#ophion – @deathlessathanasia on Tumblr

Anonymous asked:

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 498 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :"He [Orpheus] sang of . . . How, in the beginning, Ophion and Eurynome, daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus), governed the world from snow-clad Olympos (Olympus); how they were forcibly supplanted, Ophion by Kronos (Cronus), Eurynome by Rhea; of their fall into the waters of Okeanos; and how their successors ruled the happy Titan gods when Zeus in his Diktaian cave was still a child, with childish thoughts." [N.B. Ophion and Eurynome might be Ouranos and Gaia or Okeanos and Tethys.]Lycophron, Alexandra 1191 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :"[Zeus] who is lord of Ophion's [an early king of heaven deposed by Kronos (Cronus)] throne. But he [Zeus] shall bring thee to the plain of his nativity [Arkadia (Arcadia) and Elis], that land celebrated above others by the Greeks, where his mother [Rhea], skilled in wrestling, having cast into Tartaros the former queen [Eurynome wife of Ophion]."

I feel like not enough people talk or know about this

sarafangirlart answered:

It’s interesting how this implies that Rhea and Tethys had beef yet Rhea trusted Tethys to raise and protect Hera. What would motivate Rhea to hide her youngest daughter with the sister she beat up? Why would Tethys accept the child of the sister who beat her up and banished her?

Could it be that they reconciled? Or did Tethys pity baby Hera and any resentment she might have for Rhea when she saw her baby?

deathlessathanasia

The implication that somehow Zeus got to bang his mother's predecessor and old adversary is very funny to me for some reason. Unfortunately, since we're talking about a story attributed to Orpheus, regular mythology may not apply since in the Orphic Hymn to the Graces their mother is Eunomia rather than Eurynome. But again, this particular version of the succession myth differs from the usual tradition labelled Orphic just as much as it does from the Hesiodic one, so perhaps Zeus really did manage to bang his mother's predecessor and old adversary.

#this Ophion individual is mentioned in Pherekydes of Syros' weird cosmogony/theogony as well but Eurynome isn't #eurynome #ophion

deathlessathanasia reblogged

theoihalioistuff

gray-parrot323 asked:

Favorite obscure myth?

theoihalioistuff answered:

Don't really have a favourite. But I was recently thinking about Rhea wrestling against Eurynome, and that almost entirely lost myth sounds dope as hell:

"Pherecydes, again, who is much older than Heraclitus, relates a myth of one army drawn up in hostile array against another, and names Kronos as the leader of the one, and Ophioneos of the other, and recounts their challenges and struggles, and mentions that agreements were entered into between them, to the end that whichever party should fall into the ocean should be held as vanquished, while those who had expelled and conquered them should have possession of heaven". (Origen. Contra Celsusm 6.42 = DK 7B4 = Pherecydes fr. 4 Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers)

"And he sang how first of all Ophion and Eurynome, daughter of Okeanos, held the sway of snowy Olympus, and how through strength of arm one yielded his prerogative to Kronos and the other to Rhea, and how they fell into the waves of Ocean; but the other two meanwhile ruled over the blessed Titan gods, while Zeus, still a child and with the thoughts of a child, dwelt in the Dictaean cave; and the earthborn Cyclopes had not yet armed him with the bolt, with thunder and lightning; for these things give renown to Zeus." (Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 503)

"As he [Helios] shines on the Ophionides [descendants of Ophion] . . . ((lacuna)) the older gods [Titanes?]." (Callimachus. Aetia fr. 177)

"And thou, O brother, most beloved of my heart, stay of our halls and of our whole fatherland, not in vain shalt thou redden the altar pedestal with blood of bulls, giving full many a sacrificial offering to him who is lord of Ophion’s throne [Zeus]. But he shall bring thee to the plain of his nativity [Crete], that land celebrated above others by the Greeks, where his mother [Rhea], skilled in wrestling, having cast into Tartarus the former queen [Eurynome], delivered her of him in travail of secret birth, escaping the child-devouring unholy feast of her spouse; and he fattened not his belly with food, but swallowed instead a stone, wrapped in limb-fitting swaddling-clothes: savage Centaur [Kronos; reference to his union with Philyra], tomb of his own offspring." (Lycophron Alexandra 1191) he's worse than Nonnos

"For before Kronos and Rhea, Ophion and Eurynome, daughter of Okeanos, ruled over the titans. But Kronos overcame Ophion and Rhea overcame Eurynome, casting them into Tartaros. They ruled of the gods until they themselves were cast into Tartaros by Zeus when he took power." (Tzetzes on Lycophron 1191)

The most convincing theory I've read, in my opinion, is that Ophion and Eurynome are parallels of Okeanos (Ogenos for Pherekydes) and Tethys. Okeanos and Tethys are sometimes fitted into genealogies preceeding Kronos and Rhea as parents of the titans (Plato Tim. 40e), similarly to how Ophion and Eurynome are fitted into the succession myth. They are always banished to the river Ocean (save in Lykophron), to which Eurynome is always connected, being classified as an Okeanid by both Hesiod and Homer, who also makes her dwell there (Hom. Il. 18.394-405). Her watery association is also present in her sanctuary in Arcadia, where her xoanon had the form of a mermaid (Paus. 8.41.4-6). Nonnos still pictures Ophion inhabiting the ocean (Dio. 8.150-160), and the world-encircling river being imagined as a world-encircling serpent isn't too far-fetched, considering the orphic propensity for world-encircling serpents, and Okeanos' appearance in vase art. Perhaps a myth existed where Kronos and Rhea battled Okeanos and Tethys for the throne, but who knows. In any case all of this is just conjecture (fun conjecture though).

#Eurynome #Rhea #Ophion #Kronos