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104 CHAPTER 10 23. The first god in the succession series of the Epic of Kumarbi is Alalu (II) who signifies in all likelihood the cosmic watery flow (cf. Schwabl s.v. Weltschoepfung in PW col. 1486-7), the Ocean. Alalus’ identification with the Sumerian En-lil (as in Meriggi, I Miti di Kumarpi Il Kronos Currico, Athenaeum N.S. XXXI, 1953, p. 148) is erroneous (cf. e.g. Schwabl op. cit. col. 1493) The second god in Kumarbis Epic is Anu, the god of the Sky (III). The third is Kumarbi (IV-V), the Hettitic El=Cronos (Schwabl, op. cit. col. 1490. 23 sqq.). Kumarbi swallows Anus’ genitals (V), like Cronos who severs Sky’s genitals. The sovereign of the present World-Order follows, the god of weather and atmospheric phenomena (V), Zeus. The sequence is therefore as follows: Ocean, Sky, Cronos, Zeus precisely as the Homeric series. The philosophical commentator of the Orphic epic in the Derveni papyrus makes Zeus swallow the sexual organ that was the first manifestation in aether = the Sun. The organ belongs to the Sky (Col. IX Merkelbach = Col. XIII Janko), and is cut by Cronos (Col. X 5-9 M. = Col. XIV 5-9 J). 24. Days light has the preceding night as mother, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 279: ÙÉ˜ ÓÜÓ ÙÂÎÔ‡ÛË˜ Êá˜ Ùfi‰’ EéÊÚfiÓË˜ Ï¤Áˆ. (Euphrone is the Night in a euphemistic, apotropaic and supplicatory way of speaking). Ibid. 264-5: Âé¿ÁÁÂÏÔ˜ Ì¤Ó, œÛappleÂÚ ì apple·ÚÔÈÌ›·, ≠Eˆ˜ Á¤ÓÔÈÙÔ ÌËÙÚe˜ EéÊÚfiÓË˜ apple¿Ú·. (≠Eˆ˜ = ^HÒ˜). In Sophocles, Trachiniae 94-6, the Night, dying and putting her clothes off (âÓ·ÚÈ˙ÔÌ¤ÓË), gives birth to the Sun who full of flames is put to sleep by her in the evening: nÓ ·åfiÏ· NfÍ âÓ·ÚÈ˙ÔÌ¤Ó· Ù›ÎÙÂÈ Î·ÙÂ˘Ó¿˙ÂÈ ÙÂ ÊÏÔÁÈ˙fiÌÂÓÔÓ ≠AÏÈÔÓ etc. According to a Slovakian song the Sun declares: “my mother begets me anew as a beautiful boy every morning and buries me every evening as a feeble old man” (Usener, Kleine Schriften iv. 387 sq.). The tragic poet Theodectes who was fond of propounding enigmas (cf. Hermippus apud Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, X 451 E sqq.) presents the relation of Day and Night as that between two sisters who alternate in continually giving birth to each other; Fr. 4 Nauck 2nd. ed. p. 802:
MONISM OF DARKNESS - DUALISM OF LIMIT AND INDETERMINACY 105 ÂåÛd Î·Û›ÁÓËÙ·È ‰ÈÛÛ·›, zÓ ì Ì›· Ù›ÎÙÂÈ ÙcÓ ëÙ¤Ú·Ó, ·éÙc ‰b ÙÂÎÔÜÛ’ ñapplee ÙÉÛ‰Â ÙÂÎÓÔÜÙ·È. This is of course playful. The deeper experience perceives the Day to be born by the Night, not vice versa; Hesiod, Theogony 124-5: N˘ÎÙe˜ ‰’ ·sÙ’ Aåı‹Ú ÙÂ Î·d ^HÌ¤ÚË âÍÂÁ¤ÓÔÓÙÔ, ÔR˜ Ù¤ÎÂ Î˘Û·Ì¤ÓË, \EÚ¤‚ÂÈ ÊÈÏfiÙËÙÈ ÌÈÁÂÖÛ·. Eustathius (Scholia ad Homeric Iliadem A, 9 p. 22. 30 sqq.) in similar manner interprets the fact that Apollo is the son of Leto: ÙÔ˘Ù¤ÛÙÈ N˘ÎÙfi˜, referring to Euripides Orestes 213 (t applefiÙÓÈ· §‹ıË ÙáÓ Î·ÎáÓ, ó˜ Âr ÛÔÊ‹). The starting point of the ancient Greek and Orthodox day-andnight unit was the evening, the Suns setting. 25. Tethys may derive etymologically from Ù‹ıË, the father’s or mother’s mother (Pollux III, 17). She is the maternal ancestor, the Old One, the Ancient of Years (Cf. Eustathius, Scholia ad Iliadem. p. 971.44). 26. Hesiod has already made Heaven and (open) Sea come from the Earth through wind-births with no male semen and the Sea is engendered ôÙÂÚ ÊÈÏfiÙËÙÔ˜ âÊÈÌ¤ÚÔ˘, without sexual coition (v. 126-132). He has also explained the manifestation of Night and Day (123-5). This allows him to speak mythically of the Sky as coming in the evening to have sexual intercourse with the Earth (176-8), but the symbolism of continual copulation as birthless conception is not thereby cancelled. 27. The fact that in Pherecydes when Ophioneus is defeated he is cast into the Ocean as if the situation after the battle of gods (ıÂÔÌ·¯›·) were cosmologically identical with the previous one is a mythopoetic element with no symbolic significance. Pherecydes speaks, at any rate, in the manner of ‘mixed theology’ (as this kind of speculative thinking is aptly called by Aristotle), of a typical anthropomorphic Homeric battle: ºÂÚÂÎ‡- ‰ËÓ... Ì˘ıÔappleÔÈÂÖÓ ÛÙÚ·ÙÂ›·Ó ÛÙÚ·ÙÂ›÷· apple·Ú·Ù·ÙÙÔÌ¤ÓËÓ Î·d ÙÉ˜ ÌbÓ ìÁÂÌfiÓ· KÚfiÓÔÓ ‰È‰fiÓ·È, ÙÉ˜ ëÙ¤Ú·˜ ‰’ \OÊÈˆÓ¤·, appleÚÔÎÏ‹ÛÂÈ˜ ÙÂ Î·d êÌ›ÏÏ·˜ ·éÙáÓ îÛÙÔÚÂÖÓ, Û˘Óı‹Î·˜ ÙÂ ·éÙÔÖ˜ Á›ÁÓÂÛı·È, ¥Ó’ ïapplefiÙÂÚÔÈ ·éÙáÓ Âå˜ ÙeÓ \øÁËÓeÓ âÌapple¤ÛˆÛÈ, ÙÔ‡ÙÔ˘˜ ÌbÓ ÂrÓ·È ÓÂÓÈÎËÌ¤ÓÔ˘˜ ÙÔf˜ ‰’ âÍÒÛ·ÓÙÂ˜ Î·d ÓÈÎ‹Û·ÓÙÂ˜ ÙÔ‡ÙÔ˘˜ ö¯ÂÈÓ ÙeÓ OéÚ·ÓfiÓ. Pherecydes does not include in his system the kingdom of Ophioneus but only the revolt against Cronos, the previous Lord of the World (Chronus, Time). What is common with the Orphic narration in Apollonius Argonautica (I, 506) is the casting into the Ocean. It means that in the new order of things Ophioneus abides by the Ocean which flows round the Earth.
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