One of you asked a great question after class: were there other Theogonies or beliefs about the creation of the world than the “mainstream” version we get in Hesiod? Short answer: yes! Disappointing addition: They’re quite tough to wrap your head around. One alternate tradition can be pieced together from what survives on tablets and papyri of the Orphic cosmogony, in which it all starts with a cosmic egg (a trope found in other cultures too!) Many scholars find influence from the Ancient Near East in Orphism, whatever it actually was. Here is a relatively accessible, though sometimes hand-wavy, introduction to Orphism and its myths. In a VERY different vein…