Or Eastern Appropriation as Prajapati (see below)
Hesiod and Genesis:
Iapetos and Japheth
Bruce Louden
Each foundational for their respective cultures, each a combination of several of the same genres of myth, Hesiod and Genesis overlap in ways that remain under-analyzed. The tradition preserved at Gen 6:2 and 4, in which “the sons of the gods” (plural in the original, often edited out of translations) mate with mortal women and give birth to a race of heroes, is unexpectedly close to Hesiod’s Bronze Age (Works 155-69; cf. Pindar Olympian 9, 53-56). Scholars have long recognized a number of Near Eastern elements in Hesiod (M. L. West: 1966, 1997), while more recent analyses (e.g., López-Ruiz: 2010) suggest Northwest Semitic ties in particular (Ugaritic, Syrian / Phoenician), the same context out of which Genesis is thought to have evolved (the Biblical Canaanites = Phoenicians). But Genesis also includes specific allusions to Greek culture (Javan) in the aftermath of the Flood myth. Noah's son Japheth, father of Javan, appears to be the same name as the Hesiodic Iapetos, a specific intersection of both traditions.
Neither has a speaking part, both serving primarily as genealogical agents, sons of parents who are more significant, who themselves marry and have sons. Genesis 9:27 uses wordplay on Japheth's name, "May God extend Japheth's boundaries," where "extend," is the Hebrew, yapht, much like Hesiod on the name Titans (Theog. 207-9: Τιτῆνας . . . τιταίνοντας). Both characters are linked to their respective Flood myths (Iapetos is grandfather of Deukalion). Pindar, at a fairly early date (468), knows a complete version of the myth (Olympian 9, 40-56), and makes prominent mention of Iapetos. In Hesiod Iapetos’ brother Kronos castrates his father Ouranos. Japheth’s brother Ham sees Noah naked, passed out from drinking, and tells Shem and Japheth. When Noah wakes he curses Ham, but directs the curse at his son Canaan (9:20-27). Here Ham is referred to as Noah’s youngest son, whereas 9:18 suggests Japheth is.
From these inconsistencies, many assume Genesis 9:20-7 is an abbreviated excerpt from a longer tale. TheTalmud (b. Sanhedrin 70a) suggests that Ham originally committed a much greater offence, that he castrated Noah, or sexually abused him (on the basis of parallels between “and he saw” also at Gen 34:2 of Shechem violating Dinah; if correct, Ham would offer unexpected parallels with the Derveni Papyrus, López-Ruiz: 139-42). In Hesiod Kronos castrates his father, but Iapetos has also committed unspecified offences for which he is punished in Tartaros (Iliad 8.479; cf. his name’s likely derivation from ἰάπτω [Chantraine]). Iapetos and his wife Klymene produce four sons (Theog. 507-616), three of whom are severely punished: Atlas, Menoitios (who seems most like Ham: Theog. 514-16), and Prometheus, referred to eight times as "Son of Iapetos." Not only are there multiple points of contact with Hesiod, but after the flood Japheth becomes the father of Javan (10:2), the same eponym as the Greek Ion (from *Ἰαϝων). Some see “extend Japheth’s boundaries”as a Hellenistic era reference to Alexander’s conquests (Wadjenbaum 101).
Based on the congruence of these motifs, the characters' occurrence at similar stages of larger creation myths, and Japheth's specific connection to Greek culture (as father of Javan) we might best see this part of Genesis as having evolvedin a dialogic relation with Hesiod’s account (cf. Louden 2011, which argues that parts of Genesis evolved in a dialogic relation with The Odyssey). There is no evidence external to the Bible for the names of Noah’s sons (Carr 162), and recent scholarship has moved the dates up for Genesis considerably (Carr passim). Elsewhere the Bible several times transposes other cultures’ divine names to human characters (Nimrod: Ninurta; Esther: Ishtar, Mordecai: Marduk). Though the resultant versions lack an exact match between the two characters (they do not occupy the same sequential position in their Flood myths), Japheth, who is absent from all other Near Eastern accounts, may well derive from Hesiod’s Iapetos.
Bibliography
•Carr, David M. 1996. Reading the Fractures of Genesis. Westminster.
•López-Ruiz, Carolina. 2010. When the Gods Were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East. Harvard University Press.
•Louden, B. 2011. Homer’s Odyssey and the Near East. Cambridge University Press.
•Wadjenbaum, Philippe. 2011. Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible. Equinox.
•West, M. L. 1966. Hesiod: Theogony. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
•West, M. L. 1997. The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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Taken from: http://apaclassics.org/index.php/annual_meeting/143rd_annual_meeting_abstracts/1.3.louden
Prajapati
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Prajapati in Hindu mythology is the primordial lord of creatures, and is mentioned in Vedic, epic and Puranic literature. In Vedic legends he is described in various ways as the creator of the world, and the creator of heaven and earth. He is an androgynous being who impregnated himself by fusing elements of mind and speech. In later epics he is the guardian of the sex organ. Prajapati becomes the name for Brahma in later Hinduism.
Prajapati is linked to the sacrificial root of creation "either by continually creating living creatures out of the sacrifices to the gods (Taittiriya Brahmana 1, 8; 2, 1), or as being himself the sacrifice from which life is sustained: 'Prajapati is sacrifice, for he created it in his own self-expression'" (Sarapatha Brahmana 11, 1; 8, 2) In relation to the thirty-three gods in the classical system, Prajapati was considered the thirty-fourth, embracing and including the others.
In the beginning, he arose as Hiranyagarbha. When born, he was the one Lord of all that exists. He supported the earth and this heaven. What God with our offering shall we worship?… O Prajapati, you alone have encompassed all these created things: may that for which with longing we have called upon you be ours; may we become lords of wealth. (Hymn to Prajapati, Rg Veda 10, 121)
A.G.H.
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Sources:
Bowker, John, The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 759 Jordan, Michael, Encyclopedia of Gods, New York, Facts On File, Inc. 1993, p. 208
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Taken from: http://www.themystica.org/mythical-folk/articles/prajapati.html
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