Janet
DOWNIE Gendering Power: Hekate
Mounogenes
in Hesiod's Theogony
Commentators
have long debated the significance of the extensive "Hymn
to Hekate" at the center of Hesiod's Theogony (ll.
404-452). While early editors sought to excise the
passage as un-Hesiodic, or set it apart as a hymnic
digression, more recently scholars have been interested
in how the portrait of Hekate fits into the progression
of the poem's divine genealogies and the guiding
narrative of Zeus' bid for patriarchal power. Hekate is
indeed a crucial figure in the construction of Zeus'
power, yet the question nevertheless remains: what is
Hesiod's poetic justification for giving Hekate such
extraordinary prominence? This paper will argue that the
description of Hekate as "mounogenês ek
mêtros" ("only
child born of her mother" Th.
448) offers a key to understanding Hesiod's motive in
according her this prominence. By hinting at matriarchal
descent the phrase gives Hekate a provocative status
within the poem's narratives of power and gender, and
this status requires Zeus to negotiate his relationship
to the goddess through strategic distribution of
timai.
The
presentation of Hekate in matrilineal terms has generally
confounded scholars (West 1966, 289). If we accept that
the marriage of her parents, Asteria and Perses
(Th. 409-410), is
thematically significant as a marker of increasing social
organization in the poem (Bonnafé 1985, 120, 156),
then why should Hesiod disrupt this thematic by
subsequently eliding Perses? A solution to this question
lies in recognizing that the marriage contract has been
sidelined in order to make way for a more important
contractual relationship that is, in fact, rhetorically
highlighted&emdash;the gift-giving relationship by which
Hekate, honored by Zeus, redistributes timai among humans. As Clay has recently argued, her
wide-ranging timê
gives Hekate an important function as cosmic mediator in
Zeus' new order (Clay 2003). However, in terms of the
gendered narrative of the Theogony described by
Arthur [Katz] (1982), Hekate's unique prominence
is also a provocative reminder of the matriarchal
generative force represented by Gaia. Hekate's lack of
male kin&emdash;both fraternal and paternal&emdash;makes
her at once a valuable ally for Zeus and a potential
threat.
Hesiod uses
the figure of Hekate to portray a point in divine history
when the balance of power between male and female remains
uncertain and a fully realized patriarchy has yet to
evolve. The gift economy of timai that enables Zeus to honor and
subordinate Hekate in a single gesture also allows Hesiod
to depict a relationship that represents not perfect
patriarchy but something much closer to human reality.
Select Citations: Arthur
[Katz], M. B. 1982. "Cultural Strategies in
Hesiod's Theogony: Law, Family, Society."
Arethusa 15: 63-82; Bonnafé, A. 1985. Eros et Eris: Mariages divins et
mythe de succession chez Hésiode. Lyon ;
Clay, J. S. 2003. Hesiod's Cosmos. Cambridge.
Abstracts
Index