In the beginning, Eurynome, the Goddess of All Things, rose naked from Chaos, but found nothing substantial for her feet to rest upon, and therefore divided the sea from the sky, dancing lonely upon its waves. She danced towards the south, and the wind set in motion behind her seemed something new and apart with which to begin a work of creation. Wheeling about, she caught hold of this north wind, rubbed it between her hands, and behold! the great serpent Ophion. Eurynome danced to warm herself, wildly and more wildly, until Ophion, grown lustful, coiled about those divine limbs and was moved to couple with her. Now, the North Wind, who is also called Boreas, fertilizes; which is why mares often turn their hind-quarters to the wind and breed foals without the aid of a stallion.(1) Eurynome was likewise got with child.
Next, she assumed the form of a dove, brooding on the waves and, in due process of time, laid the Universal Egg. At her bidding, Ophion coiled seven times about this egg, until it hatched and split in two. Out tumbled all things that exist, her children: sun, moon, planets, stars, the earth with its mountains and rivers, its trees, herbs and living creatures.
Eurynome and Ophion made their home upon Mount Olympus, where he vexed her by claiming to be the author of the Universe. Forthwith she bruised his head with her heel, kicked out his teeth, and banished him to the dark caves of below the earth.(2)
Next, the goddess created the seven planetary powers, setting a Titaness and a Titan over each. Theia and Hyperion for the Sun; Phoebe and Atlas for the Moon; Dione and Crius for the planet Mars; Metis and Coeus for the planet Mercury; Themis and Eurymedon for the planet Jupiter; Tethys and Oceanus for Venus; Rhea and Cronus for the planet Saturn.(3) But the first man was Pelasgus, ancestor of the Pelasgians; he sprang from the soils of Arcadia, followed by certain others, whom he taught to make huts and feed upon acorns, and sew pig-skin tunics such as poor folk still wear in Euboea and Phokis.(4)
References:
1. Pliny: Natural History iv.35 and viii. 67; Homer: Iliad xx, 223.
2. Apollonius Rhodius: Argonautica i. 496-505; Tzetzes: On Lycophron 1191
3. Homer: Iliad v. 898; Apollonius Rhodius: ii. 1232; Apollodorus: i. 1. 3.; Hesiod: Theogony 113; Stephanus of Byzantium sub Adana; Aristophanes: Birds 692 ff.; Clement of Rome: Homilies vi. 4. 72; Proclus on Plato’s Timaeus ii. P 307
4. Pausanias: viii. 1. 2.
My Notes and Perspectives
The Pelasgian Myth of Creation is the most archaic of all, precedes the Olympian one and, the most recent, the Christian Myth of Creation. Both the Pelasgian and the Olympian Myths are based on matriarchal archetypes; women were revered and were considered divine. I find this story most romantic of all stories on Creation, devoid of any malicious caprices and ill-intents. When Men discovered that coition is associated with child-bearing, the magic was gone. They became Kings, displacing Mother-Goddess. Wars ensued, human sacrificial rituals became the norm and the cycle of violence never ended since.
Eurynome, which means “wide wandering”, captures the primal element of wind as a means of fertilization and the snake, a phallic symbol in psychoanalytic terms, is not to be feared but it is treacherous. In fact, Zeus many a times takes the form of a snake and he was considered a benevolent protector of domiciles since the snake eats rats and mice.
In Neolithic times only seven planets were known and they each marked a day of the week in a lunar calendar. The Moon was appreciated more than the Sun since the three phases of the Moon (New, Full and Old) were associated with Maiden (spring), Nymph (summer) and Crone (winter).
The book of Robert Graves is a masterpiece, a “must read” for all those who would like to know about the continuity of Myths throughout the Ages and the similarities (and differences) between all ancient tribes that gave rise to such diverse cultures and peoples.
ZORAS
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