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    The document discusses the origins of Greek myths. It suggests that Greek myths may have originated from Mycenaean Greece or the Dark Ages, or been inspired by ancient Near Eastern myths through trade and cultural exchange. The earliest written sources of Greek myths date to around 800 BC, but the myths likely developed orally over many centuries. The document uses Hesiod's Theogony as an example of how Greek myths were systematized in writing in the Archaic period to establish a family tree of the gods. It draws parallels between Greek myths like the succession of Cronus and Zeus and Near Eastern myths like the Song of Kumarbi from the Hurrians to propose cultural influence and transmission of stories across the regions.

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    The document discusses the origins of Greek myths. It suggests that Greek myths may have originated from Mycenaean Greece or the Dark Ages, or been inspired by ancient Near Eastern myths through trade and cultural exchange. The earliest written sources of Greek myths date to around 800 BC, but the myths likely developed orally over many centuries. The document uses Hesiod's Theogony as an example of how Greek myths were systematized in writing in the Archaic period to establish a family tree of the gods. It draws parallels between Greek myths like the succession of Cronus and Zeus and Near Eastern myths like the Song of Kumarbi from the Hurrians to propose cultural influence and transmission of stories across the regions.

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    32 views33 pages

    The Origin of Greek Myths

    Uploaded by

    SP C
    The document discusses the origins of Greek myths. It suggests that Greek myths may have originated from Mycenaean Greece or the Dark Ages, or been inspired by ancient Near Eastern myths through trade and cultural exchange. The earliest written sources of Greek myths date to around 800 BC, but the myths likely developed orally over many centuries. The document uses Hesiod's Theogony as an example of how Greek myths were systematized in writing in the Archaic period to establish a family tree of the gods. It draws parallels between Greek myths like the succession of Cronus and Zeus and Near Eastern myths like the Song of Kumarbi from the Hurrians to propose cultural influence and transmission of stories across the regions.

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    of 33

    The origin of Greek myths

    Where do the myths come from?

    1
    Recap
    Classical myths are traditional stories from the Greco-Roman world, which spoke
    to important issues in the culture or community in which they were told.

    Earliest written sources for


    Greek myths
    What is the origin of the myths?

    1100 B.C. 800 500 300 30 B.C.

    Classical
    Greece
    Hellenism
    Archaic
    Mycenaean civilization Dark Ages period
    Roman imperial age
    Roman Republic

    2
    Where do myths come from?
    • Inspired by archaeology:
    • Option 1: From Mycenean Greece (Martin Nilsson) or the Dark Ages

    3
    Where do myths come from?
    • Inspired by archaeology:
    • Option 1: From Mycenean Greece (Martin Nilsson) or the Dark Ages

    • Inspired by comparative linguistics


    • Option 2: From the ancient Near East
    • Option 3: An Indo-European origin

    Next lecture: why were myths developed?

    4
    An origin in the Near East

    5
    The myth of succession
    CHAOS

    Gaia Tartaros

    1.
    Ouranos
    First gods: natural
    Deposed and castrated phenomena and abstract
    ideas.

    Titans, cyclopes,
    2. Kronos
    hekatoncheires

    6
    Kronos castrates his father Ouranos
    Vasari, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

    7
    Birth of Aphrodite (Venus)
    Fresco from Pompeii, 1st century A.D.

    8
    CHAOS

    Gaia Tartaros

    1.
    Ouranos

    Deposed and castrated Aphro


    dite

    Rhea Titans, cyclops,


    2. Kronos
    hekatoncheires

    Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon,


    3. Zeus
    Hades

    9
    Francisco Goya. Kronos devours his
    children
    Ca. 1823

    10
    Roman relief: Rhea gives
    Kronos a rock instead of
    Zeus.
    11
    CHAOS

    Gaia Tartaros

    1.
    Ouranos

    Deposed and castrated

    Rhea Titans, cyclops,


    2. Kronos
    hekatoncheires

    Typhoeus
    Afgezet

    Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon,


    3. Zeus
    Hades

    12
    Hesiod’s Theogony
    • Epic poem written around 700 BC
    • Theo-gony: origin of the gods
    • Systematizes oral traditions about the gods
    • Structure: family tree

    13
    Cuneiform tablets with Enuma Elish 14
    Parallels from Near-Eastern text
    • Tradition of written literature since 3rd millennium BC!
    • cuneiform script on clay tablets deciphered in 19th century

    3000 B. C. 1600 1100 800

    Archaic
    Mycenean
    Minoan culture Dark Ages Greek city-
    culture states

    Phoenician city-
    Hurrian culture Hittite Empire (Anatolia) states
    Dark
    Ages Persian, Neo-Assyrian
    Akkadian culture (Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian
    Sumerian culture Empires
    Empire, Assyrian Empire, etc.)
    15
    Song of Kumarbi
    Tablets with Song of Kumarbi & Song of
    Ullikummi

    3000 B. C. 1600 1100 800

    Archaic
    Mycenean
    Minoan culture Dark Ages Greek city-
    culture states

    Phoenician city-
    Hurrian culture Hittite Empire (Anatolia) states
    Dark
    Ages Persian, Neo-Assyrian
    Akkadian culture (Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian
    Sumerian culture Empires
    Empire, Assyrian Empire, etc.)
    16
    1. Alalu

    2. Anu

    3.
    Kumarbi

    4.
    Teshub

    Ullikummi

    17
    Song of Kumarbi & Song of Ullikummi

    Greek Hurrian/Hittite
    • Kronos castrates Ouranos • Kumarbu castrates Anu
    • Birth of Aphrodite from phallus • Kumarbi swallos the phallus of Anu;
    • Kronos devours his own children conceives his child
    • Rhea gives rock instead of Zeus • Kumarbi is born from Kumarbi.
    • Kronos spits up children • ‘stone’ has significance
    • Stone becomes cult relic in Delphi • Kumarbi deposed; Teshub = storm
    god, becomes ruler
    • Kronos deposed; Zeus = storm god, • Battle against Ullikummi, emerged
    becomes ruler from sperm Kumarbi and a rock
    • Battle against monster Typhon, son of
    Gaia

    18
    Differences and cultural relevance

    Greek culture Hurrian-Hittite culture


    • Kronos was never a central god • Kumarbi used to be a leading
    • Kronos excluded from polis god in the Hurrian pantheon
    religion • Depicted respectfully, as “father of
    the gods”
    • Celebrated between the old and
    the new year • Teshub was relative newcomer
    • Can be depicted negatively
    • Zeus is central to polis religion
    • Important for order and justice

    19
    Enuma Elish Poem recited during Babylonian New Year’s Festival

    Earliest preserved tablets of Enuma


    Elish

    3000 B. C. 1600 1100 800

    Archaic
    Mycenean
    Minoan culture Dark Ages Greek city-
    culture states

    Phoenician city-
    Hurrian culture Hittite Empire (Anatolia) states
    Dark
    Akkadian culture Ages Persian, Neo-Assyrian
    and Neo-Babylonian
    Sumerian culture (Babylonian Empire, Assyrian Empires
    Empire, etc.)
    20
    Tia-
    Apsu
    mat

    Anu

    Ea

    Marduk

    21
    Marduk defeats the chaosmonster Tiamat
    Imprint of a Babylonian scroll seal.

    22
    Enuma Elish

    Greek Akkadian
    • Ancient gods = natural • Ancient gods = natural
    phenomena phenomena
    • Ouranos = sky/heaven • Anu = sky/heaven
    • Kronos defeats father • Ea defeats ancestor
    • Zeus defeats father • Marduk defeats ancestor
    • Zeus = storm god, becomes ruler • Marduk = storm god, becomes
    • Gaia gives birth to a monster ruler
    • Tiamat gives birth to monsters

    23
    Differences and cultural relevance

    Greek Babylonian
    • Greek temples have no • The temple of Marduk at
    significant economic or political Babylon was the economic,
    role in the polis. political and religious center of
    • Zeus creates order; the world the Babylonian Empire.
    and humankind were already • Marduk is all-powerful: he
    there. creates the world, humankind
    and order.

    24
    Theogony of Dunnu
    • Babylonian clay tablets, late 2nd millennium B. C.
    • Similarities
    • Succession myth
    • Relationships between mother & son and brother & sisther
    • Father deposed by son
    • Connection to New Year - festivities

    25
    The Near-Eastern origin
    • Consensus: there were Eastern influences
    • No complete myths (“migrating myths”) , but narrative strategies
    • How? Orally
    • Where and when? 3000 B. C. 1600 1100 800

    Archaic
    Mycenean
    Minoan culture Dark Ages Greek city-
    culture states

    Phoenician city-
    Hurrian culture Hittite Empire (Anatolia) states
    Dark
    Ages Persian, Neo-Assyrian
    Akkadian culture (Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian
    Sumerian culture Empires
    Empire, Assyrian Empire, etc.) 26
    Trading cities on the Syrian coast

    27
    The Near-Eastern origin
    • Consensus: there were Eastern influences
    • No complete myths (“migrating myths”) , but narrative strategies
    • Oral transmission
    • Where and when?
    • 9th-8th centuries on Syrian shores (under influence of Neo-Hittite and Neo-
    Assyrian cultures)

    28
    An Indo-European origin

    29
    3500-3000 B.C.:
    proto-Indo-European
    3.
    Mycenaean
    Greeks, Celts, etc.
    1.
    2.

    Hittite Iran (Farsi),


    India
    (Sanskrit)

    30
    Georges Dumézil (early 20th century):
    idéologie tripartite
    FUNCTION CASTE GOD RITUALS

    Sovereignty Priests- Governing Flamen dialis


    administrator
    Military Warriors War gods Flamen
    martialis
    Economical Workers Fertility gods Flamen
    quirinalis

    31
    Newer approaches: comparing narrative
    motifs
    • Instable hero in Irish and Greek mythology
    • Eg. Cú Chulainn and Nestor
    • “divine births” in Indian and Greek mythology
    • Eg. Comparison with Mahabharata

    32
    Conclusions
    • Three origin: Mycenean, Near-Eastern & Indo-European
    • Greek culture does not develop in isolation!
    • Dynamic stories
    • Importance of centuries before the first texts for understanding the known
    versions
    • Differences are as interesting as similarities!

    33

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