Hesiod's Theogony and Genesis Essay Example

Nearly every culture and religion have its own version of a creation story; the ancient Greeks had Theogony, Jews and Christians use the book of Genesis, and so on. Creation myths serve to explain and answer questions to fundamental questions humans have; “How was the world created?”, “Why do bad things happen?”, “Why can’t I be a god?”. Though there are some questions that these myths do not answer, they help humans understand the world around them and strengthen the connection between themselves and the deities they believe in. 

Genesis is recognized as the standard creation story for Jews and Christian denominations and contains two accounts of creation. Conversely, Theogony wasn’t necessarily the standard account of creation recognized by the greeks. Instead, it was simply one version, among many. Though Genesis contains two accounts of creation, this paper will focus on the second account found in Genesis chapter two of the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSCVE) of the bible, and Theogony by Hesiod. 

Theogony, written by Hesiod, is both a cosmology and a theogony. Cosmology is defined as “ A theory or doctrine describing the natural order of the universe” (Merriam Webster, n.d) and theogony is defined as “An account of the origin and descent of the gods” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Throughout this work, Hesiod tells of the births of the gods, and the world through hymns, catalogs, and dramatic tales. The dramatic tales recount how Zeus came to occupy his position as head of the human, cosmic, and divine order and explain why Zeus is the best fit for that position. Zeus’s predecessors, Uranus and Kronos, used violence to maintain their power, while Zeus focused more on collaboration and compromise to keep peace and order within the divine realm. 

Jews and Christians recognize Genesis as the standard account of creation, however, Genesis is interesting because there are two accounts of creation found in Genesis and many argue that the version found in Genesis chapter one is not meant to be taken literally. As stated before, this paper will focus on the second account of creation located in Genesis chapter two. This second account of creation is known as the Yahwist narrative. 

When reading these stories, the major differences are abundantly clear, Theogony presents a polytheistic religion, where all of the gods create or birth other gods, in turn creating the world. However, in Genesis, there is only one God and he is responsible for creating the world and everything in it. One big comparison that is commonly made is between God and Zeus. Both are viewed as the head of the divine and mortal realms and are extremely powerful. God in Genesis is an all-powerful being, who literally spoke the world into existence. Because God is so powerful, any attempt to take his throne would be thwarted with ease. Comparatively, Zeus is powerful but he had to fight for his position as head of the divine and mortal realm and to keep that power, Zeus had to collaborate and compromise with the other gods. Zeus is powerful, but should someone try to take his throne, Zeus would have to fight to keep it. 

Works Cited:

“Hesiod's Theogony.” Hesiod (fl.750–650 BC) - Theogony. Accessed April 18, 2022. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/HesiodTheogony.php. 

“Theogony Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Accessed April 19, 2022. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theogony. 

“Cosmology Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Accessed April 19, 2022. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmology. 

Genesis 1 NRSVCE - - Bible Gateway. Accessed April 18, 2022. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2B1&version=NRSVCE%5C.