Classical Mythology, 7th Edition - obinfonet: dia logou

74 THE MYTHS OF CREATION: THE GODS
him as he dispenses justice with fair impartiality; and soon speaking with confidence
and knowledge he would end even the greatest of disputes. For this very
purpose there are wise kings to settle quarrels easily among people who wrong
each other in their dealings, by prevailing in the achievement of just retribution
with gentle persuasion. As he passes through the city, they greet him with honeyed
respect, like a god, and he is conspicuous in any assembly. Such is the nature
of the holy gift that the Muses bestow among mortals. From the Muses and
Apollo come singers and lyre-players on this earth but kings come from Zeus.
Blessed is the one whom the Muses love. Sweet is the sound of the words which
flow from his lips. For if anyone has a fresh grief in his soul and his troubled
heart is parched with sorrow and then a bard, servant of the Muses, sings a
hymn about the glorious accomplishments done by men of old and the blessed
gods who have their homes on Olympus, soon the one in distress forgets his
woes and does not remember any of his troubles, which have been dispelled so
quickly by this gift of song bestowed by the goddesses.
HESIOD INVOKES THE MUSES TO TELL THROUGH HIM THE STORY OF
GENESIS (104-115)
Hail, daughters of Zeus. Give me enticing song. Celebrate the holy race of the
immortal gods existing forever, those who were born from Earth (Ge) and starry
Heaven (Uranus) and those from dark Night and those whom the briny Sea
(Pontus) nurtured. Tell how in the beginning gods and Earth (Gaia) came into
being and rivers and the boundless sea with its raging surf and the shining stars
and the wide firmament above and the gods who were born of them, givers of
good things, and how they divided up their wealth and how they shared their
honors and also how in the first place they occupied Olympus with its many
clefts. You Muses, who have your homes on Olympus, reveal these things to
me, and tell from the beginning, which of them first came into being. . . .
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
See the Select Bibliography at the end of Chapter 4.
NOTES
1. Dates for Homer and Hesiod are tentative and controversial.
2. Since the Muses are the daughters of Zeus, their revelation comes from the infallible
knowledge of the supreme god.
3. Perhaps Hesiod may anticipate the pre-Socratic philosophers who sought a primal
world substance or substances. Thaïes (ca. 540) seems to provide a startling break
with mythological and theological concepts when he claims water to be the source
of everything, with shattering implications for both science and philosophy.
4. We shall use the names Gaia, Gaea, and Ge, which mean "earth," interchangeably.
5. For the Orphic myth of creation in particular, see pp. 362-363.
6. The concept of god creating something out of nothing is not found in the Greek and
Roman tradition.
7. These Cyclopes are distinct from the Cyclops Polyphemus and his fellows.