Chapter 1: The Early Gods
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♠ Hesiod, Theogony 211-25
And Night bore hateful Doom and black Fate and Death, and she bore Sleep and the tribe of Dreams. And again the goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame and painful Woe, and the Hesperides who guard the rich, golden apples and the trees bearing fruit beyond glorious Ocean. Also she bore the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates, Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos, who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: and these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty. Also deadly Night bore Nemesis （Indignation） to afflict mortal men, and after her, Deceit and Friendship and hateful Age and hard-hearted Strife. Greek Text
♠ Scholia Minora to Iliad 1.5-6 – Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem I, pp. 6-7, ed. W. Dindorf. Oxford 1875.
♠ Kypria fr 1 PEG – Poetae Epici Graeci 1, pp. 43-45, ed. A. Bernabé. Leipzig, 1987.
♠ Homer, Iliad 16.681-83
… and [Apollo] gave him to swift conveyers to bear with them, even to the twin brethren, Sleep and Death, who set him speedily in the rich land of wide Lycia. Greek Text
♦ Rome, Mus. Naz. Etrusco di Villa Giulia L.2006.10 (once New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1972.11.10): Attic red-figure calyx krater by Ephronios (painter) and Euxitheos (potter), with Hypnos and Thanatos lifting the body of Sarpedon, and guided by Hermes
Wikimedia photo by Jaime Aediles-Arce
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
♠ Homer, Iliad 14.231-91
There she [Hera] met Sleep, the brother of Death; and she clasped him by the hand, and spake and addressed him: “Sleep, lord of all gods and of all men, if ever thou didst hearken to word of mine, so do thou even now obey, and I will owe thee thanks all my days. Lull me to sleep the bright eyes of Zeus beneath his brows, so soon as I shall have lain me by his side in love. And gifts will I give thee, a fair throne, ever imperishable, wrought of gold, that Hephaestus, mine own son, the god of the two strong arms, shall fashion thee with skill, and beneath it shall he set a foot-stool for the feet, whereon thou mayest rest thy shining feet when thou quaffest thy wine.” Continue Greek Text
♠ Homer, Iliad 14.354-60
But sweet Sleep set out to run to the ships of the Argives to bear word to the Enfolder and Shaker of Earth. And he came up to him, and spake winged words, saying:“With a ready heart now, Poseidon, do thou bear aid to the Danaans, and vouchsafe them glory, though it be for a little space, while yet Zeus sleepeth; for over him have I shed soft slumber, and Hera hath beguiled him to couch with her in love.” Greek Text
♠ Hesiod, Theogony 756-66
… but the other holds in her arms Sleep the brother of Death, even evil Night, wrapped in a vaporous cloud. And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over the earth and the sea’s broad back and is kindly to men; but the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods. Greek Text
♠ Pherekydes 3F119 – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 92, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ Phrynichos, Alkestis fr 3 Sn – Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 1, p. 73, ed. B. Snell. Göttingen 1971
Orcus carrying a sword with which to cut off Alcestis’ hair. (Transl. from Latin E. Bianchelli)
♠ Aischylos, Niobe fr 161 R – Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 3, p. 276, ed. S. L. Radt. Göttingen 1985
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#Hermes, #Hypnos, #Sarpedon, #Thanatos
Artistic sources edited by Frances Van Keuren, Prof. Emerita, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Univ. of Georgia, September 2017
Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, University of Georgia, June 2020
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