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So Ouranos was castrated by Kronos and Titans.

When that happened, why didn't the sky just collapse?

bleh
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  • Ouranos was killed by Kronos... You sure about that? – femtoRgon Aug 22 '16 at 04:50
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    Yeah, according to what I'm seeing on Theoi, Kronos overthrew Ouranos and castrated him, but didn't kill him. http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Ouranos.html – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Aug 22 '16 at 10:23
  • I realize the answer to the question. oops – bleh Aug 22 '16 at 21:35
  • Why would the sky collapse when Ouranos was castrated? – yannis Aug 23 '16 at 09:25
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    @Yannis I suppose it would depend what part of Ouranos the sky was balanced on... – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Aug 23 '16 at 11:13
  • I'd be a little wary of theoi.com. From their site: "castrated Ouranos with an adamantine sickle". It is actually a flint sickle. – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 13:12
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    @cybermike - Some translations of Hesiod seem to use flint, but it looks like the word "ἀδάμαντος" is used there, which would seem to point to "adamant" being valid. Why isn't it? – femtoRgon Aug 24 '16 at 20:46
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    The argument would be because it is euphemistic (such is the case with several archaic words). Now that you mention it though, I do recall the term in Hesiod you are referring to, so your point is fair. – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 21:10
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    There are other classical references to castration by use of a flint sickle, for instance certain cults of Artemis, but now I'm thinking I should go back and look at what terms specifically are used in those referents, as it's been a while since I've researched this particular topic. – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 21:12
  • @femtoRgon in terms of my personal bias, it probably comes from the fact that most people nowadays, hearing "admantine", will think it's referring to the metal used in Wolverine's skeleton and claws. (Not that I have anything against W, but it's a different tradition.) The Titans are supposed to be primitive, so I'm wary the idea of a metal sickle. The term makes more sense with Aeschylus, for example, where Hephaestus is a character. I personally love the term, "Thou hast made me, shall they work decay?". – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 23:13

3 Answers3

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The castration is taken as a metaphor for the transfer of power from the old generation to the new. It is not a voluntary relinquishing of power.

Ouranous actually is the sky, in the same way that Gaia is the literal earth. His name means "sky". You can look for a parallel with the Norse Ymir, where they use his body parts to create the universe.

Castration is generally viewed as a curtailing of power, thus the act is symbolic of transfer of power to the next generation.

Note: Kronos is popularly believed to mean "time", which is interesting because time is, in some sense, a function of distance, which requires matter and space. (i.e. He is the son of the sky and the earth, void and matter.)

However, there is also an argument that Kronos derives from the Indo-European root for "cut".

Regardless of the "true" origin, which must always be obscure, name meanings are very important in Greek Mythology.

DukeZhou
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  • I may avoid answering mythology questions in the future if people are going to vote me down for explaining things. (I do have a degree in this field.) – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 13:15
  • someone probably downvoted it because they didn't think it was not really an answer. I gave it an upvote, because i thought it was interesting – bleh Aug 24 '16 at 13:33
  • Yeah lol. It was sort of a weird question, but a good one. I noticed a reference (I forget where now) someone made between Ouranos and the Egyptian Nut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(goddess) re: "She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the earth". I didn't have time to review the relationship, so I omitted that part in the formal answer. – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 13:46
  • (I do notice that many people on Stack are extraordinarily literally minded, possibly because they are techs. However, many of the issues raised in the Humanities communities are sort of fuzzy, and often there is not s direct answer. In other words, on subjects such as this, providing context is actually the only legitimate answer.) – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 14:27
  • The conclusion that time is a function of distance which requires matter and space. I don't really follow there. – femtoRgon Aug 24 '16 at 20:57
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    (This is sort of undercut by the thermodynamic conception of time, but) Thomas Mann explains it better than I ever could: https://librariesproject.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/is-time-a-function-of-space-or-vice-versa/ – DukeZhou Aug 24 '16 at 21:20
  • The etymological connection between Kronos (the god) and khronos (time) has only been hypothesized and never confirmed. The confusion between the Greek /k/ and /kh/ tends to be relatively late (Hellenistic), but the difference between the two words and concepts goes back at least before Homer. – Peter Aug 25 '16 at 20:16
  • @Peter Can you link? (I only ask because my Ancient Greek teacher had a frighteningly strong grasp of Linear B and Indo-European roots. He would have said they were cognate.) Of course it not an exact science... – DukeZhou Aug 25 '16 at 20:31
  • I can't cite evidence to establish what isn't there. No major Greek lexicon provides a common etymon for the two words. The late confusion is noted in all, but it seems to be no more than a folk-etymology. (Folk-etymologies serve their own purpose, but not to make a point like that above.) – Peter Aug 25 '16 at 20:35
  • Noted and answer is modified to reflect @Peter's point. – DukeZhou Aug 25 '16 at 20:50
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On a different metaphoric level, the myth also signifies that creation/procreation specifically between Gaia and Ouranos was terminated. Thus there would be no further macro-elements to the universe. Heaven's 'dynamism' thereby curtailed, other micro-elements (like wind, stars, sun, moon, aether, etc.) were free to develop without the direct/paternal/procreative influence of Ouranos. Ouranos was, in a sense, creatively marginalized.

Peter
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I believe that when Kronos 'castarated' Ouranos, he destroyed his human-like appearance so that he could no longer appear on Earth to assert himself as a king. Kronos just exiled him into the air. He's not dead, per se, he would now be just a dome over the earth.

Nihaarika4books
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