Transcript: The Creation of Man in Greek Mythology

Click here to listen to the Teaching Mythology Podcast, Episode 007: The Creation of Man in Greek Mythology or read the show notes.

Lesli:  [00:00:00] today, we’re going to be talking about the creation of man in Greek mythology. And there really are two different stories that I’m going to be telling. The first is from Hesiod. And it’s the ages of man.

[00:00:27]The second is a story of Prometheus and Epimetheus  and the creation of man that way.

[00:00:33] So we’re going to start out with Hesiod’s story of the ages of man.

[00:00:38]Hesiod wrote in his poetry that the ages of man were divided up into four ages.

[00:00:48]The first being the golden age. Now. This first period of man. Were formed by Kronos actually. And. They were [00:01:00] mortals who lived like the gods. They never knew sorrow or toil. And when they died, it was said that it was as if they were falling asleep. No one worked. Or grew unhappy. And spring never ended. It really was this idyllic heaven.

[00:01:18] Like world for man. And it’s described as a period in which people actually aged backwards. Then when they died, they became Adiomones which. Later in Greek, this word actually means demons, but these men aged backwards. And then when they died, they would. Roam the earth. So you can totally see how that creates this  demonic or.

[00:01:45] Demon or ghosts like presence or feeling.

[00:01:48]Now when Zeus became the ruling Titan, the golden age ended.

[00:01:53] That brought on the second age, which is the silver age.  Zeus is in charge and he is actually [00:02:00] creating this generation of man.  He wanted them to be. Much more inferior to the gods in appearance and wisdom. Because you see in the golden age. When Zeus was fighting Kronos. The men of the golden age fought against Zeus. So He didn’t want to. Continue that type of man. Right. They betrayed him. So he punishes them. As he is want to do.  One of the first things that this did is he divided the year into four seasons. And he made it so that these silver men had to work. They had to plant grain. They had to seek shelter.

[00:02:41] But they live for a long time. It said that a child could play for a hundred years before growing up. So these men live for long periods of time.

[00:02:54] The one problem with these men of the silver age is that they wouldn’t honor the gods. [00:03:00] So Zeus caused them all to be destroyed. And when they died, they became the blessed spirits of the underworld. So this is the first mention that we have of an underworld or an afterlife in Greek mythology.

[00:03:15]Now the third age. is known as the bronze age. And Zeus made men in this age, out of Ash trees.

[00:03:25]The men of the bronze age were terrible. And strong. And warlike. Their armor and houses were made of bronze and they did not eat bread living mostly on meat.

[00:03:39]It was this generation of men that was destroyed by the flood. In the days of Prometheus’s son Declan and Perea. Now I haven’t told that myth. I don’t have plans in the future to tell that myth. But what I think is interesting is that there is a flood story in Greek mythology. And in the future, I do [00:04:00] plan on doing a comparison of the flood stories.

[00:04:03] Throughout the world. And this is just one of them.

[00:04:07] When the men of the bronze age died, they went to the underworld. So we go from this golden age. Where everything is peaceful and idealic to the silver age, where they have to toil for the first time and they die for the first time. And then the bronze age where it is war, and there’s a sense of barbaricness about humans.

[00:04:34]Now the fourth age is known as the age of heroes. So, this is actually according to Hesiod, a, historical period and not really an age of man. So they’re really four ages of men. And then this age of heroes. But we know this age as the Mycenaean age. And the stories told by Hesiod and Homer.

[00:04:57]

[00:04:57] The age of heroes is known [00:05:00] as

[00:05:00] A time when men. I kind of came out of that barbaricness that they had in the bronze age. And this is where we have the stories with Demi gods. That humans and men are strong and brave and true. And unfortunately, a lot of these great heroes were destroyed. Or died in wars, according to Greek legends.

[00:05:25] Now after death, some of these heroes went to the underworld. But others went to the Isles of the blessed. And when we talk about the underworld and when we start telling myths of the underworld, I’ll talk about the Isles of the blessed, but it’s this extra special place the only heroes could go to, but they had to prove themselves worthy three times.

[00:05:47]In order to make it there.

[00:05:49]And then last but not least, we have the iron age. So this is a time that Hesiod referred to his own time. And this is what Hesiod [00:06:00] called all modern men. So Zeus created all of these modern men. As evil and selfish and burdened with weariness and sorrow. And it’s during the iron age, that all matter of evils.

[00:06:15] Came into being. And virtues disappeared from the earth.  Most of the gods that were left here to the earth actually abandon it because of this wickedness of men. This kind of explains for the Greeks. Why the gods are not more present. In their world.

[00:06:34] It’s that they live in the iron age and the gods have left them because they’re not worthy of the gods. So has Hesiod actually predicted that one day Zeus would destroy this race and create a new race. That would be more worthy of him.

[00:06:50]So there’s one, story of the creation of man. The second is a story Promethease and Epimetheus, and this is one that I feel like is more well [00:07:00] known. And the myths are told more frequently in this story when we teach them in schools. So.

[00:07:06]Just as a reminder. Harken back to two weeks ago. In the episode with Zeus. That Prometheus and Epimetheus actually fought with Zeus in the great war against the Titans. They were the only two Titans. Who went against their brother Kronos and fought with Zeus.

[00:07:24]So.

[00:07:26]Zeus gives Epimetheus. And Prometheus’s the role of creating all the animals and mankind on the earth. So in this version of the myth and this story.

[00:07:39]There. Hasn’t been a creation of mankind yet. So this is the first creation of mankind. So Epimetheus is the one who creates all the animals of the earth. And. He gives them all their qualities, such as being swift or cunning, giving them strength and fur, [00:08:00] and wings. And unfortunately he got a little carried away with himself because by the time.

[00:08:06] It was Prometheus’s turned to create, man. Epimetheus had given all the really good qualities to the animals. And there were none left for mankind. So Prometheus’s decided to make a man stand upright, just like the gods and to give them fire. Now. In the story. Promethease actually forms man from clay.

[00:08:30] And Athena is the goddess who breathes life into man. Now. Promethease loved. Man more than he loved the Olympian gods. They had. Banished most of his family to Tartarus. And. They were his own creation and we always love our own creations more than we, we love other things, right. They really were quite literally his children.

[00:08:58] But Zeus [00:09:00] decided that man must sacrifice a portion of their food to the gods. And Prometheus’s felt like this. Was kind of a ridiculous request. They were already living on earth. They were already toiling and working hard and. Having to hunt and forage and grow for their food. So why should they sacrifice a portion of their food to the gods when the gods don’t eat?

[00:09:25] Meat or grain, right? They eat the food of the gods and they drink nectar and. Is this a, a silly request to Prometheus. So he decides to trick Zeus. And this is a way for him to kind of get revenge on Zeus for all the pains that he has inflicted upon Prometheus’s family. So Prometheus creates two piles of food.

[00:09:54] One with bones that are wrapped in juicy fat. And another with the [00:10:00] finest meat hidden inside a hide.  And this is supposed to represent the portion. That the humans are going to give to the gods. Right?  And then Prometheus’s asked Zeus. To choose one of the two piles of food to take back right. As the sacrifice.

[00:10:20] And of course. Zeus chooses the one that looks good on the outside,  with a lot of juicy fat. But inside. Are all bones. And. Prometheus’s. Was able to get Zeus to promise that whatever he chose in this initial choice was what humans could sacrifice to the gods. Forever after. Right. So they knew what was to be sacrificed.

[00:10:48] By wrapping up the bones. The way that he did. Promethease basically ensures that mankind can always sacrifice their bones and fat to the gods. But keep all [00:11:00] the good meat and the hides, which they need for food, shelter, clothing, and all those things. Right. So Prometheus is getting revenge on Zeus by tricking him.

[00:11:10] And protecting humans. Well, of course, Zeus is absolutely infuriated by this trick. And so he takes fire. Away from mankind. So you can have your meat, but good luck cooking it. Good luck. Staying warm. And that’s his form of punishment.  It’s interesting. How Zeus, well, not just Zeus. All of the gods are always seeking revenge.

[00:11:36] And we’re going to talk about that more in just a sec, but. Prometheus’s not happy with this and he disagrees with it. So he actually takes the torch takes it to the sun, lights it on fire and brings it back to mankind. And so now mankind has fire.

[00:11:53] And Zeus can’t take that away from them again.  He is absolutely enraged and he decides [00:12:00] to inflict a terrible punishment. On both man. And Prometheus’s  Zeus is actually angry at Prometheus’s for several reasons. One for being tricked. About the sacrifices. Two for stealing fire for man. And three.

[00:12:18] There’s a prophecy that says that Zeus will be dethroned by one of his children. And he doesn’t know which child that is. And Promethease knows and Promethease refuses to tell him. So it’s interesting that the timeline and the myths kind of get messed up. But this prophecy about Zeus. Actually happens much earlier in the myths. I just didn’t mention it because it’s just such a small thing.

[00:12:47]And when we talk about Athena, we’ll talk about this prophecy again.

[00:12:52]So Zeus actually, to inflict punishment. On Prometheus’s [00:13:00] he has him chained to a rock. And now we’re going to tell the story of Prometheus later. So I don’t want to go into too much detail here, but. Zeus chain’s Prometheus’s to a rock. And every day an Eagle would come and eat out his liver, but because Prometheus’s a God he heals overnight and then the Eagle would come again.

[00:13:21] So we’ll talk about how Prometheus’s freed from this. It actually takes two. Two very important people to free him. The other way that Zeus gets revenge against mankind is by creating Pandora. And that’s the story I’m going to tell next week. So stay tuned. If you want to hear the myth of Pandora.

[00:13:42]Now what both of these. Creation stories or creation of man myths. Really show us is how the Greek gods viewed mankind. So the first thing we know is that they viewed humans as less than the gods. It’s only an [00:14:00] Hesiod’s golden age. That mankind is even somewhat equal to the gods. Every other instance, after that mankind is less than.

[00:14:11] And not even less than it’s that they’re like play things of the gods or animals or something so small and insignificant.

[00:14:20]And we see that the Greek gods routinely. Across the myths. Treat humans poorly. They punish them. They rape them. They kill them. They cause wars and jealousies simply because someone says that someone’s more beautiful than Aphrodite. Right. I mean, it becomes the theme of the myths. And I always find this really interesting, like why would an ancient society.

[00:14:52] Believe in gods who treated them so badly. And. Who felt like they [00:15:00] were. So much higher than them, but we see this across all ancient civilizations. It’s not just the Greeks. But it’s very prominent in Greek mythology and we have the most of their myths written down. And so we have the widest view of there.

[00:15:16] Belief system.

[00:15:17]So I always wonder why would they think this. I wonder if it’s a need to believe in a higher power. And that higher power, if something is greater than you are. There’s automatically. A comparison that happens that we must be so much further or lower than the gods. And I also wonder if this is a need to reinforce a hierarchy or a class system.

[00:15:45] That some are better than others. And when we flash forward to. Charlemagne and the creation of the Royal family, as we now know it. I mean [00:16:00] most of the Kings and Queens in Europe, in the middle ages, and the Renaissance wanted to prove that they. We’re ordained by God. To lead or to govern or to be a king or a queen.

[00:16:13] And they actually have these pedigree charts. That show their descendants. Like. All the way to Adam. And it’s all made up and it’s all fake. So. I think that’s really interesting that.

[00:16:29]We.

[00:16:30]Are always trying to reinforce a hierarchy in our world. And even if that makes these gods vengeful in Greek mythology. It could also on the flip side, show someone who’s blessed by the gods, right? And if you are blessed by the gods, then you should rule. And we see that story throughout. Greek mythology.

[00:16:53] So those who are blessed by the gods rule and those who are punished by the gods almost deserve it. [00:17:00] Right.

[00:17:01]So when I was teaching these creation stories, I actually would do a creation. Story unit so that I could compare these stories across cultures. But for the sake of the podcast, I wanted to tell or retell both of these stories. Next week when we talk about Pandora, I’m also going to talk. About Eve.

[00:17:21] And compare Pandora and Eve but you can compare these stories to other creation stories. It’s interesting that.

[00:17:29] In the Promethease and  Epimetheus story. That. Animals are created first. And that man is made out of clay. And then. Life is breathed into man. This idea that man. Comes from elements of the earth and then a God, or in this case, a goddess. Breathes life into them or breathes their spirit into them. Is something that you see across cultures.

[00:18:00] [00:17:59] The idea of sacrificing to gods is not new. That is also across cultures.

[00:18:05]Having several ages of men or stages of men that is also a creation story that shows up. Across cultures where the gods try for first time. Hmm. Don’t like that version of mankind. Try for a second kind. Don’t like that version. And generally.

[00:18:24] It’s that they’re either trying to improve on their creation or their creation is too powerful and they are trying to knock that down   they’re so afraid of losing power.  In Hesiod’s version, Zeus actually creates the men of the bronze age from Ash trees. This is also very common that men come from trees.

[00:18:47] And in the Norse Myths, we have them  being created by an Ash tree specifically. So that’s really neat to see. That comparison or that [00:19:00] similarity. So. I haven’t decided yet how I want to do the creation myths. In the podcast. It is a huge three week unit in my class. And we actually take each of these creation stories.

[00:19:17] From around the world. And I use a website called the big myth.com or maybe it’s big myth.com. It’s free and they have animations that show the creation. In. 20 something different cultures. From around the world, they have printed retellings of these and they have. Lists of the gods and historical and cultural background.

[00:19:41] It’s amazing, but we we do several things where we. Get into groups and present on each of the myths. Then. They do comparison. They write their own myth. I have a final essay. It’s really interesting to see this comparison. [00:20:00] At the end of all of it. I asked the students,  what do you learn from all these myths?

[00:20:05] What is it teaching you? And inevitably students come down to the conclusion that. We have more alike or more similarities with people than we realize. And that all of these ancient cultures.

[00:20:20]None of them stood alone in their beliefs. They really were connected to each other. And you can have flood myths from Australia to the Judeo Christian, too. You know, in south America, so they’re not even connected. Geographically to each other.

[00:20:39]And as we keep probing, I asked students, well, what do you think that means? Why do you think that happened? And inevitably somebody will say.

[00:20:48]Well, maybe it’s because. All mankind once lived together. And as. They broke apart or as they moved. [00:21:00] The story’s changed. Which I love, because then we go back to Pangea. And we talk about. That at some point when creation happened on this earth and whether you believe. in a creation from a God or.

[00:21:16]Evolution type of creation. At some point there had to have been. A small group of humans together. And that small group was trying to understand their world and trying to understand where they came from. And where they fit into that world. And so they start telling creation stories and they start creating myths and they start believing in gods.

[00:21:42] Because.

[00:21:43] We live in a modern world. And I am just fascinated by the tomatoes growing in my backyard right now. I cannot believe how fast they grow and out of nothing, they appear.  From a seed to a plant and then there’s leaves and then [00:22:00] flowers. And I will literally be looking at a flower and the next day there’s a tomato right there.

[00:22:05] I don’t even know how that happens. And then it grows and grows and grows. Right. So even just plants are fascinating to me, the idea of a human life being created. Is nothing short of miraculous. And so it’s no wonder that. No matter what culture, no matter what people. They believed. In a God in a higher power that could create life on earth.

[00:22:32] They had no science. Little technology. They didn’t understand a lot of things. So this 100% makes sense to me.

[00:22:41]And I love, I love the similarities. I love the commonalities that we have across the world and across cultures. And across religion, right? Because some of these are ancient mythologies and some of the mythologies that we study in my class are living mythologies. There are mythologies that people still [00:23:00] actively believe in and they still worship these gods. They still offer sacrifices to these gods.

[00:23:07] But we have more in common with their beliefs than we realize. And I think that’s one thing that my class really emphasizes is that. We kind of get. mired down and stuck in the details.

[00:23:23]But man, when we get to the root of all beliefs, We really do have so much in common with others and it’s fascinating.

[00:23:34] So I’m going to stop there for today. Next week. We’ll talk about Pandora and Eve. And the view. That a lot of ancient cultures have about women.