Keywords
Hesiod
pre-Socratics
cosmogony
Theogony
How to Cite
Abstract
The subject of this article is Chaos according to Hesiod. Its objective is to analyze the multiple meanings of Chaos in order to propose a solid understanding of this key notion in the Theogony. The postulate that it seeks to validate is that Chaos can be associated with formless and disordered matter. In fact, there are good reasons to assimilate Chaos to indeterminate matter. The most central one has to do with the etymological root of Chaos: a yawning or opening between the Earth and the sky. Furthermore, it can be reasonably assumed that Hesiod could not go beyond a material beginning for the cosmos. To defend this thesis, the opposite approach is examined and criticized: the one that separates the idea of an amorphous materiality from Chaos.
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