Gender and the divine
Metis’ function as a mother and … takes control of the reproductive process’ (2003: 150) . Hence, Hesiod uses the succession myth in the Theogony to explain Zeus’ sovereignty.
If the succession myth is Hesiod’s main focus, then set against the backdrop of the male struggles for dominance are the feminine and maternal sources of deception: what distinguishes Zeus as a ruler is his awareness and manipulation of the female capacity to give birth for his own benefit. Already we have seen the roles of Gaia and Rhea in instigating the collapse of regimes but Park believes that certain female goddess in the Theogony use their uniquely female power of true parthenogenesis to combat the strict control of the dominant male god and that, while successful in earlier phases of the universe, it ultimately backfires when turned against Zeus (Park 2014). Hesiod assigns parthenogenesis as ‘ almost exclusively the realm of female deities ’; th erefore Hesiod allows female deities a role in ‘ shaping the cosmos through parthenogenesis ’. 6 Five deities carry out parthenogenesis in the Theogony : Chaos, Gaia, Night, Strife and Hera. All but Chaos, who is neuter, are feminine. Park believes that the frequency with which it occurs in the Theogony is ‘a symptom… of a general female presence… reflecting a focus on gender difference as the primary metaphor for not only creation but also stability ’. 7 Chaos, Night and Strife’s parthenogenetic feats can be read quite simply as establishing parthenogenesis’ function to create and replicate. Chaos uses parthenogenesis to birth the protogenoi. 8 What maps well from her to her children’s use of the ability is the element to which offspring are similar to their parent. Chaos is ‘ impenetrable darkness and unmeasurable totality ’ 9 and in this way, the next children she births are Erebos (Darkness) and Night. Night then produces a long line of offspring (lines 211-25) of which the unifying factor is that they each reflect some of the darkness characteristic of Night. Similarly, Strife, one of Night’s children, produces her own line of ‘ harsh realities ’ 10 that reflect an element of the concept of Strife itself. It is in Gaia that we first see parthenogenesis employed to enact female retaliation. Gaia (Earth) births Ouranos (Heaven) as her equal ( Theogony 126) . Ouranos’ intention was to cover the surface of Gaia – Park explains her creation of the heavens as ‘ proleptic of the primacy of parthenogenesis in forging the shape of the universe ’ . 11 After its initial use for shaping the cosmos, parthenogenesis becomes largely a tool for female conflict. Ouranos quickly oversteps his boundaries in his following actions of siring children with Gaia but withholding their release from within her. Consequently, Gaia is prompted to act against him: she rallies Kronos against his father and, in her deceitful seduction of Ouranos, allows Kronos to stealthily neuter him, succeeds. Beyond Ouranos, Gaia continues throughout the Theogony to act against the oppressive male figures: she protects Zeus from his infant fate and then aids him as an adult in the Titanomachy, instructing him to secure the help of the Hekatonchires (Hundred- Handers: Obriaeros, Kott os and Gyges) against Kronos, turning the tide of the war in Zeus’ favour. 6 Park 2014: 262-3. 7 Ibid.: 266. We know definitively that Gaia, Hera and Night carry out asexual reproduction, Chaos and Strife we can reasonably infer from the text. 8 The first, born, beings: Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (Netherworld) and Eros (Desire) 9 Park 2014: 267. 10 Ibid.: 268. Park uses a similar phrase on page 267 to describe Night’s children ‘timeless truths of existence, albeit the negative side of it’. 11 Ibid.: 269.
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