Theogony of Hesiod is a ‘Rosetta stone’ of Ancient theogonies: its elaborate form allows to look into the Ancient World from cosmopolitan perspective, as “…the other Near Eastern theogonies, including the Greek rivals of Homer and Hesiod, reach us only in fragmentary form, we have little to compare with Hesiod’s poem and little basis for a description of how and why early Greek poetry approached the subject of the origins and relationships of the gods” [1]. Another academic authority on the subject highlights: “...the basic design has a monumental simplicity and grandeur... There is a geometric pattern reminiscent of the geometric style in early Greek art... Hesiod lived in an age innocent of philosophy” [2].

During the reading and discussion sessions we apply various strategies of critical reading to narrative of Theogony. Our aim is to identify and discuss potentiality of ruptures within it, supported by critical dissection and available researches of the structure of the text. Departure from the text itself is fundamental as the layers of interpretations are robbing it off the actual ideological multiplicity. As Nietzsche put it, “It would be a pity if the classics should speak to us less clearly because a million words stood in the way” [1].

References:
[1] Robert Lamberton. Hesiod. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1988.
[2] Norman O. Brown. Hesiod Theogony. The Library of Liberal Arts, 1953 (5th edition, 17th printing, 1976).