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GREEK PHILOSOPHY I | CLASS 4: SEP 14, 2015
HESIOD
DR. MICHAEL GRIFFIN
CLASSICS & PHILOSOPHY
S O C R AT E S . A R T S . U B C . C A / 2 1 1
T O D AY
• The poets’ world-view,
cont’d
• Causes: review
• Hesiod: Works & Days
BUST OF HOMER
The Poets’ World-View
PA R T I I I : U N D E R S TA N D I N G C A U S E S ( A I T I A )
REVIEW
CAUSES
• Iliad: The gods are primarily responsible/causal (aitios)?
• Early Greek science begins here: gods subsequently naturalized,
made predictable and regular
• Odyssey: We humans are primarily responsible/causal (aitios)
• Early Greek ethics begins here: how to use our freedom? How
fragile is our goodness and happiness?
• Later Greek literature and philosophy continues to investigate aitia in
both ways
• NB: Determinism vs Freedom
• Or: are these compatible views? (Compatibilism)
Homer’s Odyssey (AT 1)
• The gods allow us to choose, but caution against the potential
harm that may result from our choices. (They neither cause nor
prevent the fruits of our acts, but hubris will yield nemesis).
• Compare Iliad 3.164: I am not
blaming you [Helen] (ou ti moi
aitiê essi): to me the gods are
blameworthy (theoi…aitioi).
Are the gods aitia?
• The gods can intervene on
behalf of deserving human
beings. Humans have a
complex reciprocal relationship
with the gods that determines
their favour.
The Poets’ World View
PA R T I V : H E S I O D
H E S I O D ’ S TA L E
• Hesiod: A farmer-poet
• Boeotia, Greece, 8th century BCE
NB: PRECISE DATES
IN
211
& PLACES NOT TESTED
• Author of two epic poems
HESIOD (PS.-SENECA), ROMAN BRONZE
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
OF NAPLES
• Theogony: beginning of the world
• Works & Days: advice on human life
BOEOTIA IN GREECE
H E S I O D ’ S TA L E
• Hesiod: A farmer-poet
• Boeotia, Greece, 8th century BCE
NB: PRECISE DATES
IN
211
& PLACES NOT TESTED
• Author of two epic poems
HESIOD (PS.-SENECA), ROMAN BRONZE
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
OF NAPLES
• Theogony: beginning of the world
NB: Optional material
• Works & Days: advice on human life
BOEOTIA IN GREECE
The Muses [said]… ’Oh you shepherds of the fields, base
and lowly things, little more than bellies, we know how to
tell many falsehoods that seem like truths, but we also
know, when we so desire, how to utter the absolute truth’.
Plucking a branch, to me [the Muses] gave a staff of laurel…
and into me they breathed a divine voice, so that I might
celebrate both the things that are to be and the things that
were before; and they ordered me to honour, in my song,
the race of the blessed gods who exist forever, but always
to sing of… the Muses, both first and last.
–HESIOD, THEOGONY 22-34
T H E F I R S T G E N E R AT I O N
Verily, very first of all Chaos came into being, but then
wide-bosomed Gaia, secure foundation of all forever,
and dark Tartarus in the depth of the broad land, and
Eros, the most beautiful of all the immortal gods, who
loosens the limbs and overwhelms judgement and wise
counsel in the breast of the gods and all humans. From
Chaos, Erebus [the gloom of Tartarus] and black Night
came into being.
–HESIOD, THEOGONY 116-125
T H E F I R S T G E N E R AT I O N
–HESIOD, THEOGONY 116-125
From Night were born Aether [the upper atmosphere]
and Day (hēmera), whom Night bore when she became
pregnant after mingling in love with Erebus.
–HESIOD, THEOGONY 116-125
T H E F I R S T G E N E R AT I O N
(Day)
–HESIOD, THEOGONY 116-125
The World of Hesiod
The World of Hesiod
Chaos
(A space)
The World of Hesiod
Er
ōs
Earth (Gaia)
Chaos
(A space)
Tartarus
The World of Hesiod
Er
ōs
Earth (Gaia)
Chaos
(A space)
Erebus
Tartarus
The World of Hesiod
Er
ōs
Earth (Gaia)
ht
ig
N
Chaos
(A space)
Erebus
Tartarus
The World of Hesiod
Aether
Er
ōs
Earth (Gaia)
ht
ig
N
Chaos
(A space)
Erebus
Tartarus
The World of Hesiod
Aether
Er
Da
ōs
y
Earth (Gaia)
ht
ig
N
Chaos
(A space)
Erebus
Tartarus
Gaia then brought forth starry Uranus, equal to herself,
so that he might surround and cover her completely and
be a secure home for the blessed gods forever. And she
brought forth the lofty mountain ranges, charming
haunts of the divine nymphs who inhabit the hills and
dales. Ands he also bore, without the sweet union of
love, Pontus, the barren deep, with its raging surf.
–HESIOD, THEOGONY 126-32
(MLS 64)
The World of Hesiod
Aether
***
Ouranos
Earth (Gaia)
Tartarus
Er
ōs
But then Gaia lay with Ouranos and bore the deep-eddying Ocean…
–HESIOD, THEOGONY 147-56
The World of Hesiod
Works & Days 720-61
Aether
***
Ouranos
Er
ōs
10 days’ fall
Earth (Gaia)
Ocean
10 days’ fall
Tartarus
Nut – Reproduction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goddess_nut.jpg
Map of the cosmos –
Egypt
Waters (nu)
Nut – Reproduction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goddess_nut.jpg
Sky (nut)
Sun-Barque
Duat (Underworld)
EVENTS WITHIN THIS WORLD
• The Titans overthrow the old powers
• Ouranos forces his children into Gaia
• Gaia and Kronos conspire to overthrow Ouranos
• Kronos and Rhea rule as king and queen
• The Olympians overthrow the Titans
• Kronos devours his children
• Zeus, his youngest, is spared by a stratagem
• Zeus overthrows Kronos and ensures the reign of
justice in the cosmos
H E S I O D ’ S TA L E
• Hesiod: A farmer-poet
• Boeotia, Greece, 8th century BCE
NB: PRECISE DATES
IN
211
& PLACES NOT TESTED
• Author of two epic poems
HESIOD (PS.-SENECA), ROMAN BRONZE
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
OF NAPLES
• Theogony: beginning of the world
• Works & Days: advice on human life NB: In AT 1
BOEOTIA IN GREECE
1. The Poets: Homer and Hesiod
Hesiod’s Works and Days 163-217 (AT 1d)
Read AT 1d
The Golden Age, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1862)
1. The Poets: Homer and Hesiod
Hesiod’s Works and Days 163-217 (AT 1d)
• Human culture has descended from a golden age of proximity to
the gods, to a silver age, a bronze age, an age of heroes (like
Achilles and Odysseus), and finally to our iron age.
• In this age people will maintain that “might makes right”.
• But they are mistaken, because “hubris surrenders to justice,”
which is guaranteed by Zeus.
1. The Poets: Homer and Hesiod
Hesiod’s Works and Days 163-217 (AT 1d)
Hesiod, Works & Days 205-217: The Hawk & Nightingale
Piteously she, transfixed by his crooked claws, was lamenting
When the imperious hawk addressed her in arrogant parlance,
"Why, little lady, such shrieks? One stronger than you now has got you;
Where you are going I'll take you myself, though you are a songstress,
For as I please I'll make you my dinner or give you your freedom.
Witless is one who attempts to strive against those who are stronger: When he is stripped of the prize it's injury added to insult."
Thus said the fast-flying hawk, that bird with the generous wing-span.
Pay more attention to justice and curb high-handedness, [brother];
Violence ill suits men who are lowly; not even the noble
Man can lightly endure it; it weighs on a person who's fallen
Into affliction. It's better to take your way on the other
Road which conduces to right. For outrage (hubris) surrenders to justice (dikē)…