Joseph B Zehner (Leiden University)
It is well known that early Greek philosophers (Presocratics) were interested in embryology, both as a distinct subject and as a source of analogies to illustrate cosmogonic theories (Baldry, Kahn, Wilford, Gemelli-Marciano, Lloyd). In turn, embryological speculation inspired its own host of analogies, using plant and craft metaphors to illustrate the invisible processes inside the womb. Despite some differences, Greek embryology focuses on two processes: the constitution of the initial mixture (conception) and the hardening and formation of this mixture (articulation). What, perhaps, has not been noticed is how the story of castration of Ouranos, as told by Hesiod in the Theogony, presupposes many of these later theories on the development of the embryo.
Even if the birth scenes are spectacular and anomalous, Hesiod has vividly described processes of conception and articulation that precisely reflect the way later authors describe these processes. The births of the Erinyes, Giants, and Ash-tree Nymphs are the result of a mixture of earth and moisture—in this case blood from the Sky’s severed genitalia. The scholion to Th. 187 connects the birth of the Ash-tree nymphs with the generation of humans, “irrational” animals, and trees. The mixture of moisture and earth is reflected by Anaximander’s theories of the first animals (D38 DK), which describes a process like what is seen in later zoogonies (e.g., Empedocles B73). The theory of Diogenes of Apollonia, that semen is from blood, is also anticipated by this myth (B5 & 6; cf. West ad loc.). Furthermore, the presence of the tree nymphs makes this myth fertile ground for a host of plant analogies in subsequent theories of generation (e.g., bark in Anaximander A10, Empedocles and the “branching” of the embryo, B99).
More to the point is the process resulting in the birth of Aphrodite. Beginning with an entirely liquid mixture, after the formation of divine flesh Aphrodite finally emerges as a solid from a process of congealing like cheese. The transformation of a liquid to a solid, and the coinciding emergence of the form of the child, its limbs, and other distinct features, is consistent with later embryologists’ descriptions of similar processes. For example, both Hippo’s theory—that “seeds” are essentially moist (A4)—and Alcmaeon’s view—that fertility depends on the “thickness” of the seed (e.g., Alcmaeon B3)—confirm that the development of the child is a transformation of a liquid into a solid. Later Hippocratic theories maintain similar theories (On the Nature of the Child 17.1-8).
It will be concluded that early embryologists freely composed metaphors and analogies based on what physical process that they imagined occurred in the conception and development of children. This poetic side of early philosophy remains akin to Hesiod’s own method of myth making, as the poet must have also imagined the same sort of physical processes in his composing of the castration myth. We can therefore conclude that Hesiod has his own embryological views that are not dissimilar to those of later theorists.