LUCRETIUS, FROM ON THE NATURE OF THINGS (through the literary criticism: FEMINIST)

Lucretius, From on the Nature of Things is a short epic reading from the text that explains how Lucretius feels about the creation and constant livelihood of the universe. This epic written by Lucretius is the only surviving work of an Epicurean Roman poet. The text emphasizes how the authors’ philosophy was to emphasize tranquility and peace of mind as the primary goal of human life. The author’s culture and way of life teaches that “false beliefs – about the origins and nature of the universe and about death – and false fears about the gods are the primary sources of human anxiety”. The people, including the poet of this epic, were not atheists but they denied that their Gods has anything to do with the creation or direction of the universe, instead the Gods just lived at the edge of the universe in a state of perfect peace to which humans should aspire to achieve. Lucretius states that “the workings of the world, which most humans falsely ascribe to divine intervention, can all be explained in material terms; matter is composed of atoms, which are in a constant state of random motion, and this in itself is sufficient to explain the phenomena that we see around us”.

Looking at this text through the Feminist literary criticism point of view is very relevant and helps readers understand more of why the author of this poem, Lucretius, believed that the Gods did not create the universe but instead that it is all a matter of scientifically data, however, how he also believed that the universe stays in constant livelihood because of the Gods presence as well. According to the text from the book Lucretius believes that the goddess Venus controls every aspect of life on Earth. This Greek goddess (who is a woman) controls everything on earth with her beauty and grace. According to the text by Lucretius he believes that Venus’ presence on earth “sends up sweet flowers, the ocean laughs, and the calm skies shimmer in a bath of light, and when the gates are wide for spring and its splender and the west wind, fostering life, blows strong and free pricked in their hearts by your power, the birds of the air give the first sign, goddess, of you and your entering”. From this quote we can tell the Lucretius feels very strongly about the goddess Venus’ presence has to do a lot with keeping the universe in a stable living condition. The text also shows how the author, Lucretius, portrays women in this epic short story. Lucretius portrays Venus as a beautiful and graceful women who has this power to make mountains move, give things life, and help the universe stay in motion and grow as a whole. With her beauty and grace she can basically do anything or make anything happen because she has that power over all the creations in the universe. So looking at this text through the feminist literary criticism point of view, it helps us to understand that Lucretius sees woman as beautiful, graceful, powerful, and very self-independent women who can control everything in the universe with just their personality traits.

 Esolen, M. Anthony. “Lucretius, From on the Nature of Things.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 51-56. Print.

EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY: THALES, HERACLITUS, EMPEDOCLES, ANAXAGORAS (through the literary criticism: MARXISM)

Early Greek Philosophy: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras is a reading from the text that combines different aspects of the four different “pre-socratics” philosophers. These four philosophers were some of “the earliest ‘scientific’ thinkers of ancient Greece and they are known as the pre-socratics because historians have seen a sharp break between their interests and those of philosophers after Socrates”. Most of these four philosophers that are quoted in this text lived in the Greek-speaking cities of Ionia, in modern Turkey. However, these four philosophers’ writings in this text are not completely their own work. Instead, many people after their time period were able to keep track of ‘fragments’ of the philosophers words/ideas, and this usually means “that they were quoted or paraphrased by much later ancient authors”. Even though these four philosophers’ ideas come from a paraphrased or fragmented piece of their works, it is still clear that their ideas were revolutionary.

Looking at this text through the Marxism literary criticism point of view is very relevant and helps readers understand more of why these four philosophers believed in what they believed in. For example, reading through the entire text itself it is evident that each philosopher; Thales. Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, all have their own personal beliefs and theories as to what made up the earth as a whole and what are the primary reasons for earth’s sustainability. Basically, these four scientific philosophers wanted to get to the bottom of what the earth was made of and how it keeps surviving… and they had some pretty interesting theories! Thales believed that the earth was made up of a single underlying substance: water. Heraclitus believed that change is the fundamental principle of the universe and it operates with a continual process of opposites turning into each other. Empedocles believed that the world works by a combination of love and strife, so the four elements – air, earth, water, and fire – are constantly being conjoined and separated from one another. Finally, Anaxagoras believed that the parts of the universe are in a constant process of separation and mixture, controlled by an underlying principle of intelligence or mind. From this text it is obvious to tell what these four scientific philosophers believed in, however, why did they believe in it? Well, looking at it through the Marxism point of view that becomes very obvious as well. These four scientific philosophers believed in these theories of what made up the universe because they lived in a social setting of ancient Greece/Greek-speaking cities, and there economic class just so happened to be that they were average people with no real power or anything. It was not until they began to question earth’s existence and make theories/discoveries as to why earth was here that they became very honorable scientific philosophers who went down in history and their beliefs went on to other people. I believe that due to their economic standing of when they first became ‘scientific philosophers’, these four have given themselves more credit to be believed and not misjudged. They are definitely not some rich, powerful individuals who just came up with these theories/discoveries out of thin air… no. Instead, they did their research and came to the most reasonable conclusion they could as to why the earth exists and how it remains stable in its existence!

Barnes, Jonathan. “Early Greek Philosophy: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 48-51. Print.

HESIOD, FROM THEOGONY AND WORKS AND DAYS (through the literary criticism: Queer Theory)

Hesiod, From Theogony and Works and Days are two short poems composed into one big story. These two poems were written in the same manner and they come from the same time period as the Homeric epics – which was from the late eighth century B.C.E. The poem of Theogony (this means “birth of the gods”) basically tells of how this poem itself came into being by the Muses inspiring the poet Hesiod on Mount Helicon. This specific text tells of how the Olympic Gods came about, or in simpler words; how the Olympic Gods were created, “The Olympic Gods emerged out of the earlier generations: Earth and Sky (Gaia and Ouranos) gave birth to the Titans”. In this poem, Hesiod also includes many stories that tell the prehistory of humanity, which in turn addresses how technology, sin, and suffering also came about with humanity’s presence. In the second poem created by Hesiod, Works and Days, it basically tells of how to live, work, farm, and sail in a mythical story type of way. This poem also tells of how evil was “accidentally” brought into the world, and of how suffering came into the world without invoking gender at all for the reason behind it. Hesiod writes this poem in a way that shows how humans just gradually degenerated over time and they basically went from having it all and living the good life, to having nothing but a life of suffering and pain.

Looking at these two poems through the Queer Theory literary criticism point of view is very relevant and fits perfectly to the way these poems were written. These two poems were basically written to describe the creation of the Olympic Gods and of humanity, however, these poems also tell the readers of the author’s view point on what GODS are and what HUMANS are. Basically what is meant by this is that the author of these two poems wrote them in a way that it shows how he perceives the Olympic Gods to be the high rulers of the universe and of the whole world, and how they should be praised/worshiped/and honored forever and always; while the author’s perception on humans is a bit different. The author perceives humans and writes about them in the poems as creations of the Gods and how they are responsible for bringing evil and sin into the world. Humans are nothing more than “fuel” for the Olympic Gods to keep being in power. The Gods need their human creations in order to feed off of their praise and worship to keep them powerful. So basically these two stories are portraying the Olympic Gods as these high beings of power who rule everything while humans are being portrayed as weak individuals who cannot possible go on existing without the Gods to guide/bless them. There is also a part in the story where it tells of the creation of the woman and what a woman actually IS. The text states, “Zeus punished humanity by creating woman as a tempting snare from which men cannot escape”. This text from the story just proves how the author perceives what women ARE. In this story written by Hesiod woman are basically perceived as sexual beings for men and only that. A woman’s body is apparently a tempting snare that men cannot deny and it is so wrong and bad of women to be perceived in that way, it is almost as saying that women are good for nothing more than sexual relations and nothing more. To conclude, looking at this story of two poems through the Queer Theory literary criticism point of view does in fact help to understand the author’s thoughts and viewpoints on what Gods are and what humans are and why they are important to each other. Both the Olympic gods and the humans of earth have very important roles to play towards each other and it is nice to see that through this literary criticism.

Athanassakis, N. Apostolos. “Hesiod, From Theogony And Works And Days.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 39-48. Print.

THE BABYLONIAN CREATION EPIC (ENUMA ELISH) *through the literary crticism: Psychoanalytical*

The Babylonian Creation Epic (Enuma Elish) is an Akkadian poem that originated as early as the eighteenth century B.C.E. This accent story telling poem has combined several other earlier cosmogonies from Sumerian, Old Akkadin, and West Semitic cultures that told of a warrior god’s struggle against a primeval female sea monster named Tiamat. This text obviously demonstrates a very clear meaning as to why it was written and why so many people back then believed in this myth/story. It gave the people who created this poem meaning to life and information of how the world and earth came about (even though we see this as just a myth or story, the people of this time period actually believed this poem to have true meaning behind it). Therefore, The Babylonian Creation Epic (Enuma Elish) is not only a mythical poem coming from the early eighteenth century but it is also a way to help us understand the people of that time period and have a better view on their beliefs.

Looking at this poem through the Psychoanalytical literary criticism point of view is not hard at all, and in fact it is even more fascinating than just reading this poem through our simple minded point of view. It is awesome to read this point and try to understand how and why the author’s created this poem. To us it seems as though the many people who all contributed to creating this poem did so for the simple fact that they wanted to express their beliefs. The authors of this poem seemed to create this story to tell how they believed the world and earth came about. “The author gives pride of place to the Babylon god, Marduk, whose temple in Babylon becomes the religious and political center of the world. The story traces the world’s creation: from the two primary personifications of ocean (fresh and salt, Apsu and Tiamat) out of which emerge the earliest gods – who fight against the fresh ocean, the father-figure Apsu, when he wants to destroy them and restore primeval silence. Then Marduk, the creator God, kills Tiamat and from her body fashions the world; he establishes the first city, Babylon, where he has his cosmic home in the Esagila temple. Marduk’s father, Ea, creates the first humans out of the blood of Qingu, Tiamat’s consort and general, and these are to serve the God’s many needs”. From this quote that pretty much summarizes what the whole poem is about, we can tell that the authors wanted to make their beliefs known as to how and why the gods they believed in created the world, earth, and the humans. The humans were created by the Babylonian God for the simple fact that they were there to serve God’s needs. The authors also included in the poem how and why the heavens were created. The heavens that the Babylon god, Marduk, created were referred to as “the netherworld…a mythic space for human existence after death”. To conclude, looking at this poem through the Psychoanalytical literary criticism point of view does in fact help to understand how and why the author wrote this fine piece of work, and it is obvious that this poem was created with a lot of detailed description and history of the author’s beliefs.

Foster, R. Benjamin. “The Babylonian Creation Epic (Enuma Elish).” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 34-39. Print.

THE GREAT HYMN TO THE ATEN (through the literary criticism: New Historicism)

The Great Hymn to the Aten is a short Egyptian hymn that was written about the sun as being a God named Aten. This hymn was written in ca. 1350 B.C.E and it was inscribed at the entrance to the tomb of an important official in the new capital city of el-Amarna. This hymn basically “celebrates the sun as creator and sustainer of the world and emphasizes the close connection between the God and his human counterparts, the king (Amenhotep IV) and queen (Nefertiti).” From this quote we can understand that the King, Amenhotep, was the one who strongly believed in and was devoted to serving Aten (Sun God). So much so that it is said in the text that “the king initiated a religious and political revolution when he exclusively promoted the cult of the sun God, Aten, built a new capital, and changed his name to Akhenaten, which means ‘He who is effective for Aten’.” It is obvious that King Amenhotep (aka Akhenaten) was the first one to bring about the idea of the sun as a God and he literally created a religion out of this belief. King Amenhotep believed so strongly that the sun was the creator and giver of all life and goodness, that he literally forced people to give praise and honor to his belief even if they did not believe the same as him. Because he was of higher power (a king), his people had no choice but to follow in his ways and believe in this sun God as well.

Ironically though back then in these times of Egyptian civilization, (look at this from the historical context now), many people of that time period had many different beliefs in many different Gods at one time. In the Egyptian civilization there were literally ‘made-up’ Gods for everything. There was a God for the sun, crops, health, animals, etc. And anyone could make a new God from a day to day basis. If someone strongly believed that a certain thing meant so much to them and had so much meaning to life, whatever it was, it could have been a piece of land for all that matters… they could make that their God. As long as you believed it had extreme value and was very important to you, you could worship that as your God and basically make that your entire religious belief. This is why it is not hard for me to believe that King Amenhotep believed so strongly in the sun and praised it so much, that he said it was a God and got his people to follow in his beliefs as well. That is just how the Egyptian culture is and that is how that same culture influenced the writing of this hymn as well. The Egyptian culture during this time period of history definitely had no boundaries when it came to creating and worshiping their different Gods, and this is exactly why this hymn so was influenced by the author’s culture and beliefs.

Puchner, Martin. “The Great Hymn to the Aten.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 29-33. Print.

Cannibal Spell for King Unis

Cannibal Spell for King Unis is a short Egyptian mythology story written about a king named Unis in ca. 2325 B.C.E. This story was inscribed inside the pyramid of where King Unis’ tomb lied, and it told the story of how King Unis gained his power over the people and how he became a God after his death. This Egyptian myth also tells of the Egyptian culture and beliefs by expressing the ‘Cannibal Spell’ in this short story as well. This Cannibal Spell basically implies that if someone were to say this spell (sort of like a prayer) over their choice of food (in this case humans that were deities) and when they would devour them, that person would essentially gain the powers and talents of that human being they had eaten. With this Egyptian mythology through the story of King Unis, we did in fact learn a lot about the values and beliefs of the Egyptian culture and people in general. Did they really think it was okay to have a God-like person who was so demented and evil rule over them? Or was it just fear that struck the Egyptian people to not do anything about this madness?  

It is known from this Egyptian mythology that King Unis was a very powerful and important person during this time period. He was considered to be the most powerful person among all people, and the people of this time period loved and feared him. However, the way that King Unis went about gaining his power was very very demented and sickening. As said before, the story tells of the Cannibal Spell, in which king Unis used for his own guilty pleasure. King Unis would practice cannibalism with humans; he would literally eat them in order to gain there special talents and powers. There are two different quotes from the book that state, “By consuming the other deities, the king assimilated their magical powers” and “Unis is the one who eats their magic and swallows their akhs, for their adults are for his morning meal, their middle-sized ones for his evening meal, their little ones for his nighttime snack, their old men and women (fuel) for his ovens.” These two quotes just go to show that King Unis did in fact was okay with murdering and eating people just for his selfish needs of gaining power and talent. The second quote even says that he used to eat young people, as in CHILDREN, as a nighttime snack. It is unbelievable to think how someone so evil in his ways and so selfish and glorified with unlimited power could be so looked up to and called a “God.” Yes, he was the greatest and most powerful man of that time period but his moral standing was nowhere near close to God-worthy and he himself as a man was nowhere near respectable in any way due to his actions.

Puchner, Martin. “Cannibal Spell For King Unis.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 26-27. Print.