Vrae oor God Deel IV

Dit werk makliker as mens goed afbaken en in ‘n soort van raamwerk sien. Met betrekking tot die antieke Grieke kyk ons na ‘n tydperk van ongeveer driehonderd jaar, vanaf 625vC tot 323 vC. In die tydperk het Griekeland gegroei van ‘n klomp onafhanklike stadstate wat telkens onderling baklei het tot die sentrum van die ou wêreld met die ryk van Aleksander die Grote. Na Aleksander sou grieks die lingua franca van die wêreld wees, hulle kultuur die inding wees en hulle beskouing van die lewe en die wêreld die wieg van die westerse beskawing vorm.

Die speelveld was klein. Indië, China en die verre Ooste was grootliks onbekend. Japan, Australië, sub-Sahara Afrika, Noord en Suid Amerika was plekke waarvan niemand niks geweet het nie. Die bekende plekke was die gebiede rondom die Middelandse See – Spanje, Italië, Griekeland, Turkeye, Palestina, Egipte en die res van Noord Afrika. Veroweringstogte het ver binneland toe gestrek maar ook perke geken. Dis binne die kleinerige gebied met sy verskeie supermoondhede waarin Griekeland ontwikkel het.

First things first
Die Grieke is bekend vir hulle gode. Dit was Zeus en Olympus en Herkules en sy take. Daar was Morpheus die god van drome, Mania die god van kranksinnigheid, Hypnos die godin van slaap, Hygeia die godin van higiëne, Nemesis die god van wraak, Pshyce die godin van die siel en so gaan dit aan…

‘n Goeie maklik leesbare artikel oor die gode is hier, andersins kan jy ook hier en hier kliek.

‘n Uittreksel van een van die sites:

The most widely accepted version today, although a philosophical account of the beginning of things, is reported by Hesiod (antieke Griekse geskiedskrywer wat soos Homerus oor die ontstaan van die Grieke en hul gode geskryf het), in his Theogony. He begins with Chaos, a yawning nothingness. Out of the void emerged Eurynome, Gaia (the Earth) and some other primary divine beings: Eros (Love), the Abyss (the Tartarus), and the Erebus. Without male assistance, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (the Sky) who then fertilized her. From that union were born first the Titans—six males: Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oceanus; and six females: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and Tethys. They were followed by the one-eyed Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires or Hundred-Handers. Cronus ("the wily, youngest and most terrible of [Gaia's] children") castrated his father and became the ruler of the gods with his sister-wife Rhea as his consort, and the other Titans became his court.

A motif of father-against-son conflict was repeated when Cronus was confronted by his son, Zeus. Because Cronus had betrayed his father, he feared that his offspring would do the same, and so each time Rhea gave birth, he snatched up the child and ate it. Rhea hated this and tricked him by hiding Zeus and wrapping a stone in a baby's blanket, which Cronus ate. When Zeus was grown, he fed his father a drugged drink which caused Cronus to vomit, throwing up Rhea's other children and the stone, which had been sitting in Cronus' stomach all along. Then Zeus challenged Cronus to war for the kingship of the gods. At last, with the help of the Cyclopes (whom Zeus freed from Tartarus), Zeus and his siblings were victorious, while Cronus and the Titans were hurled down to imprisonment in Tartarus.

Zeus was plagued by the same concern and, after a prophecy that the offspring of his first wife, Metis, would give birth to a god "greater than he"—Zeus swallowed her. She was already pregnant with Athene, however, and they made him miserable until Athene burst forth from his head—fully-grown and dressed for war.

Die dae van die gode was egter getel met die opkoms van die griekse filosowe - 'n groep denkers wat anders oor die lewe en die wêreld gedink het, en so die fondasie van die westerse wêreld gelê het. Dieselfde website sê: After the rise of philosophy, history, prose and rationalism in the late 5th century BC, the fate of myth became uncertain, and mythological genealogies gave place to a conception of history which tried to exclude the supernatural (such as the Thucydidean history). While poets and dramatists were reworking the myths, Greek historians and philosophers were beginning to criticize them. A few radical philosophers like Xenophanes of Colophon were already beginning to label the poets' tales as blasphemous lies in the 6th century BC; Xenophanes had complained that Homer and Hesiod attributed to the gods "all that is shameful and disgraceful among men; they steal, commit adultery, and deceive one another". This line of thought found its most sweeping expression in Plato's Republic and Laws. Plato created his own allegorical myths (such as the vision of Er in the Republic), attacked the traditional tales of the gods' tricks, thefts and adulteries as immoral, and objected to their central role in literature. Plato's criticism was the first serious challenge to the Homeric mythological tradition, referring to the myths as "old wives' chatter". For his part Aristotle criticized the Pre-socratic quasi-mythical philosophical approach and underscored that "Hesiod and the theological writers were concerned only with what seemed plausible to themselves, and had no respect for us ... But it is not worth taking seriously writers who show off in the mythical style; as for those who do proceed by proving their assertions, we must cross-examine them"

Volgende keer meer oor die filosowe...