Hesiod's Typhonomachy and the Ordering of Sound

Abstract

I argue that Hesiod shaped his Typhonomachy with a particular interest in the relationship between sound, communication, and authority. Typhon's defeat results in the reordering of the sonic world of the Theogony, and as such is a necessary precursor to the birth of the Muses. Hesiod thereby shows how the conditions for song are not a natural element of the cosmos, but result from Zeus's suppression of Typhon. This victory is significant for the Theogony as a whole, in so far as it enables communication between gods and men, and thus renders the structure of the cosmos intelligible to mortals.