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Analysis Of William Bascom's Theogony

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Theogony What is a myth? Although this question might seem really easy to answer, it is actually one that has created a lot of disagreement among scholars. Even scholars cannot agree as to what the exact definition of myth is. Some describe myth as a story about the origins of the world that takes place in another world. On the other hand, some say it is a tale that eventually becomes a tradition. One such myth is Theogony in which Hesiod describes the creation of the world from the birth of Gaia to through the mating of the Earth Goddess (Gaia) and the sky God (Ouranos). This paper aims to establish that the narrative Theogony is a myth since it takes into account the beginning of the world and consequently fits not only into …show more content…

Later, Ouranos started placing the children that he did not like inside Gaia, which caused Gaia much pain. Consequently, she told her sons to take revenge from their father, and Kronos(one of the Titans) agreed and castrated his father. Later, Kronos eats all of his children to make sure that he stays in power, however Zeus survives and he rescues his siblings from his father’s stomach and calls for war: Titans versus the gods. Theogony is a myth since it describes the beginning of the world, which is a part of Lauri Honko and William Bascom’s definition of myth. According to this narrative, the first divine beings were Chaos, Gaia (Earth), Tartarus, and Eros: “First of all Chaos came into being. But then Gaia broad-chested.” The phrases “first of all” and “being” suggest the start of a new world and the beginning of life. Gaia later gave birth to Ouranos: “Gaia first bore equal to herself starry Ouranos so that he may cover her all over like a veil, to be always the unshakable seat for the blessed gods.” Words such as “first bore” reflect again the starting point of the world and how it came to be. Moreover, Gaia and Ouranos are given credit for starting the new beginning: “from the beginning, whom Gaia and wide Ouranos bore, and those born from them, gods, givers of good things” and are also considered to give rise to gods and the later beings. Thus the narrative Theogony is a myth since it

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