fandomhigh | Classics/Foreign Lit, 02/07, Period 2

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Classics/Foreign Lit, 02/07, Period 2

There is a cloud of melancholy surrounding Dream today as he stands before his classes.

Classics: I trust you all read Hesiod's Theogony. What I would like for you to do today is to study the poetry of it, in Greek and in English. Also, discuss what it means that Hesiod takes onto himself the gifts of kingship, the scepter and the "divine voice to celebrate things that shall be and things there were aforetime." Is this an usurpation, or merely a logical right?

Foreign Lit: Please use this class period to read Nikolai Gogol's short story The Overcoat. How do you interpret the ending of this story?

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Class discussion goes here.

"I'm a little bit confused," admits Anders, and if anyone were to peer at his notebook they'd realize that he's got about six pages of slightly tangled up family tree diagrams labeled with the names of the gods and other beings from the Theogony. "I get that there are at least two generations of gods in this, but, like, wow, Nereus and the fifty daughters? Are all of them gods?"

He shrugs. "Anyway, as far as Hesiod and the kingship and divine voice, I was thinking it was, you know, figurative. I mean, it's his poem, so he's pretty much the king of it. And the god, even, since it's his creation. So if I look at it that way, it makes sense, and doesn't sound like he's trying to take an actual king's place or anything."

"I thought that the child of two gods was considered a god," said Janet. "And the child of a god and a mortal was considered a demi-god. At least, that's the understanding that I've been given. And it sounds to me like Hesiod is trying to declare that the story wasn't inspired by any of the gods, but came from himself. So as the creator of the poem, he's the divine inspiration for it. Which is a pretty humanistic view for the ancient Greeks, wasn't it?"

Anders gave her a sheepish grin. "There's just a lot more of 'em than I'm used to, even with some of the same names and stuff. Either that or I seriously need to read up more on Colonial religion ~~but OMFG hello lack of canon~~." He chewed on the end of his pencil for a little while and thought over what Janet had said, grimacing as the eraser came off between his teeth and he had to spit it out.

"That's . . . yeah. Usually there's a whole thing about being inspired by the muses, huh? But this time he's saying that he wrote it down instead of having anybody else tell him what to write."

"Wait, the deities of the Twelve Colonies have some of the same names as the Greek deities?" Janet sat up straighter, wincing as her ribs twinged from running all the way over here. "I'm not a linguistics expert, but that doesn't seem like a coincidence to me." ~~*curses lack of canon*~~ The Goa'uld could have taken Anders' ancestors to other planets and established colonies. It wasn't as if it hadn't happened a thousand times before. Janet grimaced as Anders spit out his eraser.

"Exactly," said Janet. "I mean, I seem to remember reading that all Greek plays began with an invocation to the muses because of that whole concept of divine inspiration. So why did Hesiod credit himself for it? Did he think he was divine, or was he an ancient Greek atheist?"

"Yeah, most of our major gods? Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, and some that start with other letters too." Anders nodded. "And Hesiod? Maybe he was just trying to do something different. I mean, if you're basically writing down your version of the history of the gods, saying it's inspired by the gods might sound like maybe they were trying to tell him to write it down the way they wanted instead of the way it really was. Or at least, really was according to Hesiod. It's like writing down a history instead of saying 'This is how it happened according to this guy who was on this side when the whole thing happened.'"

"That's beyond strange. There's got to be some kind of a ~~crossover plot~~ connection there somehow." Janet frowned as she thought about that. "I think you're probably right. There was a muse of history too, I think--but maybe Hesiod was trying to show a lack of bias about the events."

Anders nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's pretty freaky ~~and that would explain a lot~~. And lack of bias, yep. So it was more like him talking about the gods instead of the gods telling him to tell other people how great they were."

"You know, it would be kind of interesting to see if Dr. Jackson could come up with any other similarities between our cultures," said Janet. "He's an expert on ancient Earth civilizations. And it sounds like we've come up with a theory we agree on for Hesiod, then?"

OOC: FYI, I need to sleep soon, but I'll be checking this thread out tomorrow too.

"Definitely," said Anders, nodding. "On both counts, even."

[OOC: No worries. This thread is FUN.]

"You know, we could probably ~~ambush him~~ show up after one of his classes if you could get your hands on a history book for the Twelve Colonies." Janet grinned. "I think it's been a productive class session."

OOC: Oh, so much! Night!

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Classics/Foreign Lit, 02/07, Period 2

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