Pherecydes of Syros

                            

Pherecydes of Syros (/fəˈrɛsɪˌdiːz/; Greek: Φερεκύδης ὁ 
Σύριος; fl. 6th century BC)
Pherecydes, ancient Greek philosopher. Born c. 580 BC Died
c. 520 BC He was a Greek thinker from the island of Syros. Pherecydes authored a cosmogony, derived from three divine principles, Zas (Zeus), Cthonie (Earth) and Chronos (Time), known as the "Pentemychos" (Πεντέμυχος, "of the five recesses"; sometimes the alternative title "Heptamychos", "seven recesses" is given). It formed a bridge between the mythological thought of Hesiod and pre-Socratic philosophy. His work is lost, but it survived into the Hellenistic period and we are informed on part of its content indirectly. Pherecydes was said to have been the first writer to communicate philosophical musings in prose. According to William (ca. 1896), Aristotle regarded him partly a mythological writer and Plutarch, as well as many other writers gave him the title of Theologus.

Life

According to tradition Pherecydes was a native of the island of Syros and flourished in the 59th Olympiad (544–541 BC). It was said that he was a son of one Babys. Schibli (1990) dates his birth in the 49th olympiad (584–581).

Anecdotes of "unknown reliability" place Pherecydes on the island of Samos, and in the city of Ephesus, where he is supposed to have been buried, although another tradition claims he was buried on Delos.

Aristotle wrote in his Metaphysics of Pherecydes being in part a mythological writer and Plutarch, in his Parallel Lives, instead wrote of him being a theologian. He was considered to have had the greater significance in teaching on the subject of metempsychosis.

His writings were extant in the Hellenistic period, although only fragments have survived to the present day. His works were written in prose rather than verse and he has been said to have been the first to have communicated or conveyed philosophical musings in this form. Tradition maintains that Pherecydes lived in two caves in the northern part of the island of Syros. His summer habitation remains a popular tourist destination to this day.

Cosmogony

Pherecydes’ Cave.

Some sources say that Pherecydes' book was entitled "Pentemychos" (Πεντέμυχος Pentemuchos) translated as five (πέντε) "recesses" (μυχός muchos, "nook, cranny, recess", also "sanctuary" as in "small domestic altar in a corner"). in some sources said to have been titled "Heptamychos" ("seven (ἑπτά) recesses"). There seems to be no complete agreement among scholars on which sources to trust regarding the title of Pherecydes' book, the standard survey reference on the Presocratic philosophers by Kirk, Raven and Schofield, opts for "Heptamychos". The author of the only modern scholarly book devoted entirely to Pherecydes, Hermann S. Schibli, argues that "Pentemychos" was the true title. In this work, Pherecydes taught his philosophy through the medium of mythic representations. Although it is lost, the fragments that survive are enough to reconstruct a basic outline.

In the older cosmogony of Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) the initial state of the universe is Chaos, a dark void considered as a divine primordial condition and the creation is ex nihilo (out of nothing). Pherecydes probably interpreted chaos as water and he does not place it at the very beginning. In his cosmogony there are three divine principles, Zas (Ζάς, Zeus), Cthonie (Χθονίη, Earth) and Chronos (Χρόνος, Time) who always existed.

The semen (seeds) of Chronos which can probably be considered as a watery chaos was placed in the recesses and composed numerous other offsprings of gods. This is described in a fragment preserved in Damascius' On First Principles.

A close relationship is thought to exist between these recesses and Chthonie. Hesiod described Tartaros as being "in a recess (muchos) of broad-wayed earth". Hermann S. Schibli thinks the five muchos were actually harboured within Chthonie, or at least were so initially when Chronos disposed his seed in the five "nooks".

Alongside Chthonie and Chronos, Pherecydes held a power called Zas. Zas (Zeus), comparable with the Orphic Eros in function, and as such a personification of masculine (sexual) creativity. Proclus said that "Pherecydes used to say that Zeus changed into Eros when about to create, for the reason that, having created the world from opposites, he led it into agreement and peace and sowed sameness in all things, and unity that interpenetrates the universe".

The act of creation itself (perhaps it is more accurate to say that Chronos creates and that Zas orders and distributes) is described mytho-poetically as Zas making a cloth on which he decorates earth and sea, and which he then presents as a wedding gift to Chthonie, and wraps around her. Yet, in another fragment it is not Chthonie, but "a winged oak" that he wraps the cloth around. The "winged oak" in this cosmology has no precedent in Greek tradition.

The stories are different but not mutually exclusive, because much is lacking in the fragments, but it seems clear that creation is hindered by chaotic forces.

Pherecydes, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg Chronicle

Bust in Syros

Before the world is ordered a cosmic battle takes place, with Cronus as the head of one side and Ophioneus as the leader of the other. The same story is elsewhere enacted with Zeus and Typhon/Typhoeus as leading characters, and it also has close parallels in many myths from cultures other than the Greek (Marduk vs. Tiamat, etc.). Ophioneus and its brood are often depicted as ruling the birthing cosmos for some time, before falling from power. The chaotic forces are eternal and cannot be destroyed; instead they are thrown out from the ordered world and locked away in Tartaros in a kind of "appointment of the spheres", in which the victor (Zeus-Cronus) takes possession of the sky and of space and time.^[The locks to Tartaros are fashioned in iron by Zeus, and might hence have been associated with his element of aither, and in bronze by Poseidon, which might indicate a link to water (which was often conceived of as the "first matter"). Judging from some ancient fragments Ophioneus is thrown into Okeanos, not into Tartaros.

Exactly what entities or forces that were locked away in Pherecydes’ story cannot be known for sure. There may have been five principal figures. Ophioneus and Typhon are one and the same, and Eurynome fought on the side of Ophioneus against Cronus. Chthonie is a principal "thing" of the underworld, but whether she is to be counted as one of the five or the five "sum-total" is an open question. Apart from these it is known that Ophioneus-Typhon mated with Echidna, and that Echidna herself was somehow mysteriously "produced" by Callirhoe. If Pherecydes counted five principal entities in association the pentemychos doctrine, then Ophioneus, Eurynome, Echidna, Calirrhoe and Chthonie are the main contenders.

Cronus (or Zeus in the more popularly known version) orders the offspring out from the cosmos to Tartaros. There they are kept behind locked gates, fashioned in iron (associated with Zeus and his element of sky/space) and bronze (by Poseidon—the water force). We are told about chaotic beings put into the pentemychos, and we are told that the Darkness has an offspring that is cast into the recesses of Tartaros. No surviving fragment makes the connection, but it is possible that the prison-house in Tartaros and the pentemychos are ways of referring to the essentially same thing. According to Celsus, Pherecydes said that: "Below that portion is the portion of Tartaros; the daughters of Boreas [the north wind], the Harpies and Thuella [Storm], guard it; there Zeus banished any of the gods whenever one behaves with insolence." Thus the identity between Zeus' prison-house and the pentemychos seems likely.

Influence

Pherecydes' "Pentemychos" was thought to have contained a mystical esoteric teaching, treated allegorically. One ancient commentator said that:

Also, Pherecydes, the man of Syros, talks of recesses and pits and caves and doors and gates, and through these speaks in riddles of becomings and deceases of souls.

A comparatively large number of sources say Pherecydes was the first to teach the eternality and transmigration (metempsychosis) of human souls. Both Cicero and Augustine thought of him having given the first teaching of the "immortality of the soul". It is not surprising that some considered Pherecydes to have been the teacher of Pythagoras. That he was the first to teach such a thing is doubtful, but that he was among the first and that he did profess this teaching is certain. Hermann S. Schibli concludes that Pherecydes "included in his book ["Pentemychos"] at least a rudimentary treatment of the immortality of the soul, its wanderings in the underworld, and the reasons for the soul’s incarnations".

Pherecydes was occasionally counted among the Seven Sages of Greece.
A sun-dial (heliotropion), supposedly made by Pherecydes, was said by Diogenes Laërtius to be "preserved on the island of Syros."

Reconstruction

Basing himself on the extant fragments of Pherecydes' work, on testimonia from ancient authors regarding Pherecydes' philosophy, as well as on themes from Ancient Greek and Near Eastern mythologies, Hermann S. Schibli offers the following reconstruction of the main elements of Pherecydes' lost book:

CHRONOS and Zas always were, and also Chthonie (Ζὰς μὲν καὶ Χρόνος ἦσαν ἀεὶ καὶ Χθονίη). Once Chronos, alone and without a partner, cast forth his seed. From his seed he made fire, air, and water, and deposited these in five hollows. Lo, from the mixtures of fire, air and water in the hollows arose another generation of gods. The fiery gods dwelt in Ouranos and gleaming Aither, the gods of wind in gusty Tartaros, the watery gods in Chaos, and the gods of darkness dwelt in black Night.

After the generation of gods, born of the seed of Time, assumed their habitations, Zas became Eros and married Chthonie. The other gods built many large palaces for him; they provided all the necessary goods, the banquet tables, servants and maids, and when all the needful things had been accomplished, they performed the wedding. On the third day of the wedding, Zas fashioned a big and beautiful robe, and on it he embroidered Earth and Ogenos and the mansions of Ogenos. When he had finished his task, he presented the robe to Chthonie and said: 'Because I wish to marry you, I honour you with this robe. Rejoice and be my consort!' This they say was the first feast of unveiling, and hence arose the custom for both gods and men. And she responded as she received the robe from him: 'I take this as my honour, and henceforth I shall be called Ge...' The gods celebrated, feasting on ambrosia. And the Earth was like a winged oak, strong and mighty; its roots extended into the depths of Tartaros, its trunk was encircled by Ogenos, and its branches reached into Ouranos. The Earth flourished and Zas rejoiced.

But below the Earth, in a hollow of Tartaros, Ophioneus was born. He and his monstrous sons challenged Kronos. The battle-lines were drawn up, with Kronos the commander of one army and Ophioneus leading the Ophionidai. The terms of the battle were stated: whichever of them fell into Ogenos would be the defeated, while those who thrust them out and defeated them would possess Ouranos. A fierce conflict followed. Kronos had a strong ally in Zas; in single combat he overthrew Ophioneus. So Ophioneus and his brood were cast into Ogenos, and they dwell in the mansions of Ogenos to this day. Kronos, commander of the victorious army, was crowned by the other gods (from this arose the custom of the wearing of crowns by victors). Zeus honoured the victorious gods and assigned them their domains. Kronos had won Ouranos. These are the shares of the other gods: below Ouranos is the fiery Aither; below Aither the portion of Earth; below that portion is Tartaros; the daughters of Boreas, the Harpies and Thuella, guard it; there Zeus banishes any of the gods who behave with insolence. There also are the souls of men who have committed bloodshed. Their souls are borne through the portals and gates of Tartaros on an outflowing river to birth; the river is like the seed that leads to new life. And the souls of men depart from life and enter again the caves and hollows of Tartaros through its portals and gates. Alongside Tartaros is Chaos and the realms of dark Night.

Seven Sages of Greece

Mosaïc of the Seven Sages, Baalbeck, 3rd century A.D.,
National Museum of Beirut. Calliope
at the center, and clockwise from top: Socrates, Chilon, Pittacus, Periander, Cleobulus (damaged section), Bias, Thales,

According to Diogenes, a Greek philosopher who lived during 412 BC to 323 BC also known as Diogenes the cynic, the seven "were neither wise men nor philosophers, but merely shrewd men, who had studied legislation." And according to at least one modern scholar, the claim is correct: "With the exception of Thales, no one whose life is contained in [Diogenes'] Book I [i.e. none of the above] has any claim to be styled a philosopher." 

The Seven Sages

The list of seven sages includes:

Cleobulus of Lindos. a Greek poet and a native of Lindos. 6th century BC, Cleobulus was the son of Evagoras and a citizen of Lindus in Rhodes. Cleobulus is said to have studied philosophy in Egypt. He had a daughter, Cleobulina, who found fame as a poet, composing riddles in hexameter verse. Cleobulus is said to have lived to the age of seventy, and to have been greatly distinguished, for strength and beauty of person. 

Bust of Solon from the National Museum,
 Naples

Solon of Athens. an Athenian statesman, lawmaker and poet.

 He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in archaic Athens. His reforms failed in the short term, yet he is often credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy. He wrote poetry for pleasure, as patriotic propaganda and in defence of his constitutional reforms.

Chilon of Sparta. Chilon was the son of Damagetus, and lived towards the beginning of the 6th century BC.

Chilon was the son of Damagetus, and lived towards the beginning of the 6th century BC. Herodotus speaks of him as contemporary with Hippocrates, the father of Peisistratus. Diogenes Laertius states that he was an old man in the 52nd Olympiad (572 BC), and that he was elected an ephor (overseer) in Sparta in the 56th Olympiad (556/5 BC). Alcidamas states that he was a member of the Spartan assembly. Diogenes Laertius even goes so far as to claim that Chilon was also the first person who introduced the custom of joining the ephors to the kings as their counselors. 

Chilon is said to have helped to overthrow the tyranny at Sicyon, which became a Spartan ally. He is also credited with the change in Spartan policy leading to the development of the Peloponnesian League in the sixth century BC. Another legend claims that he died of joy when his son gained the prize for boxing at the Olympic games, and that his funeral was attended by all the Greeks assembled at the festival. 

Bust of Bias bearing the inscription “Bias of Priene”.
In Greek: ΒΙΑΣ ΠΡΗΝΕΥΣ (BIAS PRĒNEUS), Βίας Πρηνεύς.
Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original.
From the villa of Cassius near Tivoli, 1774.

Bias of Priene. a Greek sage 6th century BC. Bias was born at Priene and was the son of Teutamus. He is said to have been distinguished for his skill as an advocate, and for his use of it in defense of the right. In reference to which Demodicus of Alerius uttered the following saying – "If you are a judge, give a Prienian decision," and Hipponax said, "More powerful in pleading causes than Bias of Priene." 

He was always reckoned among the Seven Sages, and was mentioned by Dicaearchus as one of the Four to whom alone that title was universally given — the remaining three being Thales, Pittacus, and Solon. Satyrus placed him at the head of the Seven Sages, and even Heraclitus, who poured scorn on figures such as Hesiod and Pythagoras, referred to Bias as "a man of more consideration than any." One of the examples of his great goodness is the legend that says that Bias paid a ransom for some women who had been taken prisoner. After educating them as his own daughters, he sent them back to Messina, their homeland, and to their fathers. 

Thales of Miletus Credited as the first philosopher of Ancient Greece, and therefore the founder of Western philosopher, Thales hailed from the Ionian seaport of Miletus, now in modern Turkey. Miletus was a major centre of development for both science and philosophy in Ancient Greece. Thales, probably born somewhere around 620 BC is mainly remembered as the pre-Socratic philosopher who claimed that the fundamental nature of the world is water. Aristotle mentions him, as does Herodotus, and these are really our only accounts of Thales’ background. However, his significance as a philosopher is not so much what he said, but his method. Thales was the first thinker to try to account for the nature of the world without appealing to the wills and whims of anthropomorphic, Homerian gods. Rather, he sought to explain the many diverse phenomena he observed by appealing to a common, underlying principle, an idea that is still germane to modern scientific method. He is also credited by Herodotus with correctly predicting that there would be a solar eclipse in 585 BC during a battle between the Medes and the Lydians. As such, Thales can with some justification be thought of as the first natural scientist and analytical philosopher in Western intellectual history.

Thales had other modern traits, for it also seems that he was something of an entrepreneur. According to one story, Thales made a fortune investing in oil-presses before a heavy olive crop – certainly he would have had to be wealthy in order to devote time and thought to philosophy and science in seventh century BC Ancient Greece.

According to his metaphysics, water was the first principle of life and the material world. seeing that water could turn into both vapour by evaporation and a solid by freezing, that all life required and was supported by moisture, he postulated that it was the single causal principle behind the natural world. In a crude anticipation of modern plate tectonics, Thales professed that the flat earth floated on water. Aristotle tells us that Thales thought the earth had a buoyancy much like wood, and that the earth floated on water much like a log or a ship. Indeed, many floating islands were said to be known to the sea-farers of Miletus, which may have served as either models or evidence for Thales’ theory. He even accounted for earthquakes as being due to rocking of the earth by subterranean waves, just as ship may be rocked at sea. From the port of Miletus he would have been familiar with the phenomenon of sedimentation, possibly believing it to be the spontaneous generation of earth from water, an idea held as recently as the 18th century.

Having sought to give a naturalistic explanation of observable phenomena, rather than appealing to the wills of gods, Thales claimed that god is in all things. According to Aetius, Thales said the mind of the world is god, that god is intermingled in all things, a view what would shortly appear contemporaneously in a number of world religions, most notably Buddhism in India. Despite his metaphysical speculations beingclearly mistaken, it seems that Thales was a modern thinker in more ways than one, pre-empting many ideas in religion, philosophy and science.

[Summarized from Philosophy 100 Essential Thinkers by Philip Stokes, 2012.]

Also watch Thales of Miletus in 5 Minutes

Bust of Pittacus, Roman copy of a Greek original of the second classicism,
 Louvre Museum 

Pittacus of Mytilene. 650bc - 570bc, an ancient Mytilenaen military general. He collaborated with the brothers of the poet Alcaeus in the overthrow of the tyrant Melanchrus (612/611?) and distinguished himself as a commander in the war against Athens for Sigium, killing the Athenian commander, Phrynon, single-handedly. He was elected aisymnetes (dictator appointed during times of internal strife) by the Mytileneans (c. 590 BC) and served in that post for 10 years. Diogenes Laërtius quotes a number of sayings ascribed to him (mostly moral or political maxims) and five lines of lyric verse, as well as a spurious letter to Croesus.

Periander, Roman copy after a Greek original of the 4th century BC,
Vatican Museums.

Periander of Corinth. was the Second Tyrant of the Cypselid dynasty that ruled over Corinth. Periander’s rule brought about a prosperous time in Corinth’s history, as his administrative skill made Corinth one of the wealthiest city states in Greece. Several accounts state that Periander was a cruel and harsh ruler, but others claim that he was a fair and just king who worked to ensure that the distribution of wealth in Corinth was more or less even.

(Myson of Chenae) According to Sosicrates, who quoted Hermippus, Myson was the son of Strymon, a tyrant of his country. All sources agree that Myson was a plain farmer, though they differ as to his place of birth and residence. He is said to have lived in the village of Chen, though this is variously located in Laconia or Crete. He is also said to be "of Oeta", which seems to be a reference to Mount Oeta; but the reference is sometimes read as "Etea" instead, which again may have been in Laconia or else in Crete. He died at the age of 97.

In his Protagoras, Plato lists Myson of Chen as one of the Seven Sages of Greece, instead of Periander, who was claimed as one by Stobaeus, citing Demetrius of Phaleron as his authority. Eudoxus also lists Myson, but omits Cleobulus instead.

The Oracle of Delphi proclaimed Myson the wisest of all men when Anacharsis consulted it:

"Myson of Chen in Oeta; this is heWho for wiseheartedness surpasses thee;"

Sources and legends

The oldest explicit mention on record of a standard list of seven sages is in Plato's Protagoras, where Socrates says:

...There some, both at present and of old, who recognized that Spartanizing is much more a love of wisdom than a love of physical exercise, knowing that the ability to utter such [brief and terse] remarks belongs to a perfectly educated man. Among these were Thales of Miletus, and Pittacus of Mytilene, and Bias of Priene, and our own Solon, and Cleobulus of Lindus, and Myson of Chenae, and the seventh of them was said to be Chilon of Sparta. They all emulated and admired and were students of Spartan education, could tell their wisdom was of this sort by the brief but memorable remarks they each uttered when they met and jointly the first fruits of their wisdom to Apollo in his shrine at Delphi, writing what is on every man's lips: Know thyself, and Nothing too much. Why do I say this? Because this was the manner of philosophy among the ancients, a kind of laconic brevity. 

The section of the Protagoras in which appears this passage is "elaborately ironical", making it unclear which of its parts may be taken seriously, although Diogenes Laertius later confirms that there were indeed seven such individuals who were held in high esteem for their wisdom well before Plato's time. 

According to Demetrius Phalereus, it was during the archonship of Damasias (582/1 BC) that the seven first become known as "the wise men", Thales being the first so acknowledged. 

Calliope, surrounded by Socrates and seven wise men, (Baalbeck, 3rd century A.D.) exposed in the National Museum of Beirut. Clockwise from top: Socrates, Chilon, Pittacus, Periander, Cleobulus (damaged section), Bias, Thales, and Solon.

Diogenes points out, however, that there was among his sources great disagreement over which figures should be counted among the seven. Perhaps the two most common substitutions were to exchange Periander or Anacharsis for Myson.

 On Diogenes' first list of seven, which he introduces with the words "These men are acknowledged wise," Periander appears instead of Myson; the same substitution appears in The Masque of the Seven Sages by Ausonius. Both Ephorus and Plutarch (in his Banquet of the Seven Sages) substituted Anacharsis for Myson. 

Diogenes Laertius further states that Dicaearchus gave ten possible names, Hippobotus suggested twelve names, and Hermippus enumerated seventeen possible sages from which different people made different selections of seven.

 Leslie Kurke contends that "Aesop was a popular contender for inclusion in the group"; an epigram of the 6th century AD poet Agathias(Palatine Anthology 16.332) refers to a statue of the Seven Sages, with Aesop standing before them. 

Later tradition ascribed to each sage a pithy saying of his own, but ancient as well as modern scholars have doubted the legitimacy of such ascriptions. 

A compilation of 147 maxims, inscribed at Delphi, was preserved by the fifth century AD scholar Stobaeus as "Sayings of the Seven Sages," but "the actual authorship of the...maxims set up on the Delphian temple may be left uncertain. Most likely they were popular proverbs, which tended later to be attributed to particular sages."

In addition to being credited for pithy sayings, the wise men were also apparently famed for practical inventions; in Plato's Republic (600a), it is said that it "befits a wise man" to have "many inventions and useful devices in the crafts or sciences" attributed to him, citing Thales and Anacharsis the Scythian as examples.

According to a number of moralistic stories, there was a golden tripod (or, in some versions of the story, a bowl or cup) which was to be given to the wisest. 

Allegedly, it passed in turn from one of the seven sages to another, beginning with Thales, until one of them (either Thales or Solon, depending on the story) finally dedicated it to Apollo who was held to be wisest of all. 

Lecture: World Theogony

The Fall of the Titans by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (1596-1598)

The Theogony (Greek: Θεογονία, Theogonía, Attic Greek: [tʰeoɡoníaː], i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed c. 700 BC. It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek.

Description

Hesiod's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over the Cosmos. It is the first Greek mythical cosmogony. The initial state of the universe is chaos, a dark indefinite void considered a divine primordial condition from which everything else appeared. Theogonies are a part of Greek mythology which embodies the desire to articulate reality as a whole; this universalizing impulse was fundamental for the first later projects of speculative theorizing.

In many cultures, narratives about the origin of the Cosmos and about the gods that shaped it are a way for society to reaffirm its native cultural traditions. Specifically, theogonies tend to affirm kingship as the natural embodiment of society. What makes the Theogony of Hesiod unique is that it affirms no historical royal line. Such a gesture would have sited the Theogony in one time and place. Rather, the Theogony affirms the kingship of the god Zeus over all the other gods and over the whole Cosmos.

Further, in the "Kings and Singers" passage (80–103) Hesiod appropriates to himself the authority usually reserved to sacred kingship. The poet declares that it is he, where we might have expected some king instead, upon whom the Muses have bestowed the two gifts of a scepter and an authoritative voice (Hesiod, Theogony 30–3), which are the visible signs of kingship. It is not that this gesture is meant to make Hesiod a king. Rather, the point is that the authority of kingship now belongs to the poetic voice, the voice that is declaiming the Theogony.

The written form of the Theogony was established in the 6th century. Even some conservative editors have concluded that the Typhon episode (820–68) is an interpolation. Although it is often used as a sourcebook for Greek mythology, the Theogony is both more and less than that. In formal terms it is a hymn invoking Zeus and the Muses: parallel passages between it and the much shorter Homeric Hymn to the Muses make it clear that the Theogony developed out of a tradition of hymnic preludes with which an ancient Greek rhapsode would begin his performance at poetic competitions. It is necessary to see the Theogony not as the definitive source of Greek mythology, but rather as a snapshot of a dynamic tradition that happened to crystallize when Hesiod formulated the myths he knew—and to remember that the traditions have continued evolving since that time.

Hesiod was probably influenced by some Near-Eastern traditions, such as the Babylonian Dynasty of Dunnum,which were mixed with local traditions, but they are more likely to be lingering traces from the Mycenaean tradition than the result of oriental contacts in Hesiod's own time.

The decipherment of Hittite mythical texts, notably the Kingship in Heaven text first presented in 1946, with its castration mytheme, offers in the figure of Kumarbi an Anatolian parallel to Hesiod's Uranus-Cronus conflict.

The Succession Myth

One of the principal components of the Theogony is the presentation of the "Succession Myth". It tells how Cronus overthrew Uranus, and how in turn Zeus overthrew Cronus and his fellow Titans, and how Zeus was eventually established as the final and permanent ruler of the cosmos.

Uranus produced many children with Gaia (the Titans, the Cyclops, and the Hecatoncheires), but hating them, he hid them away somewhere inside Gaia. Angry and in distress, Gaia fashioned a sickle made of adamant and urged her children to punish their father. Only her son Cronus, the youngest Titan, was willing to do so. So Gaia hid Cronus "in ambush", gave him the adamantine sickle, and when Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus reached out and castrated his father.

Cronus, having taken control of the Cosmos, wanted to ensure that he maintained power. Uranus and Gaia prophesied to him that one of his children would overthrow him, so when he married Rhea, he made sure to swallow each of the children she birthed: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus (in that order). However, when Rhea was pregnant with Zeus, Rhea begged her parents Gaia and Uranus to help her save Zeus. So they sent Rhea to Crete to bear Zeus and Gaia took the newborn Zeus to raise, hiding him deep in a cave beneath the Aegean Mountains. And Rhea gave Cronus a huge stone wrapped in baby's clothes which he swallowed thinking that it was another of Rhea's children.

Tricked by Gaia (the Theogony does not detail how), Cronus regurgitated his other five children. Zeus then released his uncles the Cyclopes, who provided Zeus with his great weapons, the thunderbolts. A great war was begun, between Zeus and his fellow Olympians and the Titans, for control of the Cosmos. And in the tenth year of the war, following Gaia's counsel, Zeus released the Hundred-Handed Ones, who joined the war against the Titans, allowing Zeus to gain the upper hand. Zeus cast the fury of his thunderbolts at the Titans, defeating them and throwing them into Tartarus.

A final threat to Zeus' power was to come from the monster Typhon, a son of Gaia and Tartarus. Zeus with his thunderbolts was quickly victorious, and Typhon was also imprisoned in Tartarus.

Zeus, by Gaia's advice, was elected king of the gods, and he apportioned various honors among the gods. Zeus then married his first wife Metis, but when he learned that Metis was fated to produce a son which might usurp his rule, by the advice of Gaia and Uranus, Zeus swallowed Metis (while still pregnant with Athena). And so Zeus managed to end the cycle of succession and secure his eternal rule over the cosmos.

The genealogies

The first gods

The world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings: first arose Chaos (Chasm); then came Gaia (Earth), "the ever-sure foundation of all"; and "dim" Tartarus, in the depths of the Earth; and Eros (Desire) "fairest among the deathless gods". From Chaos came Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). And Nyx "from union in love" with Erebus produced Aether (Brightness) and Hemera (Day). From Gaia came Uranus (Sky), the Ourea (Mountains), and Pontus (Sea).

Uranus mated with Gaia to create the twelve Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Cronus; the Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes and Arges; and the Hecatoncheires ("Hundred-Handed Ones"): Cottus, Briareos, and Gyges.

Children of Gaia and Uranus

Children of Gaia and Uranus' blood, and Uranus' genitals

Descendants of Nyx

When Cronus castrated Uranus, from Uranus' blood which splattered onto the earth, came the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants, and the Meliai. Cronus threw the severed genitals into the sea, around which foam developed and transformed into the goddess Aphrodite.

Meanwhile, Nyx (Night) alone produced children: Moros (Doom), Ker (Destiny), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), the Oneiroi (Dreams), Momus (Blame), Oizys (Pain), Hesperides (Daughters of Night), the Moirai (Fates), the Keres (Destinies), Nemesis (Retribution), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Love), Geras (Old Age), and Eris (Discord).

And from Eris alone, came Ponos (Hardship), Lethe (Forgetfulness), Limos (Starvation), the Algea (Pains), the Hysminai (Battles), the Makhai (Wars), the Phonoi (Murders), the Androktasiai (Manslaughters), the Neikea (Quarrels), the Pseudea (Lies), the Logoi (Stories), the Amphillogiai (Disputes), Dysnomia (Anarchy), Ate (Ruin), and Horkos (Oath).

After Uranus's castration, Gaia mated with her son Pontus (Sea) producing a descendent line consisting primarily of sea deities, sea nymphs, and hybrid monsters. Their first child Nereus (Old Man of the Sea) married Doris, one of the Oceanid daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and they produced the Nereids, fifty sea nymphs, which included Amphitrite, Thetis, and Psamathe. Their second child Thaumas, married Electra, another Oceanid, and their offspring were Iris (Rainbow) and the two Harpies: Aello and Ocypete.

Descendants of Gaia and Pontus

Gaia and Pontus' third and fourth children, Phorcys and Ceto, married each other and produced the two Graiae: Pemphredo and Enyo, and the three Gorgons: Sthenno, Euryale, and Medusa. Poseidon mated with Medusa and two offspring, the winged horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor, were born when the hero Perseus cut off Medusa's head. Chrysaor married Callirhoe, another Oceanid, and they produced the three-headed Geryon. Next comes the half-nymph half-snake Echidna (her mother is unclear, probably Ceto, or possibly Callirhoe). The last offspring of Ceto and Phorcys was a serpent (unnamed in the Theogony, later called Ladon, by Apollodorus) who guards the golden apples.

Gaia also mated with Tartarus to produce Typhon, whom Echidna married, producing several monstrous descendants. Their first three offspring were Orthus, Cerberus, and the Hydra. Next comes the Chimera (whose mother is unclear, either Echidna or the Hydra). Finally Orthus (his mate is unclear, either the Chimera or Echidna) produced two offspring the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion.

Descendants of Echidna and Typhon

The Titans, Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, and Cronus married their sisters Tethys, Theia, Phoebe and Rhea, and Crius married his half-sister Eurybia, the daughter of Gaia and Pontus. From Oceanus and Tethys came the three thousand river gods (including Nilus (Nile), Alpheus, and Scamander) and three thousand Oceanid river nymphs (including Doris, Electra, Callirhoe, Styx, Clymene, Metis, Eurynome, Perseis, and Idyia). From Theia and Hyperion came Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), and Eos (Dawn), and from Crius and Eurybia came Astraios, Pallas, and Perses. From Eos and Astraios came the winds: Zephyrus, Boreas and Notos, Eosphoros (Dawn-bringer, i.e. Venus, the Morning Star), and the Stars. From Pallas and the Oceanid Styx came Zelus (Envy), Nike (Victory), Cratos (Power), and Bia (Force).

Descendants of the Titans

From Coeus and Phoebe came Leto and Asteria, who married Perses, producing Hekate, and from Cronus and Rhea came Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon Hades, and Zeus. The Titan Iapetos married the Oceanid Clymene and produced Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus.

Zeus' fourth wife was his sister, Demeter, who bore Persephone. The fifth wife of Zeus was another aunt, the Titan Mnemosyne, from whom came the nine Muses: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Urania, and Calliope. His sixth wife was a third aunt, the Titan Leto, who gave birth to Apollo and Artemis. Zeus' seventh and final wife was his sister Hera, the mother by Zeus of Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia. Zeus married seven wives. His first wife was the Oceanid Metis, whom he impregnated with Athena, then, on the advice of Gaia and Uranus, swallowed Metis so that no son of his by Metis would overthrow him, as had been foretold. Zeus' second wife was his aunt the Titan Themis, who bore the three Horae (Seasons): Eunomia (Order), Dikē (Justice), Eirene (Peace); and the three Moirai (Fates): Clotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Allotter), and Atropos (Unbending). Zeus then married his third wife, another Oceanid, Eurynome, who bore the three Charites (Graces): Aglaea (Splendor), whom Hephaestus married, Euphrosyne (Joy), and Thalia (Good Cheer).

Children of Zeus and his seven wives

Zeus finally "gave birth" himself to Athena, from his head, which angered Hera so much that she produced, by herself, her own son Hephaestus, god of fire and blacksmiths.[68]

From Poseidon and the Nereid Amphitrite was born Triton, and from Ares and Aphrodite came Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror), and Harmonia (Harmony). Zeus, with Atlas's daughter Maia, produced Hermes, and with the mortal Alcmene, produced the hero Heracles, who married Hebe. Zeus and the mortal Semele, daughter of Harmonia and Cadmus, the founder and first king of Thebes, produced Dionysus, who married Ariadne, daughter of Minos, king of Crete. Helios and the Oceanid Perseis produced Circe, Aeetes, who became king of Colchis and married the Oceanid Idyia, producing Medea.[75]

Other descendants of divine fathers

Children of divine mothers with mortal fathers

The goddess Demeter joined with the mortal Iasion to produce Plutus. In addition to Semele, the goddess Harmonia and the mortal Cadmus also produced Ino, Agave, Autonoe and Polydorus. Eos (Dawn) with the mortal Tithonus, produced the hero Memnon, and Emathion, and with Cephalus, produced Phaethon. Medea with the mortal Jason, produced Medius, the Nereid Psamathe with the mortal Aeacus, produced the hero Phocus, the Nereid Thetis, with Peleus produced the great warrior Achilles, and the goddess Aphrodite with the mortal Anchises produced the Trojan hero Aeneas. With the hero Odysseus, Circe would give birth to Agrius and Latinus, and Atlas' daughter Calypso would also bear Odysseus two sons, Nausithoos and Nausinous.

Prometheus

The Theogony, after listing the offspring of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene, as Atlas, Menoitios, Promethius, and Epimetheus, and telling briefly what happened to each, tells the story of Prometheus. When the gods and men met at Mekone to decide how sacrifices should be distributed, Prometheus sought to trick Zeus. Slaughtering an ox, he took the valuable fat and meat, and covered it with the ox's stomach. Prometheus then took the bones and hid them with a thin glistening layer of fat. Prometheus asked Zeus' opinion on which offering pile he found more desirable, hoping to trick the god into selecting the less desirable portion. Though Zeus saw through the trick, he chose the fat covered bones, and so it was established that ever after men would burn the bones as sacrifice to the gods, keeping the choice meat and fat for themselves. But in punishment for this trick, an angry Zeus decided to deny mankind the use of fire. But Prometheus stole fire inside a fennel stalk, and gave it to humanity. Zeus then ordered the creation of the first woman Pandora as a new punishment for mankind. And Prometheus was chained to a cliff, where an eagle fed on his ever-regenerating liver every day, until eventually Zeus' son Heracles came to free him.

Influence on earliest Greek philosophy

In the Theogony, the origin (arche) is Chaos, a divine primordial condition, and there are the roots and the ends of the earth, sky, sea, and Tartarus. Pherecydes of Syros (6th century BC), believed that there were three pre-existent divine principles and called the water also Chaos. In the language of the archaic period (8th – 6th century BC), arche (or archai) designates the source, origin, or root of things that exist. If a thing is to be well established or founded, its arche or static point must be secure, and the most secure foundations are those provided by the gods: the indestructible, immutable, and eternal ordering of things. The heritage of Greek mythology already embodied the desire to articulate reality as a whole, and this universalizing impulse was fundamental for the first projects of speculative theorizing. It appears that the order of being was first imaginatively visualized before it was abstractly thought. Hesiod, impressed by necessity governing the ordering of things, discloses a definite pattern in the genesis and appearance of the gods. These ideas made something like cosmological speculation possible. The earliest rhetoric of reflection all centers about two interrelated things: the experience of wonder as a living involvement with the divine order of things; and the absolute conviction that, beyond the totality of things, reality forms a beautiful and harmonious whole.

In ancient Greek philosophy, arche is the element or first principle of all things, a permanent nature or substance which is conserved in the generation of the rest of it. From this, all things come to be, and into it they are resolved in a final state. It is the divine horizon of substance that encompasses and rules all things. Thales (7th – 6th century BC), the first Greek philosopher, claimed that the first principle of all things is water. Anaximander (6th century BC) was the first philosopher who used the term arche for that which writers from Aristotle on call the "substratum". Anaximander claimed that the beginning or first principle is an endless mass (Apeiron) subject to neither age nor decay, from which all things are being born and then they are destroyed there. A fragment from Xenophanes (6th century BC) shows the transition from Chaos to Apeiron: "The upper limit of earth borders on air. The lower limit of earth reaches down to the unlimited (i.e the Apeiron)."

Other cosmogonies in ancient literature

See also: Comparative mythology

By contrast, in the Orphic cosmogony the unaging Chronos produced Aether and Chaos and made a silvery egg in divine Aether. From it appeared the androgynous god Phanes, identified by the Orphics as Eros, who becomes the creator of the world.In the Theogony the initial state of the universe, or the origin (arche) is Chaos, a gaping void (abyss) considered as a divine primordial condition, from which appeared everything that exists. Then came Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (the cave-like space under the earth; the later-born Erebus is the darkness in this space), and Eros (representing sexual desire - the urge to reproduce - instead of the emotion of love as is the common misconception). Hesiod made an abstraction because his original chaos is something completely indefinite.

Some similar ideas appear in the Vedic and Hindu cosmologies. In the Vedic cosmology the universe is created from nothing by the great heat. Kāma (Desire) the primal seed of spirit, is the link which connected the existent with the non-existent  In the Hindu cosmology, in the beginning there was nothing in the universe but only darkness and the divine essence who removed the darkness and created the primordial waters. His seed produced the universal germ (Hiranyagarbha), from which everything else appeared.

In the Babylonian creation story Enûma Eliš the universe was in a formless state and is described as a watery chaos. From it emerged two primary gods, the male Apsu and female Tiamat, and a third deity who is the maker Mummu and his power for the progression of cosmogonic births to begin.

Norse mythology also describes Ginnungagap as the primordial abyss from which sprang the first living creatures, including the giant Ymir whose body eventually became the world, whose blood became the seas, and so on; another version describes the origin of the world as a result of the fiery and cold parts of Hel colliding.