chapter 10 the monism of darkness and the dualism of limit and ...

90 CHAPTER 10
the ancient Orphic order, while Plato interprets the supposed
Homeric genealogy by approximating it to the Hesiodic. He accepts
the Hesiodic pre-eminence of Sky and Earth but separates the couple
of Ocean and Tethys from the other (according to Hesiod) Titans
following the Homeric precept (\øηÓe˜ ıÂáÓ Á¤ÓÂÛȘ, apple¿ÓÙÂÛÛÈ
Á¤ÓÂÛȘ, ηd M‹ÙËÚ TËı‡˜). The fact that in Homer Cronos and the
Titans are called OéÚ·Ó›ˆÓ˜ should be explained as referring to
descent from a grandfather, not to fatherhood. We have in the
Timaeus therefore, a blend of the Homeric, Hesiodic and Orphic lines
of succession which in all likelihood has been facilitated by a text
influenced by Orphism (hence Phorcys’ Titanic position). Because of
that Plato was able to ascribe the source of this theogony in general
terms to the self-genealogised descendants, âÎÁfiÓÔ˘˜ of gods. In
Homer Phorcys is a Lord of the sea (Odyssey, · 72: ºfiÚ΢ÓÔ˜ ı˘Á¿-
ÙËÚ êÏe˜ àÙÚ˘Á¤ÙÔÈÔ Ì¤‰ÔÓÙÔ˜), the old one of the sea, ï «apple·Ï·Èe˜
Ùɘ ı·Ï¿ÛÛ˘» (ν 96, 345: ºfiÚ΢ÓÔ˜ ‰¤ Ù›˜ âÛÙÈ ÏÈÌcÓ êÏ›ÔÈÔ Á¤ÚÔ-
ÓÙÔ˜). His sovereign jurisdiction over the sea seemed to some
Alexandrian grammarians to be incompatible with Poseidon’s proper
authority 49 . But Phorcys is Á¤ÚˆÓ, the ancient sovereign figure, a pre-
Olympian deity 50 . It remains controversial whether he should be
included with the Titans (as in the Oprhic tradition) or related to a
separate line of descent (as in Hesiod).
15. The pressure for differentiating Ocean from the Titans (so that
he may assume a higher ontological base) was also felt in that kind of
Orphism that accepted the Hesiodic view which equated him with the
Titans, namely in the Sacred Doctrines in ΚΔ΄ Rhapsodies. Here
Ocean is included among the seven male Titans (and Tethys among
the corresponding female ones), OF 114. But he is the only one from
among them that does not participate in the impious act against the
father Sky that Cronos, persuaded by their common mother Earth,
conceives and executes with the help of his brothers; Ocean stays aloof
at home, instead, enraged with his mother and furious against his
brothers. OF 135:
öÓı’ ·sÙ’ \øηÓe˜ ÌbÓ âÓd ÌÂÁ¿ÚÔÈÛÈ öÌÈÌÓÂÓ
ïÚÌ·›ÓˆÓ appleÔÙ¤ÚˆÛÂ ÓfiÔÓ ÙÚ¿appleÔÈ, j apple·Ù¤Ú· nÓ
Á˘ÒÛFË Ù ‚›Ë˜ ηd àÙ¿Ûı·Ï· ψ‚‹Û·ÈÙÔ