Genesis Vs. Theogony

Throughout the years, a main topic of discussion is how people were created and came about to live here on this earth. Many people have their own views and opinions on how creation occurred, but two texts in particular that discuss this phenomenon are Theogony, written by Hesiod, and the book of Genesis of the Bible. The Bible is, and has been for years, the most read and religiously followed book of all time, and one book of the Bible that specifically discusses how creation occurred is Genesis, which in fact means creation. Genesis talks about in depth the process in which the earth and life were created and the progression of how the world was populated, while Theogony, written by Hesiod, is a book that discusses the genealogy and the creation of Gods and Goddesses in the areas of ancient Greece. Though both of these books may discuss the same general topics of creations and the nature of the divine, there are still vast differences that exist.

The creation of the earth out of nothing by a higher power is a common principle that is seen in both texts. Genesis emphasizes the belief in monotheism, one God that created everything in six days and rested on the seventh, but on the other hand, Theogony discusses the belief of polytheism; which the existence of many Gods. Though in polytheism there is a belief in many Gods, there was still one God in particular in ancient Greece that was more powerful than the others named Zeus. Zeus was king of all

gods and ruler of Mount Olympus. Though he was the most powerful, there were still many Gods that worked under him that had their own Godly powers and aided in the process of the creation of the earth. Polytheism, the belief in the existence of many Gods, allows there to be a separation of powers. This belief can be compared to that of the three-branch separation of powers in the government. In order to insure that the government isn’t tyrannical, there is a separation of powers into three branches. Each branch has its own sectors that it controls in order to insure that the government is run well. I find this to be quite like that of polytheism because each God has its own powers as if to insure that every aspect of the earth is being catered to. In polytheism it seems as if there is a belief that it is impossible for one God to able to handle all that the earth needs, but in monotheism, there is the belief that there is one God that is omnipotent and omniscient.

There is one phrase in the book of Genesis that seems to come up many times throughout the book, which is

“And god blessed them, and God said unto them, �Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’” Genesis 1:28.

That theme is seen plenty of times throughout the book mainly because in order to further populate the world, according to Genesis, man and women must come to together and have children. The need to populate the earth was also seen in Theogony. You first see this early on in the book where many children were born of Earth and Heaven as they

further went about populating the world. In both books, it is considered as wrong to interfere with populating the earth. In Theogony, as soon as each of Heaven’s children were born, he would hide them all away in a cave in the earth and would never let them out. This angered Earth and she wanted Heaven to be punished for such and evil doing, so Kronos, son of Earth, “Reached out from the ambush with his left hand; with his right he took the huge sickle with its long row of sharp teeth and quickly cut off his father’s genitals,” as to punish his father for this evil act that he had done. Such punishment is also seen in Genesis where God slew Onan for wasting his seed;

“And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord; wherefore he slew him also.” Genesis 38:9-11.

In the beginning of Genesis, God created man and woman to have sex and produce children, starting with Adam and Eve. Together they produced children who came together and had more children in order to further populate the earth, but the thought of a male and a female coming together to produce wasn’t prevalent in Theogony. Practically each time a person was born in this book,