Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019

Feogoniya, or About the origin of the gods
Hesiod (approx. 700 BC e)

Everyone knows: Greek mythology is first and foremost a lot of names. This is for us; and for the Greeks themselves they were even more. Almost every town or village had their local deities; and even about those that were common in each city told in their own way. Whoever lived all his life in one place and knew little about others, those concerned did not care. But who often moved from city to city and from region to region, such as stray singers, there were many inconveniences. To sing, mentioning a lot of gods and heroes, it was necessary to reconcile local traditions and at least agree on who someone son and who to whom the husband is. And in order to better remember - to describe these genealogies with complex verses and to say that these verses are dictated by the Muses themselves, the goddesses of the mind, words and songs.

This was done by the singer Hesiod from the Vitya Mountain - Helikon, where it seems that the Muses lead their roundabouts. From this came the poem "feogony" (or "Theogonia"), which in Greek means "On the origin of the gods" - from the very beginning of the universe and until the mortal heroes began to be born from the immortal gods. On thirty pages here are named and linked with each other more than three hundred names. All of them fit into three mythological epochs: when the most ancient gods led by Uranus ruled; when the elder gods - the Titans led by Crown; and when the younger gods began to rule and rule, the Olympians led by Zeus.

At first, Chaos ("ziyanie"), in which everything was merged and nothing is separated. Then from him, Night, Earth-Geya and Dungeon-Tartar were born. Then the Day was born from the Night, and from Earth-Geya - the Sky-Uranus and the Sea-Pont. The sky-Uranus and Geya-Earth became the first gods: the

starry Sky lay on the broad Earth and fertilized it. And the first creatures of the gods, the ghostly, and the monstrous, burst around around.

From Noah, Death, Sleep, Mourning, Labor, Lying, Revenge, Death, and most importantly, Rock, were born: Rock: Three Moore's Goddesses ("Deaths"), which measure everyday life and determine misfortune and happiness. From the Sea, the eldest was born the sea god, kind Nerey, two of his brothers and two sisters, and from them - many, many monsters. These Gorgons are killing the sight; Harpies, abducting human souls; underground Echidna - front maiden, behind the snake; fire-breathing Chimera - "front lion, behind the dragon and goat midway"; The insidious Sphinx, the female lioness, who ruined people with sly riddles; triple giant Geriaon; the many-headed hell of the dog Kerber and the many-headed swamp serpent of Hydra; Pegasus winged horse and many more. Even Gay and Uranus were the first creatures to be monstrous: three stoic warriors and three one-eyed blacksmiths - Kiklopov, inhabitants of the black dungeon - Tartar.

But they were not the main ones. The main Titans were twelve sons and daughters of Uranus and Gay. Uranus was afraid that they would overthrow him, and did not allow them to be born. One after another they blew the mother's mother's earth, and now she became unbearable. "From the gray iron" she bound a magic sickle and gave it to the children; and when Uranus again wanted to connect with her, the youngest and most tricky of the Titans, named Crown, cut off the child-bearing member. With a curse, Uranus drew back to the top, and the severed penis fell into the sea, whipped a white foam, and from this foam the goddess of love and the desires of Aphrodite - "Pen" - came out of this foam.

The second kingdom began, the kingdom of the Titans: Crown and his brothers and sisters. One of them was called Okean, he became a native of the old Nereem, and from him were born all the streams and streams. Another name was Hyperion, from which were born the Sun-Helios, Luna-Selena and Zaria-Eos, and from Zari - the winds and stars. The third name was Iapet, from which was born the mighty Atlanta who stands in the west of the earth and holds the sky on his shoulders, and the wise Prometey who is locked to the pillar in the east of the earth, and for what - this will be discussed further. But the main thing was the Crown, and his rule was alarming.

The Crown was also afraid that their children would be overthrown. From his sister, Rei, he had three daughters and three sons, and each newborn he took away from her and swallowed alive. Only the younger, named Zeus, she decided to save. She gave Crohn to swallow a large stone wrapped in diapers, and Zeus hid in a cave on the island of Crete. There he grew up, and, having grown up, crookedly made Kron to jump out his brothers and sisters. The elderly gods - the Titans and the younger gods - the Olympians came together in the struggle. "The sea roared, the land moaned and the heavens gasp". The Olympians freed from Tartar fighters - Storuky and smiths - Kiklopov; the first hit Titans with stones in three hundred hands, and the other hid Zeus thunder and lightning, and could not withstand this Titan. Now they themselves are tapped in Tartarus, to the very depths: how much from heaven to earth, so much from the earth to Tartar.

The third kingdom began - the kingdom of Olympians. Zeus took the heavens with the celestial mountain Olympus; his brother Poseidon is the sea, where Nerai and the Ocean obeyed him; third brother, Aid, - underground kingdom of the dead. Their sister Hera became the wife of Zeus and gave birth to him the wild Ares, the god of war, the lame Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, and the bright Gebe, the goddess of youth. Sister Demeter, goddess of arable land, gave birth to Zeus daughter Persephone; She was abducted by Aid, and she became an underground queen. The third sister, Hestia, the goddess of the home hearth, remained virgin.

Zeus was also threatened with being overthrown: the old Gaia and Uranus warned him that the daughter of Okeana, Metida-Wisdom, should give birth to a smarter, and son, stronger than all. Zeus joined with her, and then swallowed her, as once the Cron swallowed his brothers. The most intelligent daughter was born from the head of Zeus: it was Athena, the goddess of reason, labor and war. And the son was stronger than all the same and remained unborn. From another of the daughters of the Titans, Zeus was born of the twins Apollo and Artemis: she is a hunter, he is a shepherd, as well as a healer, as well as a divination. From the third, Zeus was born Hermes, the keeper of crossroads, the patron saint of road travelers and merchants. From one the three Orahs were born - the goddess of order; yet from one - three Charitas, the goddess of beauty; yet from one - nine Muses, goddesses of the mind, words and songs from which this story began. Hermes invented the string lyre, Apollo plays on her,

Two of the sons of Zeus were born of mortal women, but still climbed Olympus and became gods. This is Hercules, his beloved son, who has bypassed all the land, freeing it from evil monsters: this he defeated both Hydra, Geria, and Kerbera, and others. And this is Dionysus, who also crossed the whole earth, creating miracles, teaching people to plant grapes and prepare wine and make them intelligent when to drink in moderation, and when I do not hold it.

And where did mortal people come from the world, Hesiod does not say: maybe from rocks or trees. They did not like the gods at first, but they helped to survive Prometheus. People were to honor the gods, sacrificing part of their food. Prometheus arranged a cunning division: he slaughtered a bull, put bones apart, covered with fat, and meat covered with stomach and skin, and offered Zeus to choose the share of gods and the share of people. Zeus was deceived, chose bones, and from evil he decided not to give people a fire for cooking meat. Then Prometheus himself stole the fire on Olympus and brought it to people in an empty cane. Zeus also punished him and people for this. He created people, "on the mountain men", the first woman, Pandora, and women, as is known, went a lot of bad things in the world. And Prometheus, as it is said, he laced to the pillar in the east of the earth and sent an eagle to gobble up his liver every day.

But it turned out that people need gods more than the gods thought. The gods had another fight - with the Giants, the younger sons of Gay-Earth, born of the blood of Uranus drops. And it was destined that the gods would win them only if only one person would help them. So it was necessary to give birth to such mighty people who could help the gods. It was then that the gods began to go to mortal women, and the goddesses were born of mortal men. This was the birth of a tribe of heroes; the best of them was Hercules, he saved the gods in a war with the Giants. And then this tribe died in the Theban War and the Trojan War. But before that he did not write Hesiod: his story breaks at the very beginning of the heroic age. "The Feogonias," the genealogy of the gods, is the end here.