Dark Womb and Gender War: Rethinking Social Formation and Social Order in Hesiod’s Cosmogony

Abstract

This paper offers a detailed study of the issue of social formation and social order in Hesiod’s cosmogony. I argue that, according to Hesiod’s genesis theory, order in a society cannot be established organically through social formation. The main difficulty lies in the nature of society itself where the dualistic opposition in the male-female sexual relationship leads to endless conflicts between the two sexes and, further, between generations. To deal with the sexual relationship properly is the key to maintaining a stable social order. In the poem, the mother’s ‘dark womb’ is presented as a prominent image at every crucial moment of social formation and social (dis)ordering in both the divine and the human worlds. Taking this image as a clue, we can see that the issue of sexuality has a profound impact on social order, and also serves as a key to understanding divinity and humanity in Hesiod’s cosmogony.