Origins of Humans: Greek Mythology
© 1995-2001 Untangle Incorporated
Last Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2001
The pre-cursors to the Doric and then Hellenic Greeks were the Pelasgians (actually several different groups of people, but even by Hesiods time, 2800 years ago, they were barely remembered at all). Humans were finally created by Euryonome as mentioned here: Eurynome.
Pelasgus was the first man, and progenitor of all the Pelasgians. He was 'autochronous'. that is born spontaneously from the earth (and the force of Euyronome's vast creative power of course).
Homer and Hesiod have several versions of how humans came to be (see Hesiod Theogony 110ff - 189 ff). Humans were created variously: either by Gaia, by the Titans Prometheus and his mother Themis, and by the Olympians in particular Zeus.
Here is an amalgamation of the Titan and Olympian stories from Hesiod (Works and Days) and Appolodonus (The LIbrary):
In the time of Kronos, Gaia gave birth to Humans. They were the Golden Race. They did not suffer from old age, disease or work as the earth gave them fruit without having to toil for it. They died in their sleep and became good spirits who tried to lead later humans into productive, constructive paths.
Zeus and the Olympians created the Silver Race who after a century of maturing were arrogant, violent and refused to worship the gods. So Zeus killed them by sending a great flood. They died and went underground where they exist as malignant spirits. The Silver Race could be said to be the one which Prometheus himself created from clay and water. The first man was Phaenon.
Prometheus was alive because he did not oppose Zeus in his war against the Titans. But as a Titan he resented the new disrespectful gods and so he helped these humans in every way he could to be equal to the Olympian gods. When Zeus decreed that humans must make sacrifices to the gods, Prometheus showed humans how to keep the best meat for themselves and just sacrifice the guts wrapped in fat (to fool the gods). When Zeus learned this he was very angry and he took fire away from them. Prometheus stole it back (using an ember from Haephasteous' fire under his forge). This time Zeus would not be placated. For such willful disrespect Zeus punished the humans with death by flooding.
Prometheus was able to tell two humans, Deucalion (which the Greeks said was the ancestor of all Greeks) and his wife Pyrrha. They floated on the flood in an ark which they had made until the floodwaters abated. Then they went to a temple of Themis (Prometheus' mother) and begged her to help them restore the human race. This she did by telling them to throw the bones of the one who is ancestor of all over their shoulders. After some confusion the couple realized the goddess meant the stones of the earth or Gaia, so they began to pick them up from the ground and throw them over their shoulder. Every time a stone struck the ground which Deucalion had thrown in formed a man. Each stone of Pyrrha's which struck the ground became a woman. In this way the human race was reborn.
Some say this was the Bronze Race which discovered how to work metals and created other arts marking civilization as people came to call it. Unfortunately they ended up slaughtering most of each other with their technology. In pity the gods mated with human women and the age of Heroes were born. After their death they went to the Isles of the Blessed. Their offsprint led to the fifth race, ours, the Iron Race which has good and evil both in their nature and according to Hesiod will end when children are born grey, men dishonor their parents and destroy cities while praising evil men.
Finally the Athenians had their own myth of their origins. When Haephastus tried to rape Athene and she fended him off, his semen struck her leg. In disgust she wiped it off with a piece of wool which she flung to the ground. From the earth and this wool came Erichthonous, part serpent, who would be future king of Athens. Of course Thebes had it's own story. It's founder Cadmus killed a great serpent on the site of the future city. He sowed the teeth into the earth from whence sprang armed emn who fought each other until only five were left. These five (the Spartoi-the sown) men became the founders of the city of Thebes.
Finally Pausinaus tells this mysoginist little tale about the origins of humans and their woes.
Prometheus made man (Phaenon) but offended Zeus by being so protective of them. So Zeus decided to wreck revenge on him and his humans. He had the brother of Prometheus (meaning 'foresight') whose name was Epimetheus ('after thought' or impulsive) to make a woman, Pandora, with all charm, and cleverness need to ensnre men. Then he gave her a box as a gift and told her not to open it. Sending her to earth and men, he knew she could not resist opening the box. When she did all the evils that beset men flew out except for hope, the one thing that they must cling to in times of trouble.
In closing I will quote from Plato on what humans once were. It is not actually a belief in origins but in the origins of loneliness and love.
Here is the edited speech at the Banquet by Aristophanes (189e-193b of Plato's Symposium):
"Anciently....the androgynous sex existed...coupled back to back...till jealous Jupiter divided then vertically ...as people cut eggs with hairs...after then, these divided and imperfect folk ran about over the earth ever seeking their lost halves to be joined to them again...and the reason being that human nature was originally one, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love....."
Click here if you want to drop us a line or two.
To return to the home page click on the link.