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Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40. Jasper Griffin, "Greek Myth and Hesiod", J.Boardman, J.Griffin and O. Murray (eds.), ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'',
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
(1986), p. 88.
Several of Hesiod's works have survived in their entirety. Among these are ''
Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
'', which tells the origins of the gods, their lineages, and the events that led to
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
's rise to power, and ''
Works and Days ''Works and Days'' ()The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op'' for ''Opera''. is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around ...
'', a poem that describes the five
Ages of Man The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation. Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...
, offers advice and wisdom, and includes myths such as Pandora's box. Hesiod is generally regarded by Western authors as 'the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an individual persona with an active role to play in his subject.' Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek religious customs. Modern scholars refer to him as a major source on
Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, farming techniques, early economic thought, Archaic Greek
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
,
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
, and ancient time-keeping.


Life

The dating of Hesiod's life is a contested issue in scholarly circles (''see § Dating below''). Epic narrative allowed poets such as
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
no opportunity for personal revelations. However Hesiod's extant work comprises several didactic poems in which he went out of his way to let his audience in on a few details of his life. There are three explicit references in ''
Works and Days ''Works and Days'' ()The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op'' for ''Opera''. is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around ...
'', as well as some passages in his ''
Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
'', that support inferences made by scholars. The former poem says that his father came from Cyme in
Aeolis Aeolis (; ), or Aeolia (; ), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolian Greek city-states w ...
(on the coast of
Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, a little south of the island of
Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...
) and crossed the sea to settle at a hamlet near Thespiae in
Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...
named Ascra, "a cursed place, cruel in winter, hard in summer, never pleasant" (''Works'' 640). Hesiod's patrimony in Ascra, a small piece of ground at the foot of Mount Helicon, occasioned
lawsuits A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. T ...
with his brother Perses, who at first seems to have cheated him of his rightful share thanks to corrupt authorities or ‘kings’ but later became impoverished and ended up scrounging from the thrifty poet (''Works'' 35, 396). Unlike his father Hesiod was averse to sea travel, but he once crossed the narrow strait between the Greek mainland and
Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...
to participate in funeral celebrations for one Amphidamas of
Chalcis Chalcis (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: , ), also called Chalkida or Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief city of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...
and there won a
tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...
in a singing competition. He also describes meeting the
Muses In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
on Mount Helicon, where he had been pasturing sheep, when the goddesses presented him with a laurel staff, a symbol of poetic authority (''Theogony'' 22–35). Fanciful though the story might seem, the account has led ancient and modern scholars to infer that he was not a professionally trained
rhapsode A rhapsode () or, in modern usage, rhapsodist, refers to a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry in the fifth and fourth centuries BC (and perhaps earlier). Rhapsodes notably performed the epics of Homer (''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey' ...
or he would have been presented with a
lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...
instead.See discussion by M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 163 f., note 30, citing for example Pausanias IX, 30.3. Rhapsodes in post-Homeric times are often shown carrying either a laurel staff or a lyre but in Hesiod's earlier time the staff seems to indicate that he was not a rhapsode, a professional
minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...
. Meetings between poets and the Muses became part of poetic folklore: compare, for example,
Archilochus Archilochus (; ''Arkhílokhos''; 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Iambus (genre) , iambic poet of the Archaic Greece, Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the earliest ...
' account of meeting the Muses while leading home a cow and the legend of Cædmon.
Some scholars have seen Perses as a literary creation, a foil for the moralizing that Hesiod develops in ''Works and Days'', but there are also arguments against that theory. For example, it is quite common for works of moral instruction to have an imaginative setting as a means of getting the audience's attention,Jasper Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', Oxford University Press (1986), cites for example the Book of Ecclesiastes, a Sumerian text in the form of a father's remonstrance with a prodigal son, and Egyptian wisdom texts spoken by viziers, etc. Hesiod was certainly open to oriental influences, as is clear in the myths presented by him in ''Theogony''. but it could be difficult to see how Hesiod could have traveled around the countryside entertaining people with a narrative about himself if the account was known to be fictitious. Gregory Nagy, on the other hand, sees both ''Pérsēs'' ("the destroyer" from , ''pérthō'') and ''Hēsíodos'' ("he who emits the voice" from , ''híēmi'' and , ''audḗ'') as fictitious names for poetical
persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...
e. It might seem unusual that Hesiod's father migrated from Anatolia westwards to mainland Greece, the opposite direction to most colonial movements at the time, and Hesiod himself gives no explanation for it. However, around 750 BC or a little later, there was a migration of seagoing merchants from his original home in Cyme in Anatolia to
Cumae Cumae ( or or ; ) was the first ancient Greek colony of Magna Graecia on the mainland of Italy and was founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BCE. It became a rich Roman city, the remains of which lie near the modern village of ...
in
Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...
(a colony they shared with the Euboeans), and possibly his move west had something to do with that, since
Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...
is not far from
Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...
, where he eventually established himself and his family. The family association with Aeolian Cyme might explain his familiarity with Eastern myths, evident in his poems, though the Greek world might have already developed its own versions of them.A. R. Burn, ''The Pelican History of Greece'', Penguin (1966), p. 77. In spite of Hesiod's complaints about poverty, life on his father's farm could not have been too uncomfortable if ''Works and Days'' is anything to judge by, since he describes the routines of prosperous
yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of Serfdom, servants in an Peerage of England, English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in Kingdom of England, mid-1 ...
ry rather than peasants. His farmer employs a friend (''Works and Days'' 370) as well as servants (502, 573, 597, 608, 766), an energetic and responsible ploughman of mature years (469 ff.), a slave boy to cover the seed (441–6), a female servant to keep house (405, 602) and working teams of oxen and mules (405, 607f.). One modern scholar surmises that Hesiod may have learned about world geography, especially the catalogue of rivers in ''Theogony'' (337–45), listening to his father's accounts of his own sea voyages as a merchant. The father probably spoke in the Aeolian dialect of Cyme but Hesiod probably grew up speaking the local Boeotian, belonging to the same dialect group. However whilst his poetry features some Aeolisms there are no words that are certainly Boeotian. His basic language was the main literary dialect of the time, Homer's Ionian. It is probable that Hesiod wrote his poems down, or dictated them, rather than passing them on orally, as
rhapsode A rhapsode () or, in modern usage, rhapsodist, refers to a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry in the fifth and fourth centuries BC (and perhaps earlier). Rhapsodes notably performed the epics of Homer (''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey' ...
s did—otherwise: the pronounced personality that now emerges from the poems would surely have been diluted through oral transmission from one rhapsode to another. Pausanias asserted that
Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...
ns showed him an old tablet made of lead on which the ''Works'' were engraved. If he did write or dictate, it was perhaps as an aid to memory or because he lacked confidence in his ability to produce poems extempore, as trained rhapsodes could do. It certainly was not in a quest for immortal fame since poets in his era had probably no such notions for themselves. However some scholars suspect the presence of large-scale changes in the text and attribute it to oral transmission. Possibly he composed his verses during idle times on the farm, in the spring before the May harvest or the dead of winter. The personality behind the poems is unsuited to the kind of "aristocratic withdrawal" typical of a rhapsode but is instead "argumentative, suspicious, ironically humorous, frugal, fond of proverbs, wary of women." He was in fact a " misogynist" of the same calibre as the later poet Semonides. He resembles
Solon Solon (; ;  BC) was an Archaic Greece#Athens, archaic History of Athens, Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy. ...
in his preoccupation with issues of good versus evil and "how a just and all-powerful god can allow the unjust to flourish in this life". He recalls
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...
in his rejection of the idealised hero of epic literature in favour of an idealized view of the farmer. Yet the fact that he could eulogize kings in ''Theogony'' (80 ff., 430, 434) and denounce them as corrupt in ''Works and Days'' suggests that he could resemble whichever audience he composed for. Various legends accumulated about Hesiod and they are recorded in several sources: *the story about the '' Contest of Homer and Hesiod''; *a '' vita'' of Hesiod by the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
grammarian
John Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...
; *the entry for Hesiod in the ''
Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...
''; *two passages and some scattered remarks in Pausanias (IX, 31.3–6 and 38.3 f.); *a passage in
Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
''Moralia'' (162b).


Death

Two different—yet early—traditions record the site of Hesiod's grave. One, as early as
Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...
, reported in Plutarch, the ''Suda'' and John Tzetzes, states that the
Delphic oracle Pythia (; ) was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness. The Pythia w ...
warned Hesiod that he would die in
Nemea Nemea (; ; ) is an ancient site in the northeastern part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. Formerly part of the territory of Cleonae (Argolis), Cleonae in ancient Argolis, it is today situated in the regional units of Greece, regional unit of Corin ...
, and so he fled to Locris, where he was killed at the local temple to Nemean Zeus, and buried there. This tradition follows a familiar
ironic Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modernity, modern times irony has a ...
convention: the
oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...
predicts accurately after all. The other tradition, first mentioned in an
epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...
by Chersias of Orchomenus (Boeotia), Orchomenus written in the 7th century BC (within a century or so of Hesiod's death), claims that Hesiod lies buried at Orchomenus, a town in Boeotia. According to
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's ''Constitution of Orchomenus,'' when the Thespians ravaged Ascra the villagers sought refuge at Orchomenus, where, following the advice of an oracle, they collected the ashes of Hesiod and set them in a place of honour in their ''
agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...
'', next to the tomb of Minyas, their eponymous founder. Eventually they came to regard Hesiod too as their "hearth-founder" (, ''oikistēs''). Later writers attempted to harmonize these two accounts. Yet another account taken from classical sources, cited by author Charles Abraham Elton in his ''Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan, Including the Shield of Hercules by Hesiod'', depicts Hesiod as being falsely accused of rape by a girl's brothers and murdered in reprisal despite his advanced age while the true culprit (his Milesian fellow-traveler) managed to escape.


Dating

Greeks in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC considered their oldest poets to be
Orpheus In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...
, Musaeus, Hesiod and
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
—in that order. But thereafter, Greek writers began to consider Homer earlier than Hesiod. Devotees of Orpheus and Musaeus were probably responsible for precedence being given to their two cult heroes and maybe the Homeridae were responsible in later antiquity for promoting Homer at Hesiod's expense. The first known writers to locate Homer earlier than Hesiod were
Xenophanes Xenophanes of Colophon ( ; ; – c. 478 BC) was a Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and critic of Homer. He was born in Ionia and travelled throughout the Greek-speaking world in early classical antiquity. As a poet, Xenophanes was known f ...
and
Heraclides Ponticus Heraclides Ponticus ( ''Herakleides''; c. 390 BC – c. 310 BC) was a Greek philosopher and astronomer who was born in Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey, and migrated to Athens. He is best remembered for proposing that the Earth ...
, though Aristarchus of Samothrace was the first actually to argue the case. Ephorus made Homer a younger cousin of Hesiod, the 5th century BC historian
Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
(''Histories'' II, 53) evidently considered them near-contemporaries, and the 4th century BC
sophist A sophist () was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught ''arete'', "virtue" or "excellen ...
Alcidamas in his work ''Mouseion'' even brought them together for an imagined poetic '' ágōn'' (), which survives today as the '' Contest of Homer and Hesiod''. Most scholars today agree with Homer's priority but there are good arguments on either side. Hesiod certainly predates the
lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from t ...
and elegiac poets whose work has come down to the modern era. Imitations of his work have been observed in Alcaeus,
Epimenides Epimenides of Knossos (or Epimenides of Crete) (; ) was a semi-mythical 7th- or 6th-century BC Greek seer and philosopher-poet, from Knossos or Phaistos. Life While tending his father's sheep, Epimenides is said to have fallen asleep for fifty ...
, Mimnermus, Semonides,
Tyrtaeus Tyrtaeus (; ''Tyrtaios''; fl. mid-7th century BC) was a Greek elegiac poet from Sparta whose works were speculated to fill five books. His works survive from quotations and papyri, and include 250 lines or parts of lines. He wrote at a time of t ...
and
Archilochus Archilochus (; ''Arkhílokhos''; 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Iambus (genre) , iambic poet of the Archaic Greece, Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the earliest ...
, from which it has been inferred that the latest possible date for him is about 650 BC. An upper limit of 750 BC is indicated by a number of considerations, such as the probability that his work was written down, the fact that he mentions a sanctuary at
Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...
that was of little national significance before c. 750 BC (''Theogony'' 499), and he lists rivers that flow into the
Euxine The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
, a region explored and developed by Greek colonists beginning in the 8th century BC. (''Theogony'' 337–45). Hesiod mentions a poetry contest at
Chalcis Chalcis (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: , ), also called Chalkida or Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief city of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...
in
Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...
where the sons of one Amphidamas awarded him a tripod (''Works and Days'' 654–662).
Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
identified this Amphidamas with the hero of the Lelantine War between Chalcis and
Eretria Eretria (; , , , , literally 'city of the rowers') is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th and 5th century BC, mentioned by many famous writers ...
and he concluded that the passage must be an interpolation into Hesiod's original work, assuming that the Lelantine War was too late for Hesiod. Modern scholars have accepted his identification of Amphidamas but disagreed with his conclusion. The date of the war is not known precisely but estimates placing it around 730–705 BC fit the estimated chronology for Hesiod. In that case, the tripod that Hesiod won might have been awarded for his rendition of ''Theogony'', a poem that seems to presuppose the kind of aristocratic audience he would have met at Chalcis.


Works

Three works have survived which were attributed to Hesiod by ancient commentators: ''
Works and Days ''Works and Days'' ()The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op'' for ''Opera''. is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around ...
'', ''
Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
'', and '' Shield of Heracles''. Only fragments exist of other works attributed to him. The surviving works and fragments were all written in the conventional metre and language of epic. However, the ''Shield of Heracles'' is now known to be spurious and probably was written in the sixth century BC. Many ancient critics also rejected ''Theogony'' (e.g., Pausanias 9.31.3), even though Hesiod mentions himself by name in that poem. ''Theogony'' and ''Works and Days'' might be very different in subject matter, but they share a distinctive language, metre, and prosody that subtly distinguish them from Homer's work and from the ''Shield of Heracles'' (see Hesiod's Greek below). Moreover, they both refer to the same version of the Prometheus myth. Yet even these authentic poems may include interpolations. For example, the first ten verses of the ''Works and Days'' may have been borrowed from an Orphic hymn to
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
(they were recognised as not the work of Hesiod by critics as ancient as Pausanias). Some scholars have detected a proto-historical perspective in Hesiod, a view rejected by Paul Cartledge, for example, on the grounds that Hesiod advocates a not-forgetting without any attempt at verification. Hesiod has also been considered the father of gnomic verse. He had "a passion for systematizing and explaining things".
Ancient Greek poetry Ancient Greek literature is literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, ar ...
in general had strong philosophical tendencies and Hesiod, like Homer, demonstrates a deep interest in a wide range of 'philosophical' issues, from the nature of divine justice to the beginnings of human society. Aristotle (''
Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
'' 983b–987a) believed that the question of first causes may even have started with Hesiod (''Theogony'' 116–53) and Homer (''
Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
'' 14.201, 246). He viewed the world from outside the charmed circle of aristocratic rulers, protesting against their injustices in a tone of voice that has been described as having a "grumpy quality redeemed by a gaunt dignity" but, as stated in the biography section, he could also change to suit the audience. This ambivalence appears to underlie his presentation of human history in ''Works and Days'', where he depicts a golden period when life was easy and good, followed by a steady decline in behaviour and happiness through the silver, bronze, and Iron Ages – except that he inserts a heroic age between the last two, representing its warlike men as better than their bronze predecessors. He seems in this case to be catering to two different world-views, one epic and aristocratic, the other unsympathetic to the heroic traditions of the aristocracy.


''Theogony''

The ''Theogony'' is commonly considered Hesiod's earliest work. Despite the different subject matter between this poem and the ''Works and Days'', most scholars, with some notable exceptions, believe that the two works were written by the same man. As M. L. West writes, "Both bear the marks of a distinct personality: a surly, conservative countryman, given to reflection, no lover of women or life, who felt the gods' presence heavy about him." An example:
Hateful strife bore painful Toil, Neglect, Starvation, and tearful Pain, Battles, Combats...
The ''Theogony'' concerns the origins of the world (
cosmogony Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe. Overview Scientific theories In astronomy, cosmogony is the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used in ref ...
) and of the gods (
theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
), beginning with Chaos,
Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...
,
Tartarus In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; ) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's '' Gorgias'' (), souls are judged after ...
and
Eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...
, and shows a special interest in
genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
. Embedded in
Greek myth Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancien ...
, there remain fragments of quite variant tales, hinting at the rich variety of myth that once existed, city by city; but Hesiod's retelling of the old stories became, according to
Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
, the accepted version that linked all Hellenes. It's the earliest known source for the myths of
Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...
,
Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...
and the
Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...
. The creation myth in Hesiod has long been held to have Eastern influences, such as the Hittite Song of Kumarbi and the
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
ian Enuma Elis. This cultural crossover may have occurred in the eighth- and ninth-century Greek trading colonies such as Al Mina in North
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. (For more discussion, read Robin Lane Fox's ''Travelling Heroes'' and Peter Walcot's ''Hesiod and the Near East''.)


''Works and Days''

''Works and Days'' is a poem of over 800 lines which revolves around two general truths: labour is the universal lot of Man, but he who is willing to work will get by. Scholars have interpreted this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, which inspired a wave of documented
colonisation 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...
s in search of new land. ''Works and Days'' may have been influenced by an established tradition of
didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...
poetry based on Sumerian, Hebrew, Babylonian and Egyptian wisdom literature. This work lays out the five
Ages of Man The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation. Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...
, as well as containing advice and wisdom, prescribing a life of honest labour and attacking idleness and unjust judges (like those who decided in favour of Perses) as well as the practice of usury. It describes immortals who roam the earth watching over justice and injustice. The poem regards labor as the source of all good, in that both gods and men hate the idle, who resemble drones in a hive. In the horror of the triumph of violence over hard work and honor, verses describing the "Golden Age" present the social character and practice of nonviolent diet through agriculture and fruit-culture as a higher path of living sufficiently.


Hesiodic corpus

In addition to the ''Theogony'' and ''Works and Days'', numerous other poems were ascribed to Hesiod during antiquity. Modern scholarship has doubted their authenticity, and these works are generally referred to as forming part of the "Hesiodic corpus" whether or not their authorship is accepted. The situation is summed up in this formulation by Glenn Most: Of these works forming the extended Hesiodic corpus, only the '' Shield of Heracles'' (, ''Aspis Hērakleous'') is transmitted intact via a medieval manuscript tradition. Classical authors also attributed to Hesiod a lengthy genealogical poem known as ''
Catalogue of Women The ''Catalogue of Women'' ()—also known as the ''Ehoiai '' (, )The Latin transliterations ''Eoeae'' and ''Ehoeae'' are also used (e.g. , ); see Catalogue of Women#Title and the ē' hoiē-formula, Title and the ''ē' hoiē''-formula, below. Th ...
'' or ''Ehoiai'' (because sections began with the Greek words ''ē hoiē,'' "Or like the one who ..."). It was a mythological catalogue of the mortal women who had mated with gods, and of the offspring and descendants of these unions. Several additional hexameter poems were ascribed to Hesiod: * ''
Megalai Ehoiai __NOTOC__ The ''Megalai Ehoiai'' (, ), or ''Great Ehoiai'', is a fragmentary Greek epic poem that was popularly, though not universally, attributed to Hesiod during antiquity. Like the more widely read Hesiodic ''Catalogue of Women'', the ''Mega ...
'', a poem similar to the ''Catalogue of Women'', but presumably longer. * '' Wedding of Ceyx'', a poem concerning Heracles' attendance at the wedding of a certain Ceyx—noted for its riddles. * '' Melampodia'', a genealogical poem that treats of the families of, and myths associated with, the great seers of mythology. * '' Idaean Dactyls'', a work concerning mythological smelters, the Idaean Dactyls. * '' Descent of Perithous'', about
Theseus Theseus (, ; ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes desc ...
and Perithous' trip to Hades. * '' Precepts of Chiron'', a didactic work that presented the teaching of
Chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". Biography Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology for ...
as delivered to the young
Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...
. * '' Megala Erga'' or ''Great Works'', a poem similar to the ''Works and Days'', but presumably longer * '' Astronomia'', an astronomical poem to which Callimachus (''Ep''. 27) apparently compared
Aratus Aratus (; ; c. 315/310 240 BC) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' (, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; ), the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cn ...
' ''Phaenomena''. * ''
Aegimius Aegimius (Ancient Greek: Αἰγίμιος) was the Greek mythological ancestor of the Dorians, who is described as their king and lawgiver at the time when they were yet inhabiting the northern parts of Thessaly. Mythology Aegimius asked Hera ...
'', a heroic epic concerning the Dorian
Aegimius Aegimius (Ancient Greek: Αἰγίμιος) was the Greek mythological ancestor of the Dorians, who is described as their king and lawgiver at the time when they were yet inhabiting the northern parts of Thessaly. Mythology Aegimius asked Hera ...
(variously attributed to Hesiod or Cercops of Miletus). * ''
Kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or Chemical Changes, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...
'' or ''Potters'', a brief poem asking Athena to aid potters if they pay the poet. Also attributed to Homer. * ''Ornithomantia'', a work on bird omens that followed the ''Works and Days''. In addition to these works, the ''Suda'' lists an otherwise unknown "dirge for Batrachus, esiod'sbeloved".


Reception

*
Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...
's countryman and contemporary, the lyric poet Alcaeus, paraphrased a section of ''Works and Days'' (582–88), recasting it in lyric meter and Lesbian dialect. The paraphrase survives only as a fragment. *The lyric poet
Bacchylides Bacchylides (; ''Bakkhulides''; – ) was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets, which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted in Bacchylidea ...
quoted or paraphrased Hesiod in a victory ode addressed to Hieron of Syracuse, commemorating the tyrant's victory in the chariot race at the Pythian Games 470 BC, the attribution made with these words: "A man of Boeotia, Hesiod, minister of the weetMuses, spoke thus: 'He whom the immortals honour is attended also by the good report of men.'" However, the quoted words are not found in Hesiod's extant work.The Bacchylidean victory ode is fr. 5 Loeb. Theognis of Megara (169) is the source of a similar sentiment ("Even the fault-finder praises one whom the gods honour") but without attribution. See also fr. 344 M.-W (D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'' IV, Loeb 1992, p. 153) *Hesiod's ''Catalogue of Women'' created a vogue for catalogue poems in the Hellenistic period. Thus for example
Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...
presents catalogues of heroines in two of his bucolic poems (3.40–51 and 20.34–41), where both passages are recited in character by lovelorn rustics.


Depictions


Monnus mosaic

Portrait of Hesiod from Augusta Treverorum (
Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
), from the end of the 3rd century AD. The mosaic is signed in its central field by the maker, 'MONNUS FECIT' ('Monnus made this'). The figure is identified by name: 'ESIO-DVS' ('Hesiod'). It is the only known authenticated portrait of Hesiod.


Portrait bust

The Roman bronze bust, the so-called '' Pseudo-Seneca,'' of the late first century BC found at
Herculaneum Herculaneum is an ancient Rome, ancient Roman town located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of ...
is now thought not to be of
Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...
. It has been identified by Gisela Richter as an imagined portrait of Hesiod. In fact, it has been recognized since 1813 that the bust was not of Seneca when an inscribed
herma A herma (, plural ), commonly herm in English, is a sculpture with a head and perhaps a torso above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which male genitals may also be carved at the appropriate height. Hermae were so called either becaus ...
portrait of Seneca with quite different features was discovered. Most scholars now follow Richter's identification.Gisela Richter, ''The Portraits of the Greeks''. London: Phaidon (1965), I, p. 58 ff.; commentators agreeing with Richter include Wolfram Prinz, "The Four Philosophers by Rubens and the Pseudo-Seneca in Seventeenth-Century Painting" in ''The Art Bulletin'' 55.3 (September 1973), pp. 410–428. " ��one feels that it may just as well have been the Greek writer Hesiod �� and Martin Robertson, in his review of G. Richter, ''The Portraits of the Greeks'' for ''The Burlington Magazine'' 108.756 (March 1966), pp. 148–150. " ��with Miss Richter, I accept the identification as Hesiod."


Hesiod's Greek

Hesiod employed the conventional dialect of epic verse, which was Ionian. Comparisons with Homer, a native Ionian, can be unflattering. Hesiod's handling of the
dactylic hexameter Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter used in Ancient Greek epic and didactic poetry as well as in epic, didactic, satirical, and pastoral Latin poetry. Its name is derived from Greek (, "finger") and (, "six"). Dactylic hexameter consists o ...
was not as masterful or fluent as Homer's and one modern scholar refers to his "hobnailed hexameters". His use of language and meter in ''Works and Days'' and ''Theogony'' distinguishes him also from the author of the ''Shield of Heracles''. All three poets, for example, employed
digamma Digamma or wau (uppercase: Ϝ, lowercase: ϝ, numeral: ϛ) is an Archaic Greek alphabets, archaic letter of the Greek alphabet. It originally stood for the sound but it has remained in use principally as a Greek numeral for 6 (number), 6. Whe ...
inconsistently, sometimes allowing it to affect syllable length and meter, sometimes not. The ratio of observance/neglect of digamma varies between them. The extent of variation depends on how the evidence is collected and interpreted but there is a clear trend, revealed for example in the following set of statistics. Hesiod does not observe digamma as often as the others do. That result is a bit counter-intuitive since digamma was still a feature of the Boeotian dialect that Hesiod probably spoke, whereas it had already vanished from the Ionic vernacular of Homer. This anomaly can be explained by the fact that Hesiod made a conscious effort to compose like an Ionian epic poet at a time when digamma was not heard in Ionian speech, while Homer tried to compose like an older generation of Ionian bards, when it was heard in Ionian speech. There is also a significant difference in the results for ''Theogony'' and ''Works and Days'', but that is merely due to the fact that the former includes a catalog of divinities and therefore it makes frequent use of the definite article associated with digamma, oἱ. Though typical of epic, his vocabulary features some significant differences from Homer's. One scholar has counted 278 un-Homeric words in ''Works and Days'', 151 in ''Theogony'' and 95 in ''Shield of Heracles''. The disproportionate number of un-Homeric words in ''W & D'' is due to its un-Homeric subject matter.The count of un-Homeric words is by H.K. Fietkau, ''De carminum hesiodeorum atque hymnorum quattuor magnorum vocabulis non homericis'' (Königsberg, 1866), cited by M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 77. Hesiod's vocabulary also includes quite a lot of formulaic phrases that are not found in Homer, which indicates that he may have been writing within a different tradition.West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 78.


Notes


Citations


References

* Allen, T. W. and Arthur A. Rambaut, "The Date of Hesiod", '' The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', 35 (1915), pp. 85–99. * . * . * Barron, J. P. and Easterling, P. E. (1985), "Hesiod", ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press. * Buckham, Philip Wentworth (1827)
''Theatre of the Greeks''
* . * . * Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (1964), ''Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' (=
Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...
, vol. 57), Harvard University Press, pp. xliii–xlvii. * Lamberton, Robert (1988)
''Hesiod''
New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
. . * . * . * Murray, Gilbert (1897), ''A History of Ancient Greek Literature'', New York: D. Appleton and Company, pp. 53 ff. * . * Peabody, Berkley (1975), ''The Winged Word: A Study in the Technique of Ancient Greek Oral Composition as Seen Principally Through Hesiod's Works and Days'', State University of New York Press. . * Pucci, Pietro (1977), ''Hesiod and the Language of Poetry'', Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. . * . * Rohde, Erwin (1925), ''Psyche. The cult of the souls and belief in immortality among the Greeks'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. * Symonds, John Addington (1873), ''Studies of the Greek Poets'', London: Smyth, Elder & Co. * Taylor, Thomas (1891), ''A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries'', New York: J. W. Bouton. *


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Zeitlin, Froma (1996). 'Signifying difference: the case of Hesiod's Pandora', in Froma Zeitlin, ''Playing the Other: Gender and Society in Classical Greek Literature''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 53–86.


Selected translations

*
George Chapman George Chapman ( – 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is ...
, ''The Works of Hesiod'', London, 1618, dedicated to
Sir Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General for England and Wales, Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under James VI and I, King ...
. * Cooke, Hesiod, ''Works and Days'', Translated from the Greek, London, 1728 * Sinclair, Thomas Alan (translator), ''Hesiodou Erga kai hemerai'', London, Macmillan and co., 1932. * West, Martin Litchfield (translator), ''Hesiod Works & Days'',
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1978, . Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary. * Athanassakis, Apostolos N., ''Theogony; Works and days; Shield / Hesiod; introduction, translation, and notes'', Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...
, 1983. * Frazer, R.M. (Richard McIlwaine), ''The Poems of Hesiod'', Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...
, 1983. * Tandy, David W., and Neale, Walter C. ranslators ''Works and Days: a translation and commentary for the social sciences'', Berkeley:
University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
, 1996. * Schlegel, Catherine M., and Henry Weinfield, translators, ''Theogony and Works and Days'', Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2006 * . * .


External links

* * * * Hesiod
''Works and Days Book 1''
Translated from the Greek by Mr. Cooke (London, 1728). A youthful exercise in Augustan heroic couplets by Thomas Cooke (1703–1756), employing the Roman names for all the gods. * Web texts taken from ''Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica'', edited and translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, published as
Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...
No. 57, 1914, :
Scanned text at the Internet Archive
in
PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
and DjVu format *
Perseus Classics Collection: Greek and Roman Materials: Text: Hesiod
(Greek texts and English translations for ''Works and Days'', ''
Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...
'', and ''Shield of Heracles'' with additional notes and cross links.) ** Versions of the electronic edition of Evelyn-White's English translation edited by Douglas B. Killings, June 1995: **
Project Gutenberg plain text
**
The Medieval and Classical Literature Library: Hesiod
**

(''Theogony'' and ''Works and Days'' only) *
Hesiod Poems and Fragments
including Ps-Hesiod works ''Astronomy'' and ''Catalogue of Women'' a
demonax.info
{{Authority control 8th-century BC births 8th-century BC Greek poets Ancient Boeotian poets Ancient Greek didactic poets Year of death unknown 8th-century BC philosophers 7th-century BC Greek philosophers