They lived on plunder: friend was not safe with friend, relative with relative, kindness was rare between brothers. Husbands longed for the death of their wives, wives for the death of their husbands. Murderous stepmothers mixed deadly aconite, and sons inquired into their father’s years before their time.
How did such violence and mistreatment birth from such a peaceful, free Golden Age? Was the banishment of Saturn to Tartarus that started it all?
This was the Golden Age that, without coercion, without laws, spontaneously nurtured the good and the true. There was no fear or punishment: there were no threatening words to be read, fixed in bronze, no crowd of suppliants fearing the judge’s face: they lived safely without protection.
How interesting that there were no laws back then. yet the spontaneity "nurtured the good and the true". What a juxtaposition with modern days, where we often fear no laws or rulers will descend our society quickly into chaos and ruin.
While other animals look downwards at the ground, he gave human beings an upturned aspect, commanding them to look towards the skies, and, upright, raise their face to the stars
Humans made in the image of these "all-controlling gods" also reflect their clear order of power from above. Just as Zeus holds power over some gods, that hierarchy is reflected in humans having power over the animals. Looking upwards is a symbol of power and connection to higher beings, while "other animals look downwards at the ground".
Either the creator god, source of a better world, seeded it from the divine, or the newborn earth just drawn from the highest heavens still contained fragments related to the skies, so that Prometheus, blending them with streams of rain, moulded them into an image of the all-controlling gods
I love how here, humankind contains elements of the earth itself. "Fragments related to the skies", "blended with streams of rain", how beautiful! Maybe this is why we feel such a pull to nature, it's like a call back home. Also, made in the "image of the all-controlling gods" reminds me of Christianity, where it's stated that mankind is made in the image (with the breath) of God. Another correlation between two creation myths!
he first gathered the earth into a great ball so that it was uniform on all sides
Wow, this description seems like a potter making a new creation. The earth is almost like a ball of clay in this sentence - sometime that could just be "gathered" and made "uniform on all sides".
Before there was earth or sea or the sky that covers everything, Nature appeared the same throughout the whole world: what we call chaos: a raw confused mass, nothing but inert matter, badly combined discordant atoms of things, confused in the one place. There was no Titan yet, shining his light on the world, or waxing Phoebe renewing her white horns, or the earth hovering in surrounding air balanced by her own weight, or watery Amphitrite stretching out her arms along the vast shores of the world. Though there was land and sea and air, it was unstable land, unswimmable water, air needing light. Nothing retained its shape, one thing obstructed another, because in the one body, cold fought with heat, moist with dry, soft with hard, and weight with weightless things.
This aligns heavily with many other creations myths, where in the beginning, there was nothing but confusion, darkness, and water. It seems like this author is more determined to take on a complete history of retelling the creation of the world rather than just focusing on how the gods came to be. From his title Metamorphoses, this bigger topic would align as it would show significant amounts of change, rather than solely focusing on a few generations of gods.
I want to speak about bodies changed into new forms. You, gods, since you are the ones who alter these, and all other things, inspire my attempt, and spin out a continuous thread of words, from the world’s first origins to my own time.
I like how this one starts out! It takes quite a different, philosophical approach, and seems like Ovid is addressing it straight to the gods. It's almost like a conversation format in a letter.
For instance, when he was being carried away, while still an infant, by the Curetes, they say that the umbilical cord (omphalos) fell from him near the river known as Triton, and that this spot has been made sacred and has been called Omphalus after that incident, while in like manner the plain about it is known as Omphaleium. And on Mount Idê, where the god was nurtured, both the cave in which he spent his days has been made sacred to him, and the meadows round about it, which lie upon the ridges of the mountain., have in like manner been consecrated to him.
He has so much power as an infant already, that the land and nearby creatures are all made sacred to him. It was as if the acts of the umbilical cord and the rich milk and honey the nymphs fed him were all a foreshadow of the god he would become - powerful, feared, sacred. If Zeus had to work his way up from a common god to the king of the gods, I wonder how different his storyline and character traits would be.
Some say that he succeeded to the kingship after Cronus passed from among men into the company of the gods, not by overcoming his father with violence, but in the manner prescribed by custom and justly, having been judged worthy of that honour.
This is an interesting idea, and would change the overall outlook of Zeus' character. He is always portrayed as powerful in a violent sense, not stopped by anything to get what he wants or where he wants to be. If it was passed down peacefully, I believe Zeus may be portrayed as a more humble, or modest ruler.
large sickle
I wonder why the sickle was Gaia's weapon of choice. It's a harvesting tool, but as a couple of people pointed out, it is symbolic later in the stories as well (Perseus killing Medusa). How interesting that a seemingly harmless tool would be the one to give birth to so many creatures and start the Titanomachy later on.
And Zeus, king of the gods, made Mētis first his wife; Mētis, most wise of deities as well as mortal men.
I had no idea Mētis was Zeus' first wife, I always thought it was Hera (but she was quite a bit later on)!
Night and Day also drawing near are accustomed to salute each other
In modern day, if we saw a passage like this, we would label Night and Day saluting each other as personification. However, back then, Night and Day, along with Mountains and Sea were actual beings who were born and could conceive. It's interesting to see how the meaning has changed so much, and it's difficult to imagine modern day or romantic era poems where aspects of nature would be seen as characters.
“Hear me, illustrious children of Earth and Sky, 645 that I may speak what my spirit within my breast prompts me to speak. For now a very long space we are fighting, each in opposition to other, concerning victory and power, all our days, the Titan gods and as many of us are sprung from Kronos. 650 Now you must show against the Titans in deadly fight both mighty force and hands invincible, in gratitude for our mild loving-kindness, namely, after how many sufferings you came back again to the light, from afflictive bondage, through our counsels, from the murky gloom.”
I think it's really interesting how each god/goddess was born with their personality traits, alongside their powers. Here, we witness that Zeus is a natural-born leader, from his radiating confidence through this speech to the instinct to lead the other gods into a fight and into victory. It seemed fit that he should take place as rulers of the heavens.
nymphs whom men call Ash-nymphs
This is interesting as nymphs are often perceived as a peaceful creature in Greek mythology, but are born out of blood alongside Furies and Giants, who are stern, violent, and fierce. It was a complete juxtaposition right from the womb.
Children of me and of a father madly violent, if you 165 would obey me, we shall avenge the baneful injury of your father; for he was the first that devised acts of indignity.
Correlation to the biblical story of Cain and Abel, the first crime committed by mankind was one with a close family member. Perhaps Cronus, the son, volunteered to bestow pain upon his father out of a greed for power, or jealousy that his father held all the authority. In the biblical story, Cain murdered Abel out of jealousy as well, and lived the rest of his life on earth with a curse. Cronus also lived his life with a curse, where his children are destined to overthrow him.
First it was Chaos, and next broad-bosomed Earth, ever secure seat of all the immortals, who inhabit the peaks of snow-capped Olympus, and dark dim Tartaros in a recess of Earth having-broad-ways, 120 and Eros [Love], who is most beautiful among immortal gods, Eros that relaxes the limbs, and in the breasts of all gods and all men, subdues their reason and prudent counsel.
The first clue that this was most likely an oral poem originally is the amount of imagery and description, making for an effective story to tell. As he describes the "broad-bosomed Earth", the "dark dim Tartaros" and the "peaks of snow-capped Olympus", the audience can easily envision these images. He also makes it more personal with the "I mean", as to show that he's not only reciting a poem, but telling a genuine, interactive story.