Module 2

Question 1

Creation myths (Reveal Essential Order in World)

Answer 1

• Not uncommon that the Greeks also had stories about the creation of the world
• Everybody has always wanted to know where the world comes from
• Many religions today believe in one preexisting eternal God, but many cultures have not believed that and Greek mythology also does not believe in one particular god who preexists everything else
• Rather the gods are born in the course of the story
• At the beginning of the story, the gods don’t exist yet
• The whole tale of creation and the birth of the gods says something about the essential order that is found in the cosmos

Question 2

Big Theme = Struggle in Heaven between groups of Divinities

Answer 2

• Not unusual, because as we know, any time there are living beings, they form factions, they have disagreements, they get into arguments, and oftentimes, violence breaks out.
• In their stories, they have the gods, often times, fighting each other and then eventually, some group of gods becomes victorious, and they get to set the tone for then next phase in history

Question 3

Major theme of Theogony (Order comes out of Conflict)

Answer 3

• One of the oldest works of Greek literature, written by a man named Hesiod, was that order comes out of conflict
• When there is conflict, when there is war between different groups of gods, when somebody triumphs, they have to form an order
• The order we see now, the cosmos, when we look around and see it came out of the victory of a particular group of gods
• The story of the theogony at the beginning of Greek Mythology explores this major conflict that occurred in primordial history

Question 4

Main Focus of the Story Ruler of the great God, Zeus

Answer 4

• The king of the gods, he is the one who rules the world in our current era
• The era when human beings are alive and we all are talking about the gods and goddesses
• He was not a preexisting eternal god, he is not the creator god, he is not the one who created the world
• It took war to get him in power

Question 5

Succession myth = New Supreme being Battles and Conquers Old One

Answer 5

• A younger new supreme being, oftentimes who was the child of the old supreme being has defeat, rebel against, overthrow, conquer the old supreme being, who is often times the father
• Zeus is the third king of the god; his grandfather Ouranos was king first and his grandfather was overthrown by Kronos (Zeus’s father); Later one Kronos was overthrown by Zeus and his siblings.

Question 6

Battle Vs. Titans = Titanomachy machos = “battle”

Answer 6

• War which Zeus and his siblings overthrew their father, and their mother, and their uncles and aunts
• Titans is the name for twelve siblings, Kronos, Reiya (Zeus’s mother), and their other ten siblings, who all banded together to fight the upstart, rebellious Olympians, led by Zeus, and his siblings, and several other creatures who all banded together to get in the war and overthrow the old order of things led by Kronos and the Titans

Question 7

Rebellion of Prometheus Vs. Zeus (Humans stuck in the middle)

Answer 7

• The Titans get overthrown and since they can’t get killed because they are immortal, they get banished to Tartarus, which is like hell in Greek mythology
• Even though Zeus and his siblings have won the war, the war is not actually over yet there are other enemies to be fought because after Zeus has won the war he has to consolidate his power and there are rebellions by other creatures

Question 8

Now Olympian Circle develops

Answer 8

• After Zeus has won all his wars and defeated all of his rebellions, he’s able to consolidate his power, and that’s when Olympian circle develops
• The Olympian circle is a name we give to the 14 Olympians gods who all take part in ruling the cosmos
• Zeus is of course the leader but his siblings and many of his children are also on the council