The Goddess Styx and the Mapping of World Order in Hesiod’s “Theogony”
By Suzanne Lye
Abstract: In this paper, I argue that Styx defines the relationship between the gods through her power as the oath and separates the major geographical structures of the Olympian cosmos through her nature as a river. I also contend that this goddess plays a crucial role in the architecture of the poem and the structure of the physical world. The poem uses the character of Styx in three distinct ways: 1) to emphasize the dichotomy between the pre- and post-Zeus worlds; 2) to introduce the innovation and basis of Zeus’ reign, i.e. the oath, which would prove fundamental to Greek society; and 3) to connect the physical world directly political ideals presented in the poem, such that tangible objects in the created world become symbols which memorialize the events of Hesiod’s cosmogony.
Article in Revue de Philosophie Ancienne, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2009), pg. 3-31
Published by OUSIA Editions, 2009