Racial Differentiation
Myth:
The gods were thinking amongst themselves about the earth and mortals. The earth had so much land, and so many mortals living in it but it was all the same. Zeus thought that he had to do something to give more variety to such a boring world. He wanted to give mortals more interesting factors to their life on earth and therefore, change some things, but he did not know how.
Athena decided to help Zeus think of how to make things more interesting for mortals.
“Almighty Zeus, listen to my proposal. The earth has no diversity and I see that you are troubled upon this matter. I know the key to fixing this problem and that is to change the sun.”
“Change it? Explain what you mean by this.”
“Listen very carefully. The land and the people are all the same. There is no difference, so let’s make the land more interesting by making some places hot and dry like a dessert, while others are cold and snowing. This will make mortals’ lives more interesting because every place will be different. To make this change you need to change up the sun in certain areas, so that the land will be different. Some will be growing luscious green trees while others will be snowing all year long. Some places will have mountains while others will have erupting volcanoes. This is what will allow mortals to live a better life.”
Zeus thought about Athena’s proposal, and decided to do it. Apollo will change the sun by using his power to make the sun shine more brightly in certain areas and more dim in others. Zeus himself will change up the weather to make the places with less sunshine cold, snowy, and icy and the places where the sun shines extremely brightly to be dry and hot all the time. Demeter, Hades, and Persephone dealt with the agriculture from different lands. Each land would be able to grow different plants and crop, so that depending on where a person lives, their agriculture and what they eat will vary.
These changes led to a difference in mortals as well. Due to the different climates and lands that they were living in, as well as how much sun they get, their skin color changed along with it. Mortals became unique and different from each other. The land produced different foods, so everyone ate differently from one another according to where they live. If a person lives in the land that has a lot of sun, then their skin would naturally be darker while a person living in the colder areas, with less sun would have lighter skin. From this change different human races came to be, along with a variety of land and agriculture.
This great gift from the gods resulted in variety, diversity, and uniqueness. It brought the ritual of travelling. Hermes would guide people from place to place because they became curious as to what other lands and what other people were like. Travelling became exciting and adventurous because people could go to other places and learn and see new things.
Analysis:
In Greek myth we learn that each god has different specialties or powers that they have. For example Apollo is a sun god so I used him in my myth to change the sun so that some places have more sunshine throughout the year and other places have barely any sunshine throughout the year.
Zeus is the supreme god and is the son of Kronos and Rheia. Rheia bore children however “Kronos swallowed them all down as soon as each issued from Rheia’s holy womb onto her knees” (Hes. Theog 463-464). Rheia was extremely saddened and “when she was about to give birth to Zeus our rather, she petitioned her parents, Earth and starry Heaven, to put together some plan so that the birth of her child might go unnoticed, and she would make devious Kronos pay the Avengers of her father and children” (Hes. Theog 473-477). Through the birth of Zeus, Kronos is defeated, and everyone is grateful for what Zeus had done so they “gave him thunder and the flashing thunderbolt and lightning, which enormous Earth had hidden before. Trusting in these he rules mortals and immortals” (Hes. Theog 506-508). Through myth we see that it is all about Zeus’ plan and his will because he is the supreme god, so in my own myth I made Zeus want to fulfill a plan to make changes on Earth and he makes this plan happen through his own will and with the help of the other Olympian gods.
Athena is portrayed as the goddess of wisdom. Through the Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as a very clever man. Athena favors Odysseus because of his cleverness and so throughout the Odyssey, Athena intervenes to help him in various situations. One of the examples is Book 22 where Odysseus needs to fight off the suitors and Athena intervenes. It says in the text that “Athene, daughter of Zeus, appeared, with Mentor’s voice and looks. Odysseus saw her, and was glad, and spoke to her” (Homer Odyssey, 22. 204-205). Athena also helped Heracles in his labors. Heracles was stumped in the sixth labour which is the Stymphalian birds and so when he did not know “how to drive the birds from the woods, Athena got bronze castanets from Hephaistos and gave them to him” (Apollodorus Bibliotheca K8). Athena helps mortals when they need wisdom and help in difficult situations. In my own myth I used Athena for her wisdom to come up with an idea for how Zeus is going to change earth and make things better for mortals. Her wisdom helps her come up with a good idea that can then help change earth.
Demeter, Persephone, and Hades are a trio that is interconnected through their specialties and through blood and marriage. Demeter is the mother of Persephone and Persephone and Hades are married. The three of them have to do with agriculture and what comes from the ground. In the Homeric Hymns to Demeter it talks about the story of the Rape of Persephone. Hades is planning on abducting Persephone, however, “Demeter knew it not, lady of the golden sword, the giver of fine crops” (Homeric Hymns to Demeter 2a, 3). This line shows that Demeter is the goddess of crops and agriculture. Hades may be known as the god of the Underworld, however his way to capture Persephone is through “the narcissus that the earth brought forth as a snare for the fair-faced maiden by the counsel of Zeus and to please the lord of many guests” (Homeric Hymns to Demeter 2a, 6-7). Hades is correlated with the ground and what gets buried into the ground. Even though we naturally think dead bodies being buried into the ground is what correlates with Hades, plants and crops are buried into the ground as well, to grow and provide food. Therefore, Hades does have to do with agriculture and the growth of food and harvesting as he brings wealth from the ground. In my myth I used Demeter, Hades, and Persephone to portray the agricultural differences due to the climate of the land. This also helps portray the fact that different races will eat differently based on the land and what can or cannot grow there.
Hermes is the god that is for travelling to different places but also for travelling to the underworld. In the Homeric Hymns to Demeter, Hermes “speedily went forth beneath the hollow places of the earth, leaving the home of Olympos” (Homeric Hymns to Demeter 2e 338-339). Not only does Hermes travel from place to place, but helps others travel as well. In the Odyssey Book 11, Odysseus had a katabasis, meaning he went to the underworld and came back from it. It mentions that Odysseus meets Heracles’ phantom or shadow, and Heracles tells him that he “carried off the creature [Cerberus] too, and led him away. Hermes and bright-eyed Athena were my guides” (Homer Odyssey 11. 618-619). In my own myth I took the idea of Hermes helping heroes travel and applied it to my own myth where Hermes helps humans travel to different countries of the world, because of the differences in race, food, and landscape.
My myth is like the myth of Pandora in Hesiod’s Theogony. Pandora was made because Prometheus had stolen fire for human beings. Zeus needed to create a punishment for mankind. He decides to makePandora as a “lovely evil to balance the good, then led her off to the other gods and men” (Hes. Theog 588-589). The creation of Pandora involved a lot of gods putting in their gifts or specialties to make this irresistible looking woman. I made my myth based on this myth as I used other gods such as Hermes, Apollo, Athena, Demeter, Persephone, and Hades to help create the world of racial differences on earth. Opposite to the Pandora story, my myth is about a blessing on mankind rather then a curse which is what the Pandora myth is about.
My myth also plays along with Hesiod’s Work and Days. In the Work and Days there is a section about the seasons in Greece. It begins with summer where it is “the time wood you cut with your axe is least full of wormholes, when the yellow leaves are on the ground, and no new leaves are sprouting” (Hes. Work and Days 472-374). It also talks about getting oxen during the summer. Then it moves to autumn saying that it is “the sign for plowing, and the onset of winter” (Hes. Work and Days 503). It talks about feeding the oxen and harvesting to prepare for winter which is when “the cold keeps a man from outdoor work. Plenty to keep you busy around the house” (Hes. Work and Days 554-556). Lastly it is spring when it is time to prune and it is harvest season. Through the Work and Days, we learn how Greek seasons are like and more importantly the Greek agriculture. Through this myth, I expand on seasons in my own myth to include the entire world as well as different agriculture for different people, because race goes beyond the looks of a human being as it includes culture, land in which they live in, and the food a person eats as well.
Bibliography
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca K8 Sixth Labor: The Stymphalian Birds.
Hesiod, Theogony Pandora. 588-589.
Hesiod, Theogony The Birth of the Olympians. 463-464, 473-477, 506-508.
Hesiod, Work and Days Summer. 472-473.
Hesiod, Work and Days Autumn. 503.
Hesiod, Work and Days Winter. 554-556.
Homeric Hymns 2 To Demeter 2a. 3, 6-7.
Homeric Hymns 2 To Demeter 2e. 338-339.
Homer, Odyssey 11. 618-619.
Homer, Odyssey 22. 204-205.