Hesiod

Hesiod's straightforward account of family conflict among the gods is the best and earliest evidence of what the ancient Greeks believed about the beginning of the world. Includes Hesiod's "Works and Days", lines 1-201, and material from the Library of Apollodorus.

"This volume includes Hesiod's Works and Days and Theogony, two of the oldest non-Homeric poems to survive from antiquity. Works and Days is in part a farmer's almanac - filled with cautionary tales and advice for managing harvests and maintaining a good work ethic - and Theogony is the earliest comprehensive account of classical mythology including, as it does, the names and genealogies of the gods (and giants and monsters) of Olympus, the sea, and the underworld. Throughout Hine brings out Hesiod's unmistakable personality; Hesiod's tales of his escapades and his gritty and persuasive voice not only give us a sense of the author's character but also offer up a rare glimpse of the everyday life of ordinary people in the eighth century BCE." "In contrast, the Homeric Hymns depict aristocratic life in a polished tone that reveals nothing of the narrators' personalities. These hymns (so named because they address the deities in short invocations at the beginning and end of each) are some of the earliest examples of epyllia, or short stories, in the epic manner in Greek." "This volume unites Hine's translations of the Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns - along with his rendering of the mock-Homeric epic The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice - in a pairing of these important classics."--Jacket.

Hesiod describes himself as a Boeotian shepherd who heard the Muses call upon him to sing about the gods. His exact dates are unknown, but he has often been considered a younger contemporary of Homer.The first volume of this revised Loeb Classical Library edition offers Hesiod’s two extant poems and a generous selection of testimonia regarding his life, works, and reception. In Theogony, Hesiod charts the history of the divine world, narrating the origin of the universe and the rise of the gods, from first beginnings to the triumph of Zeus, and reporting on the progeny of Zeus and of goddesses in union with mortal men. In Works and Days, Hesiod shifts his attention to humanity, delivering moral precepts and practical advice regarding agriculture, navigation, and many other matters; along the way he gives us the myths of Pandora and of the Golden, Silver, and other Races of Men.The second volume contains The Shield and extant fragments of other poems, including the Catalogue of Women, that were attributed to Hesiod in antiquity. The former provides a Hesiodic counterpoint to the shield of Achilles in the Iliad; the latter presents several legendary episodes organized according to the genealogy of their heroes’ mortal mothers. None of these is now thought to be by Hesiod himself, but all have considerable literary and historical interest.Glenn W. Most has thoroughly revised his edition to take account of the textual and interpretive scholarship that has appeared since its initial publication.

"Hesiod belongs to the transitional period in Greek civilization during which a literary culture sustained through oral tradition was transformed by the emergence of a written alphabet. His two major surviving works, the Theogony and the Works and Days, present a broad view of the divine and the mundane, respectively. The Theogony traces the origins of the Greek gods and recounts the events surrounding the crowning of Zeus as their king. A manual of moral instruction in verse, the Works and Days was addressed to farmers and peasants." "Introducing his celebrated translations of these two poems and of the Shield, a closely related poem of now-disputed authorship, Apostolos N. Athanassakis positions Hesiod simultaneously as a philosopher-poet, a bard with deep roots in the culture of his native Boeotia, and the heir to a long tradition of Hellenic poetry. For this revised edition, Athanassakis has provided an expanded introduction on Hesiod and his work, made careful corrections and amendments to his faithful translations, significantly augmented the notes and index, and updated the bibliography. Already a classic, Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Shield is now more valuable than ever for students of Greek mythology and literature."--BOOK JACKET.