Gender and the divine
385-8). With Hecate, Zeus allows a goddess, who already held great honours under the previous regime, more privileges. 17 In exchange, she agrees to remain a virgin (one of the few among female deities), and in this way Zeus subordinates her by controlling her power to give birth, the female’s formidable tool as expressed throughout the poem. In both readings of Hesiod’s Theogony , conflict is omnipresent. Whether as the struggle between men to dominate the universe or the antagonism of sexes in which men try and fail to control the creative power of women. Change to the cosmic order comes from Zeus, who succeeds both in escaping the threat of the maternal figure, both in Gaia and Metis, and controlling and assuming that power to create life for his own gain. The Homeric Hymns , in contrast, depict a very different cosmos from that in Hesiod. The poems are all set after Zeus’ assumption of control on Olympus and, with each poem detailing origins for the items and honours attributed to each deity, one critic has described the overarching function of the hymns as ‘ space in which the problems of the Olympian order are worked out ’. 18 However, Allan (2006, p26) identifies a crucial element at play in each of the major Homeric hymns: ‘A central theme … is the role played by Zeus’ supremacy in the evolution of divine and human history.’ 19 By marrying the two ideas, I believe that we can read the Hymns to Hermes , Demeter and Aphrodite as poems in which the titular gods establish or adjust their aetiologies through an episode of conflict. When resolved, the Olympian order is restructured, and Zeus’ power is reconfirmed. The resolution of conflict brings about a readjustment of the Olympi an order and acts to reconfirm Zeus’ superintendence. The Hymn to Hermes presents the effect a fraternal quarrel has on the rest of the Olympians. From the outset Hermes proves a fascination with ‘ the acquisition and redistribution of timai ’, 20 having just been born he immediately sets out to earn his own τιμαι, resolving on the theft of Apollo’s cattle that brings the two brothers to dispute. There are, I think, two noteworthy elements to ensuing argument: first Apollo’s threat to throw Hermes into Tartarus. ‘ The Tartarus motif ’ appears in Hesiod at times of critical sovereign danger, when Zeus defeats an enemy who could threaten his power, and equally is applicable to how Apollo views Hermes’ attempts to join the Olympians, a danger to the current world order. 21 Hence, Apollo linguistically attempts to emulate the motif in his own threat: ‘ ῥιψω γαρ σε λαβων ἐς Ταρταρον ἠεορεντα, ἐς ζοφον αἰνομορον και ἀμηχανον ( Hymn to Hermes – line 256-8 ), forms of the verb ῥιπτω are important: they ‘ recall … other instances when he [Zeus] violently removed rebellious immortals’. 22 Hermes, however, laughs off the threat. 23 This response causes Harrell to connect this rivalry to Zeus and Poseidon’s in book 13 of the Iliad where they argue about Poseidon’s authorityto act on Earth: 24
17 Zanker 1988: 73-4. 18 Bungard 2012: 444; see also Clay 2006: 100-103.
19 Allan 2006: 26. 20 Clay 2006: 95. 21 Harrell 1992: 308. 22 Ibid.: 318.
23 Unlike Zeus’ in Iliad Book 8, where he cautions all the gods to cease from fighting in the Trojan war, no chilling description of the Netherworld accompanies the threat, as in Apollo’s ‘ ἠ εορεντα’ (murky). Furthermore, Apollo’s threats lack the gravity present in Zeus’: namely his previous hurling of rule-breakers into Tartarus when he took power. Despite the employment of ῥιπτω , Apollo’s threat is a poor imitation. 24 Harrell 1992: 315.
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