skill.
\nJust so, Gaia was melting from the blaze of flaming fire.
\nZeus, overwhelmed with rage, hurled him into broad Tartarus.<\/p>\n

From Typhoeus comes the wrath of wet-blowing winds,
\nexcept for Notos the South, Boreas the North, and Zephyr the West Wind \u2014870<\/span>
\nthese come from the gods, a great blessing for mortals.
\nThe other winds blow without purpose on the Sea,
\na great torment for mortals; they rage with evil blasts.
\nThey start howling when you least expect them, scattering ships,
\nand the sailors drown. No remedy exists for their evil,875<\/span>
\nnot for the men who encounter them at Sea.
\nSo too across the infinite blooming Earth,
\nthey destroy the lovely fields of Earth-dwelling women and men,
\nand fill Gaia with dust and grievous turmoil.<\/p>\n

Zeus becomes king<\/h1>\n

But when the carefree gods had accomplished their labour,
\nand decided the issue of honours with the Titans, by force,
\nthen they urged far-seeing Olympian Zeus,
\nby the shrewd advice of Gaia, to be king and ruler
\nof the immortals. And he skillfully divided honours among them.885<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wives of Zeus<\/h1>\n

1. Metis<\/strong>
\nZeus, now king of the gods, chose as his first wife Metis<\/strong>,
\nbecause, among gods and mortal men and women, she knows most.
\nBut when she was about to give birth to the goddess
\nowl-eyed Athena<\/span>, he deceived her mind with a trick.
\nUsing wily words, he placed her down into his belly,890<\/span>
\nby the shrewd advice of Gaia and starry Ouranos.
\nFor they advised him, so that no one else of the eternal gods,
\nother than Zeus, should ever hold the honour of kingship.
\nFrom Metis, wise children were destined be born,
\nfirst a daughter, owl-eyed Tritogeneian Athena,895<\/span>
\nendowed with courage and prudent counsel, equal to her father.
\nBut then, after that, she was fated to bear a son,
\na king of gods and men, born with overwhelming strength.
\nBefore that happened, Zeus placed her down into his belly,
\nso the goddess might advise him on good and evil.900<\/span>
\n2. Themis<\/strong>
\nSecond, Zeus brought home bright, just Themis<\/strong>, who bore the Seasons<\/span> \u2014
\nGood Governance, Justice, and flowering Peace \u2014
\nwho oversee the works of mortal men and women.
\nAnd she bore the Fates<\/span>, whom shrewd Zeus gave an immense honour \u2014
\nClotho the Spinner, Lachesis the Allotter and Atropos the Unbending:905<\/span>
\nfor mortal women and men, they assign possession of good and evil.
\n3. Eurynome<\/strong>
\nThird, Eurynome<\/strong>, the daughter of Ocean, a goddess of enticing beauty,
\nbore to Zeus the fair-cheeked Graces<\/span> \u2014
\nglittering Aglaia, joyful Euphrosyne, and lovely festive Thalia.
\nFrom their eyes, as they look our way, desire radiates910<\/span>
\nand loosens our limbs. Under their eyelids, beauty inhabits their glances.
\n4. Demeter<\/strong>
\nThen Zeus went to the bed of bountiful Demeter<\/strong>.
\nShe bore white-armed Persephone<\/span>, whom Aidoneus
\nseized from her mother, and shrewd Zeus gave his permission.
\n5. Mnemosyne (Memory)<\/strong>
\nThen Zeus fell in love with lovely-haired Mnemosyne<\/strong>.915<\/span>
\nShe bore the Muses<\/span> who wear gold ribbons in their hair,
\nnine daughters whose delight is festivals and the joy of song.
\n6. Leto<\/strong>
\nLeto too joined in love with aegis-bearing Zeus,
\nand bore Apollo and arrow-pouring Artemis,
\ncaptivating children surpassing all of Sky\u2019s descendants.920<\/span>
\n7. Hera<\/strong>
\nLast of all, Zeus made Hera his lush and fertile wife.
\nShe gave birth to youthful Heb\u00ea, Ares, and Eileithyia,
\njoining in love with the king of gods and men.
\nZeus himself gave birth from his head to owl-eyed Athena,
\nfearsome rouser of battles, leader of armies, never wearying925<\/span>
\nqueen who rejoices at the clash of arms, wars, and battles.
\nBut Hera raged in strife with her husband, and joining
\nin intercourse with no one, gave birth to renowned Hephaestus,
\nwho surpassed all the descendants of Ouranos in skill of his hands.<\/p>\n

More and more children
\nFrom Amphitrite and the resounding Earth-Shaker,930<\/span>
\nhuge powerful Triton was born, who in the Sea\u2019s depths
\nwith his beloved mother and lordly father
\nlives in a golden palace, an awesome god. And to Ares,
\nthe piercer of shields, Aphrodite of Cythera bore Fear and Terror \u2014
\nawful gods who cause panic in crowded battalions of men,935<\/span>
\nin ice-cold war with city-destroying Ares \u2014
\nand Harmony, whom bold Cadmus made his wife.<\/p>\n

Maia, daughter of Atlas, bore famous Hermes, the immortals\u2019 messenger,
\nto Zeus, after she came into his marriage bed.<\/p>\n

Cadmus\u2019 daughter, Semele, joining in love with Zeus.940<\/span>
\nbore a shining son, joyful Dionysus \u2014
\na mortal mother and an immortal son. Both are gods now.<\/p>\n

Alkmene bore might Herakles,
\njoining in love with cloud-gathering Zeus.<\/p>\n

Famous broken-footed Hephaestus made Aglaia,945<\/span>
\nyoungest of the Graces his blooming wife.<\/p>\n

Golden-haired Dionysus took blonde Ariadne,
\ndaughter of Minos as his blooming wife.
\nZeus, son of Kronos made her ageless and immortal.<\/p>\n

The heroic son of fair-ankled Alcmene,950<\/span>
\nmighty Herakles, once he finished his grievous Labours,
\nmade the daughter of great Zeus and Hera who walks in golden sandals
\nhis revered wife, on snow-covered Olympus,
\nHappy and blessed, who finished his great work and lives
\namong the immortals, free from pain and old age forever.955<\/span><\/p>\n

To Helios, the Sun who never grows weary, the famous daughter of Ocean,
\nPerseis, bore Circe and king Aietes.
\nAietes, son of Helios who shines on mortals,
\nmarried fair-cheeked Idyia, a daughter of Ocean,
\nthe perfect river. She bore fair-ankled Medea960<\/span>
\nmastered in lovely intercourse through gold-adorned Aphrodite.<\/p>\n

[The Theogony continues for another 50 or so lines, as Hesiod turns to the children born to goddesses who had sex with mortal men: Demeter, Eos (the Dawn goddess), Thetis, Aphrodite, Circe and so on. In this way, Hesiod ends his poem in a glorious celebration of procreation, as all the gods take their cue from Zeus, joining in love with each other and with mortal men and women to produce more and more gods and heroes.]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":6,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-78","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\/78","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":17,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/78\/revisions\/272"}],"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\/78\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/myths\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}