Gender, Creation Myths and their Reception in Western Civilization: Prometheus, Pandora, Adam and Eve (Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception)

This volume offers an instructive comparative perspective on the Judaic, Christian, Greek and Roman myths about the creation of humans in relation to each other, as well as a broad overview of their enduring relevance in the modern Western world and its conceptions of gender and identity. Taking the idea that the way in which a society regards humanity, and especially the roots of humanity, is crucial to an understanding of that society, it presents the different models for the creation and nature of mankind, and their changing receptions over a range of periods and places. It thereby demonstrates that the myths reflect fundamental continuities, evolutions and developments across cultures and societies: in no context are these more apparent than with regard to gender. Chapters explore the role of gender in Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian creation myths and their reception traditions, demonstrating how perceptions of ‘male’ and ‘female’ dating back to antiquity have become embedded in, and significantly influenced, subsequent perceptions of gender roles. Focusing on the figures of Prometheus, Pandora, Adam and Eve and their instantiations in a broad range of narratives and media from antiquity to the present day, they examine how variations on these myths reflect the concerns of the societies producing them and the malleability of the stories as they are recast to fit different contexts and different audiences. The study takes as its starting point the idea that the way in which a society regards humanity, and especially the roots of humanity, both male and female, is crucial to an understanding of that society. Different models for the creation and nature of mankind, and their changing receptions at different periods and places, reflect fundamental evolutions and developments in society, particularly with regard to gender. This project thus investigates the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian stories of the creation of the primordial couples – Prometheus and Pandora and Adam and Eve – and their reception in the Western world, shedding light on attitudes towards male and female, at a range of influential periods and places. It explores how the Judaic, Christian, Greek and Roman myths stand out from each other, and also cross-fertilise between each other at different times and cultures, as well as examining what the respective depictions of male and female reveal about the roles and perceptions of the different genders both in their original sources and in their receptions in later societies. Through analysis of how and why the tales have been recast and adapted at various periods, it considers how far the myths still have relevance in the modern Western world by considering both traditions separately, and also by teasing apart points at which they intermingled or separated, thereby deepening our understanding of the two main threads that are assumed to have given shape to Western civilization. Cover 1 Halftitle page 2 Series page 3 Title page 6 Copyright page 7 Dedication 8 CONTENTS 10 FIGURES AND TABLES 12 CONTRIBUTORS 13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 17 INTRODUCTION 18 Notes 27 PART I VISUAL SYMBOLISM: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF CREATION 30 CHAPTER 1 THE USE OF PROMETHEUS AS AN EXEMPLAR IN THIRD-CENTURY ROME 32 Notes 41 CHAPTER 2 INNOCENT IN SENSE AND IN BODY: ADAM AND EVE IN THEIR MANDORLAS (FOURTH CENTURY-THIRTEENTH CENTURY) 44 A Roman debt 46 Latin consciousness 48 Overcoming Prometheus 53 Notes 55 CHAPTER 3 PROMETHEUS PLASTICATOR: RECEPTIONS OF THE CREATION MYTHEME IN ART 58 Prometheus plasticator 58 Prometheus plasticator and Christianity 61 Renaissance reception 64 Post-Renaissance and modern receptions 65 Notes 68 PART II CREATION NARRATIVES AS A MODEL FOR MARRIAGE 72 CHAPTER 4 EVE AND PANDORA: MYTHS IN DIALOGUE 74 1. The myth of Prometheus and Pandora 74 2. The Jewish myth (Bible and Midrash)17 76 3. The Jewish myth and the Greek myth 80 Conclusion 82 Notes 83 CHAPTER 5 TEMPTING TREASURES AND SEDUCTIVE SNAKES: PRESENTING EVE AND PANDORA FOR THE YOUNGEST READERS 86 Pandora 86 Eve 91 Presenting Eve and Pandora for the youngest readers 95 Notes 96 CHAPTER 6 THEMATIC INTERCULTURAL CORRESPONDENCE ON THE CREATION OF THE PERFECT WOMAN AND THE FALLING IN LOVE WITH HER (OVID, IBN HAZM, IBN HASDAI, IBN ZAKBAL AND ALHARIZI) 98 The doctrine of love according to Ibn Hazm 99 On falling in love while asleep or based on a description 101 Discussion and examples: Variations of Hebrew literature from the Middle Ages 102 Conclusion 107 Notes 108 PART III PANDORA, EVE AND THE FEMININE IDEAL 112 CHAPTER 7 ADAM AND EVE: REFLECTIONS ON A RELATIONSHIP 114 The uneven relationship between man and woman 114 God and human beings 118 Notes 119 CHAPTER 8 EVE, THE FIRST WOMAN: ON CHOICE AND RESPONSIBILITY 124 The character of Eve in light of the interpretations of the story about her creation in Chapter 2 125 The character of Eve in light of the interpretations of the story about the sin in chapter 3 128 Eve as creator: An additional look at Eve – Genesis 4 131 Summary 131 Notes 132 CHAPTER 9 ABSOLVING EVE: MEDIEVAL WOMEN WRITERS REMODELLING THE CREATION AND THE FALL1 136 Marie de France, ‘Del reclus e del vilein’ (Of the Hermit and the Peasant) 136 The Lady, La response du Bestiaire (The Response to the Bestiary of Love) 140 Jehan Le Fevre, Le livre de Leesce (The Book of Gladness) 144 Conclusion 145 Notes 146 PART IV IDEOLOGICAL MANIPULATIONS OF THE CREATION NARRATIVE 150 CHAPTER 10 A STORY OF ADAM AND EVE FOR SOVIET CHILDREN AND ADULTS: THE DIVINE COMEDY , A PUPPET SHOW BASED ON THE BIBLE 152 The Divine Comedy 152 The Lilith tradition 154 The reception of Lilith in the Divine Comedy 156 Eve in the Divine Comedy 157 Social commentary in the Divine Comedy 158 Conclusion 159 Notes 159 CHAPTER 11 GENDER ARCHETYPES AND NATIONAL AGENDAS IN THE HEBREW CREATION MYTH OF THE DAFFODIL 164 Notes 170 CHAPTER 12 GENESIS 3.15 AND 16 AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL 174 The texts: Genesis 3.15–16 174 ‘And he shall rule over you’ 175 ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman’ 177 In short and in summation 180 Notes 181 PART V POSTMODERN RECEPTIONS 184 CHAPTER 13 ‘THE BEAUTIFUL TRAP INSIDE US’: PANDORAN SCIENCE FICTION AND POSTHUMAN PERSONHOOD 186 Overview 187 Mimetic creation and memetic reception histories 187 Pandora’s psyche and other (femme) fatal(e) anti-Prometheanisms 188 Pandora’s posthumanity in some recent scholarship 189 ‘Pandora’s kopis’ and Atlantean ‘Hope’ in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey 190 ‘You open the box and you fi nd yourself there’: Unboxing Pandoras in Ex Machina (etc.) and The Girl with All the Gifts 192 Anti-Promethean posthumankind 193 Revolutionary Pandoran replicants in Ridley Scott 194 Notes 195 CHAPTER 14 RIDLEY SCOTT’S PROMETHEUS AND THE HUMAN PANDORA* 200 Analysis of the film 200 Scholarship on the film 205 Conclusion 207 Notes 208 CHAPTER 15 PANDORA’S SPLIT: READING THE MYTH OF PANDORA IN CRUEL BEAUTY 212 Pandora and the idea of gender differentiation 212 Pandora and gender transformations 213 Cruel Beauty: Synopsis14 214 The emergence of Pandora in Cruel Beauty 215 The prince and Carl Jung’s theory of the shadow 216 Resisting the gender binary 217 A new paradigm 219 Notes 220 CHAPTER 16 ADAM THE ALIEN, EVE THE ROBOT: THE REINTERPRETATION OF ADAM, EVE, PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA IN JAPANESE MANGA AND ANIME 224 Japanese creation myths 225 A brief look at Christianity in Japan 226 Adam and Eve in manga and anime 227 Prometheus and Pandora in manga 231 Conclusion 232 Notes 232 CONCLUSION 236 Notes 240 BIBLIOGRAPHY 242 INDEX 260 List of Contributors -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction (Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- I. Visual Symbolism: The Iconography of Creation -- 1 -- The Use of Prometheus as an exemplar in Third Century Rome (John Bradley, -- Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) -- 2 -- Innocent in Sense and in Body: Adam and Eve in their Mandorlas (5th century - 13th century) (Isabelle Mathian, Ecole du Louvre, France) -- 3 -- Prometheus Plasticator: Receptions of the Creation mytheme in Art (Jared A. Simard, New York University, USA) -- II. Creation Narratives as a Model for Marriage -- 4 -- Eve and Pandora - Myths in Dialogue (Thierry Alcoloumbre, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- 5 -- Tempting Treasures and Seductive Snakes: Presenting Eve and Pandora for the Youngest Readers (Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- 6 -- Thematic Intercultural Correspondence on the Creation of the Perfect Woman and the Falling in Love with Her (Ovid, Ibn Hazam, Ibn Hasdai, Ibn Zakbel and Alharizi) (Revital Refael-Vivante, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- III. Pandora, Eve and the Feminine Ideal -- 7 -- Adam and Eve: Reflections on a Relationship (Roslyn Weiss, Lehigh University, USA) -- 8 -- Eve, the First Woman: On Choice and Responsibility (Yael Shemesh, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- 9 -- Absolving Eve: Medieval Women Writers Remodelling the Creation and the Fall (Tovi Bibring, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- IV. Ideological Manipulations of the Creation Narrative -- 10 -- A Story of Adam and Eve for Soviet Children and Adults: The Divine Comedy, a Puppet-Show Based on the Bible. (Hava B. Korzakova, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- 11 -- Gender Archetypes and National Agendas in the Hebrew Creation Myth of the Daffodil (Vered Tohar, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- 12 -- Genesis 3:15 and 16 and the State of Israel (Susan Weiss, Centre for Women's Justice, Israel) -- V. Reinterpreting the Creation Narratives: Post-Modern Readings -- 13 -- "The Beautiful Trap Inside Us" : Pandoran Science Fiction & Posthuman Personhood (Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Trinity University, USA) "This volume offers an instructive comparative perspective on the Judaic, Christian, Greek and Roman myths in relation to each other, as well as a broad overview of their enduring relevance in the modern Western world and its conceptions of gender and identity. Taking the idea that the way in which a society regards humanity, and especially the roots of humanity, is crucial to an understanding of that society. Different models for the creation and nature of mankind, and their changing receptions at different periods and places, can therefore be seen to reflect fundamental continuities, evolutions and developments across cultures and societies: in no context are these more apparent than with regard to gender. Chapters explore the role of gender in Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian creation myths and their reception traditions, demonstrating how perceptions of 'male' and 'female' dating back to antiquity have become embedded in and significantly influenced subsequent perceptions of gender roles. Focusing on the figures of Prometheus, Pandora, Adam and Eve and their instantiations in a broad range of narratives and media from antiquity to the present day, they examine how variations on these myths reflect the concerns of the societies producing them and the malleability of the stories as they are recast to fit different contexts and different audiences"-- Provided by publisher. 14 -- Ridley Scott's Prometheus and the Human Pandora (Edmund Cueva, University of Houston-Downtown, USA) -- 15 -- Pandora's Split: Reading the Myth of Pandora in Cruel Beauty (Lily Glasner, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- 16 -- Adam the Alien, Eve the Robot: The Reinterpretation of Adam, Eve, Prometheus and Pandora in Japanese Manga and Anime (Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- Conclusion (Lisa Maurice and Tovi Bibring, Bar-Ilan University, Israel) -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index