View source for Hesiod

{{Short description|Ancient Greek poet of the archaic period}}
{{About|the ancient Greek poet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Hesiod
| native_name      = Ἡσίοδος
| native_name_lang = grc
| language         = [[Ancient Greek]]
| occupation       = {{hlist|Poet|philosopher|farmer}}
| image            = Bust of Hesiod (?)-Ancient Roman busts in the Neues Museum.jpg
| caption          = A possible imaginative depiction of Hesiod (Roman copy of a Greek original)
| notable_works    = * ''[[Works and Days]]''
* ''[[Theogony]]''
| years_active     = {{circa}} 750-650 BC<ref name="L. West, 1966 p. 40">M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.</ref><ref name="J.Boardman, J 1986 p. 88">[[Jasper Griffin]], "Greek Myth and Hesiod", J.Boardman, J.Griffin and O. Murray (eds.), ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', [[Oxford University Press]] (1986), p. 88.</ref>
}}

'''Hesiod''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|iː|s|i|ə|d}} {{respell|HEE|see|əd}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɛ|s|i|ə|d}} {{respell|HEH|see|əd}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Hesiod "Hesiod"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{langx|grc|Ἡσίοδος}} ''Hēsíodos''; {{fl.|{{circa}} 700 BC}}) was an [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as [[Homer]].<ref name="L. West, 1966 p. 40">M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.</ref><ref name="J.Boardman, J 1986 p. 88">[[Jasper Griffin]], "Greek Myth and Hesiod", J.Boardman, J.Griffin and O. Murray (eds.), ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', [[Oxford University Press]] (1986), p. 88.</ref>

Several of Hesiod's works have survived in their entirety. Among these are ''[[Theogony]]'', which tells the origins of the gods, their lineages, and the events that led to [[Zeus]]'s rise to power, and ''[[Works and Days]]'', a poem that describes the five [[Ages of Man]], 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.'<ref>Barron, J. P., and [[Easterling, P. E.]], "Hesiod" in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature,'', P. E. Easterling and B. Knox (eds.), Cambridge University Press (1989), [https://books.google.com/books?id=zLUzKHNI4qsC&pg=PA51 p. 51].</ref> Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek religious customs.<ref>[[Andrewes, Antony]], ''Greek Society'', [[Pelican Books]] (1971), p. 254 f.</ref> Modern scholars refer to him as a major source on [[Greek mythology]], farming techniques, early economic thought,<ref>[[Rothbard, Murray N.]], ''Economic Thought Before Adam Smith: Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Cheltenham, UK: [[Edward Elgar Publishing]] (1995), p. 8; Gordan, Barry J., ''Economic Analysis Before Adam Smith: Hesiod to Lessius'' (1975), p. 3; Brockway, George P., ''The End of Economic Man: An Introduction to Humanistic Economics'', 4th edition (2001), p. 128.</ref> Archaic Greek [[astronomy]], [[Early Greek cosmology|cosmology]], and [[History of timekeeping devices#Continuous timekeeping devices|ancient time-keeping]].

==Life==
The dating of Hesiod's life is a contested issue in scholarly circles (''see [[#Dating|§ Dating]] below''). [[Epic poetry|Epic narrative]] allowed poets such as [[Homer]] no opportunity for personal revelations. However Hesiod's extant work comprises several [[didactic poem]]s 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]]'', as well as some passages in his ''[[Theogony]]'', that support inferences made by scholars. The former poem says that his father came from [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cyme]] in [[Aeolis]] (on the coast of [[Anatolia]], a little south of the island of [[Lesbos]]) and crossed the sea to settle at a hamlet near [[Thespiae]] in [[Boeotia]] named [[Ascra]], "a cursed place, cruel in winter, hard in summer, never pleasant" (''Works'' 640). Hesiod's patrimony {{gloss|mode=def|property inherited from one's father or male ancestor}} in Ascra, a small piece of ground at the foot of [[Mount Helicon]], occasioned [[lawsuits]] with his brother [[Perses (brother of Hesiod)|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]] to participate in funeral celebrations for one Amphidamas of [[Chalcis]] and there won a [[Sacrificial tripod#Ancient Greece|tripod]] in a singing competition.<ref>Jasper Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', J. Boardman, J. Griffin and O. Murray (eds), Oxford University Press (1986), pp. 88, 95.</ref> He also describes meeting the [[Muses]] on [[Mount Helicon]], where he had been pasturing sheep, when the goddesses presented him with a [[Laurus nobilis|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]] or he would have been presented with a [[lyre]] instead.<ref group="nb">See discussion by M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 163 f., note 30, citing for example [[Pausanias (geographer)|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]]. Meetings between poets and the Muses became part of poetic folklore: compare, for example, [[Archilochus]]' account of meeting the Muses while leading home a cow and the legend of [[Cædmon]].</ref>

[[File:Hesiod and the Muse.jpg|thumb|left|''Hesiod and the [[Muse]]'' (1891), by [[Gustave Moreau]]. The poet is presented with a [[lyre]], in contradiction to the account given by Hesiod himself, in which the gift was a laurel staff.]]

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.<ref>Hugh G. Evelyn-White, ''Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' (= [[Loeb Classical Library]], vol. 57), Harvard University Press (1964), p. xiv f.</ref> 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,<ref group="nb">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''.</ref> 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.<ref>Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', p. 95.</ref> [[Gregory Nagy]], on the other hand, sees both ''Pérsēs'' ("the destroyer" from {{lang|grc|πέρθω}}, ''pérthō'') and ''Hēsíodos'' ("he who emits the voice" from {{lang|grc|ἵημι}}, ''híēmi'' and {{lang|grc|αὐδή}}, ''audḗ'') as fictitious names for poetical [[persona]]e.<ref>Gregory Nagy, ''Greek Mythology and Poetics'', Cornell (1990), pp. 36–82.</ref>

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]] in [[Campania]] (a colony they shared with the Euboeans), and possibly his move west had something to do with that, since [[Euboea]] is not far from [[Boeotia]], where he eventually established himself and his family.<ref>Barron and Easterling, 'Hesiod' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', p. 93.</ref> 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.<ref name="Burn, 77">A. R. Burn, ''The Pelican History of Greece'', Penguin (1966), p. 77.</ref>

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]]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.).<ref>Barron and Easterling, 'Hesiod' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', p. 93 f.</ref> 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.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 41 f.</ref> The father probably spoke in the [[Aeolic Greek|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 [[Ionic Greek|Ionian]].<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 90 f.</ref>

It is probable that Hesiod wrote his poems down, or dictated them, rather than passing them on orally, as [[rhapsode]]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 (geographer)|Pausanias]] asserted that [[Boeotia]]ns showed him an old tablet made of lead on which the ''Works'' were engraved.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D31%3Asection%3D4 IX, 31.4].</ref> 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.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', pp. 40 f., 47 f.</ref> Possibly he composed his verses during idle times on the farm, in the spring before the May harvest or the dead of winter.<ref name="Burn, 77"/>

[[File:1807 Thorvaldsen Tanz der Musen auf dem Helikon anagoria.JPG|thumb|400px|right|''The Dance of the Muses at Mount Helicon'' by [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]] (1807). Hesiod cites inspiration from the [[Muses]] while on Mount Helicon.]]

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."<ref>Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', p. 88.</ref> He was in fact a "[[Misogyny|misogynist]]" of the same calibre as the later poet [[Semonides]].<ref>Barron and Easterling, 'Hesiod' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', p. 99.</ref> He resembles [[Solon]] 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]] in his rejection of the idealised hero of epic literature in favour of an idealized view of the farmer.<ref>Andrewes, ''Greek Society'', pp. 218 f., 262.</ref> 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.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 44.</ref>

Various legends accumulated about Hesiod and they are recorded in several sources: 
*the story about the ''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod]]'';<ref>Translated in Evelyn-White, ''Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'', pp. 565–597.</ref>
*a ''[[Biography|vita]]'' of Hesiod by the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] grammarian [[John Tzetzes]];
*the entry for Hesiod in the ''[[Suda]]'';
*two passages and some scattered remarks in [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (IX, 31.3–6 and 38.3 f.);
*a passage in [[Plutarch]] ''Moralia'' (162b).

===Death===

Two different—yet early—traditions record the site of Hesiod's grave. One, as early as [[Thucydides]], reported in Plutarch, the ''Suda'' and John Tzetzes, states that the [[Delphic oracle]] warned Hesiod that he would die in [[Nemea]], 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 [[Irony|ironic]] convention: the [[oracle]] predicts accurately after all. The other tradition, first mentioned in an [[epigram]] 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]]'s ''Constitution of Orchomenus'', when the [[Thespiae|Thespian]]s 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]]'', next to the tomb of [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]], their eponymous founder. Eventually they came to regard Hesiod too as their "hearth-founder" ({{lang|grc|οἰκιστής}}, ''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 [[Milesians (Greek)|Milesian]] fellow-traveler) managed to escape.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elton |first1=Charles Abraham |title=The Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan, Including the Shield of Hercules by Hesiod |date=1815 |publisher=BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY |location=London |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66350 |access-date=29 September 2021}}</ref>

=== Dating<!--linked from the 'Life' section above--> ===
[[File:Helikonmountainascent.JPG|thumb|right|Modern Mount Helicon. Hesiod once described his nearby hometown, [[Ascra]], as "cruel in winter, hard in summer, never pleasant."]]

Greeks in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC considered their oldest poets to be [[Orpheus]], [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]], Hesiod and [[Homer]]—in that order.<ref>Rosen, Ralph M.(1997) Homer and Hesiod University of Pennsylvania
ScholarlyCommons https://repository.upenn.edu/classics_papers/7</ref> 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]] and [[Heraclides Ponticus]], 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]] (''Histories'' II, 53) evidently considered them near-contemporaries, and the 4th century BC [[sophist]] [[Alcidamas]] in his work ''Mouseion'' even brought them together for an imagined poetic ''[[Agon|ágōn]]'' ({{lang|grc|ἄγών}}), 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.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', pp. 40, 47.</ref>

Hesiod certainly predates the [[Greek lyric|lyric]] and [[elegiac]] poets whose work has come down to the modern era.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} Imitations of his work have been observed in [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]], [[Epimenides]], [[Mimnermus]], [[Semonides]], [[Tyrtaeus]] and [[Archilochus]], 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]] that was of little national significance before c. 750 BC (''Theogony'' 499), and he lists rivers that flow into the [[Euxine]], a region explored and developed by Greek colonists beginning in the 8th century BC. (''Theogony'' 337–45).<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 40 ff.</ref>

Hesiod mentions a poetry contest at [[Chalcis]] in [[Euboea]] where the sons of one [[Amphidamas]] awarded him a tripod (''Works and Days'' 654–662). [[Plutarch]] identified this Amphidamas with the hero of the [[Lelantine War]] between Chalcis and [[Eretria]] 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.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 43 ff.</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Hesiodi Ascraei quaecumque exstant.tif|thumb|[[Vignette (graphic design)|Vignette]] for ''Hesiodi Ascraei quaecumque exstant'' (1701)]]

Three works have survived which were attributed to Hesiod by ancient commentators: ''[[Works and Days]]'', ''[[Theogony]]'', and ''[[Shield of Heracles]]''. Only fragments exist of other works attributed to him. The surviving works and fragments were all written in the [[Dactylic hexameter|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 (geographer)|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 (linguistics)|prosody]] that subtly distinguish them from Homer's work and from the ''Shield of Heracles''<ref>Barron and Easterling, ''Hesiod'' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', p. 94.</ref> (see [[#Hesiod's Greek|Hesiod's Greek]] below). Moreover, they both refer to the same version of the Prometheus myth.<ref>Vernant, J., ''Myth and Society in Ancient Greece'', tr. J. Lloyd (1980), p. 184 f.</ref> 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 [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] hymn to [[Zeus]] (they were recognised as not the work of Hesiod by critics as ancient as Pausanias).<ref>J. A. Symonds, ''Studies of the Greek Poets'', p. 167.</ref>
 
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.<ref>[[Paul Cartledge]], ''Sparta and Lakonia – A regional history 1300 to 362 BC''. 2nd Edition.</ref> Hesiod has also been considered the father of [[gnomic verse]].<ref>Symonds, ''Studies of the Greek Poets'', p. 166.</ref> He had "a passion for systematizing and explaining things".<ref name="Burn, 77"/> [[Ancient Greek poetry]] 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 (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]]'' 983b–987a) believed that the question of [[Unmoved mover#First cause|first causes]] may even have started with Hesiod (''Theogony'' 116–53) and Homer (''[[Iliad]]'' 14.201, 246).<ref>W. Allen, ''Tragedy and the Early Greek Philosophical Tradition'', p. 72.</ref>

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"<ref>Andrewes, ''Greek Society'', p. 218.</ref> 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&nbsp;– 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.<ref>Burn, ''The Pelican History of Greece'', p. 78.</ref>

===''Theogony''===
{{Main|Theogony}}
The ''Theogony'' is commonly considered Hesiod's earliest work.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} 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 [[Martin Litchfield West|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."<ref>M. L. West, "Hesiod" in ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', S. Hornblower & A. Spawforth (eds), third revised edition, Oxford (1996), p. 521.</ref> An example:

<blockquote><poem>Hateful strife bore painful Toil,
Neglect, Starvation, and tearful Pain,
Battles, Combats...</poem></blockquote>

The ''Theogony'' concerns the origins of the world ([[cosmogony]]) and of the gods ([[theogony]]), beginning with [[Chaos (mythology)|Chaos]], [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], [[Tartarus]] and [[Eros (mythology)|Eros]], and shows a special interest in [[genealogy]]. Embedded in [[Greek mythology|Greek myth]], 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]], the accepted version that linked all [[Greeks|Hellenes]]. It is the earliest known source for the myths of [[Pandora]], [[Prometheus]] and the [[Golden Age]].

The creation myth in Hesiod has long been held to have Eastern influences, such as the [[Hittites|Hittite]] [[Song of Kumarbi]] and the [[Babylon]]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]]. (For more discussion, read [[Robin Lane Fox]]'s ''Travelling Heroes'' and Peter Walcot's ''Hesiod and the Near East''.)

===''Works and Days''===
{{Main|Works and Days}}
[[File:Houghton MS Gr 20 - Theogeny, 10.jpg|thumb|Opening lines of ''Works and Days'' in a 16th-century manuscript]]
''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]], which inspired a wave of documented [[Greek colonies|colonisation]]s in search of new land.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

''Works and Days'' may have been influenced by an established tradition of [[didactic]] poetry based on Sumerian, Hebrew, Babylonian and Egyptian wisdom literature.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

This work lays out the five [[Ages of Man]], 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 (brother of Hesiod)|Perses]]) as well as the practice of usury. It describes immortals who roam the earth watching over justice and injustice.<ref>Hesiod, ''Works and Days'' 250: "Verily upon the earth are thrice ten thousand immortals of the host of [[Zeus]], guardians of mortal man. They watch both justice and injustice, robed in mist, roaming abroad upon the earth." (Compare Symonds, ''Studies of the Greek Poets'', p. 179.)</ref> The poem regards labor as the source of all good, in that both gods and men hate the idle, who resemble [[Drone (bee)|drones]] in a hive.<ref>''Works and Days'' 300: "Both gods and men are angry with a man who lives idle, for in nature he is like the stingless drones who waste the labor of the [[bees]], eating without working."</ref> 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 [[vegetarianism|nonviolent diet]] through agriculture and fruit-culture as a higher path of living sufficiently.<ref>Williams, Howard, [http://www.ivu.org/history/williams/hesiod.html ''The Ethics of Diet – A Catena''] (1883).</ref>

===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.<ref>E.g. {{harvtxt|Cingano|2009}}.</ref> The situation is summed up in this formulation by [[Glenn W. Most|Glenn Most]]:
{{blockquote|"Hesiod" is the name of a person; "Hesiodic" is a designation for a kind of poetry, including but not limited to the poems of which the authorship may reasonably be assigned to Hesiod himself.<ref>{{harvtxt|Most|2006|p=xi}}.</ref>}}
Of these works forming the extended Hesiodic corpus, only the ''[[Shield of Heracles]]'' ({{lang|grc|Ἀσπὶς Ἡρακλέους}}, ''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]]'' or ''Ehoiai'' (because sections began with the Greek words ''ē hoiē,'' "Or like the one who&nbsp;..."). 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]]'', 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 (poem)|Idaean Dactyls]]'', a work concerning mythological smelters, the [[Dactyl (mythology)#Idaean Dactyls|Idaean Dactyls]].
* ''[[Descent of Perithous]]'', about [[Theseus]] and [[Perithous]]' trip to Hades.
* ''[[Precepts of Chiron]]'', a didactic work that presented the teaching of [[Chiron]] as delivered to the young [[Achilles]].
* ''[[Megala Erga]]'' or ''Great Works'', a poem similar to the ''Works and Days'', but presumably longer
* ''[[Astronomia (poem)|Astronomia]]'', an astronomical poem to which Callimachus (''Ep''. 27) apparently compared [[Aratus]]' ''Phaenomena''.
* ''[[Aegimius (poem)|Aegimius]]'', a heroic epic concerning the Dorian [[Aegimius]] (variously attributed to Hesiod or [[Cercops of Miletus]]).
* ''[[Kiln (poem)|Kiln]]'' 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, [Hesiod's] beloved".<ref>''Suda'', s.v. [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?db=REAL&search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&user_list=LIST&page_num=1&searchstr=eta,583&field=adlerhw_gr&num_per_page=1 {{lang|grc|Ἡσίοδος (η}} 583)].</ref>

==Reception==
[[File:Bronze Bust of an Aged Man.jpg|thumb|Ancient bronze bust, the so-called ''[[Pseudo-Seneca]]'', now conjectured to be an imaginative portrait of Hesiod.<ref>{{cite book |author= Erika Simon |title= Pergamon und Hesiod |language=de |location= Mainz am Rhein |publisher= Philipp von Zabern |year=1975 |oclc=2326703}}</ref>]]

*[[Sappho]]'s countryman and contemporary, the lyric poet [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|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.<ref>Alcaeus fr. 347 Loeb, cited by D. Cambell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry: a selection of early Greek lyric, elegiac and iambic poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), p. 301.</ref>

*The lyric poet [[Bacchylides]] 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 [sweet] Muses, 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.<ref group="nb">The Bacchylidean quotation features in lines 191-194 of his victory ode 5. [[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)</ref>
*Hesiod's ''Catalogue of Women'' created a vogue for catalogue poems in the Hellenistic period. Thus for example [[Theocritus]] 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.<ref>Richard Hunter, ''Theocritus: A Selection'', Cambridge University Press (1999), pages 122–23</ref>

== Depictions ==

=== Monnus mosaic ===
[[File:Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier 20210705 113435 (51291907059).jpg|alt=Monnus mosaic from the end of the 3rd century AD. The figure is identified by the name name ESIODVS (Hesiod).|thumb|Monnus mosaic from the end of the 3rd century AD. The figure is identified by the name {{lang|la-x-classic|ESIODVS|italics=no}} ({{gloss|Hesiod}}).]]
Portrait of Hesiod from Augusta Treverorum ([[Trier]]), from the end of the 3rd century AD. The mosaic is signed in its central field by the maker, {{lang|la-x-classic|MONNUS FECIT|italics=no}} ({{gloss|Monnus made this}}). The figure is identified by name: {{lang|la-x-classic|ESIODVS|italics=no}} ({{gloss|Hesiod}}). It is the only known authenticated portrait of Hesiod.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Portrait of Hesiod|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/image/5835/portrait-of-hesiod/|access-date=17 December 2021|website=World History Encyclopedia|language=en}}</ref>

===Portrait bust===
The Roman bronze bust, the so-called ''[[Pseudo-Seneca]],'' of the late first century BC found at [[Herculaneum]] is now thought not to be of [[Seneca the Younger]]. 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]] portrait of Seneca with quite different features was discovered. Most scholars now follow Richter's identification.<ref group="nb">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."</ref>

==Hesiod's Greek==
[[File:Hesiodus - Carmina, 1823 - 3066705 F.jpg|thumb|Title to an edition of Hesiod's ''Carmina'' (1823)]]

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]] was not as masterful or fluent as Homer's and one modern scholar refers to his "hobnailed hexameters".<ref>Griffin, ''Greek Myth and Hesiod'', p. 88, quoting M. L. West.</ref> 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]] 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.

{|
| ''Theogony'' || 2.5/1
|-
| ''Works and Days'' || 1.5/1
|-
| ''Shield'' || 5.9/1
|-
| Homer || 5.4/1<ref group="nb">Statistics for the three 'Hesiodic' poems taken from A. V. Paues, ''De Digammo Hesiodeo Quaestiones'' (Stockholm 1897), and stats for Homer from Hartel, ''Sitzungs-Bericht der Wiener Akademie'' 78 (1874), both cited by M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 99.</ref>
|}

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.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', pp. 91, 99.</ref>

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.<ref group="nb">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.</ref> 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.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 78.</ref>

==Notes==
<references group="nb"/>

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Allen, T. W. and [[Arthur A. Rambaut]], "The Date of Hesiod", ''[[The Journal of Hellenic Studies]]'', 35 (1915), pp.&nbsp;85–99.
* {{Citation|last=Allen|first=William|title=A Companion to Greek Tragedy|publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]]|year=2006|chapter=Tragedy and the Early Greek Philosophical Tradition}}.
* {{Citation|last=Andrewes|first=Antony|title=Greek Society|publisher=Pelican Books|year=1971}}.
* Barron, J. P. and Easterling, P. E. (1985), "Hesiod", ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press.
* Buckham, Philip Wentworth (1827), [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IjAZAAAAYAAJ <!-- quote=The Theatre of the Greeks. --> ''Theatre of the Greeks''].
* {{Citation|last=Burn|first=A.R.|title=The Pelican History of Greece|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|year=1978}}.
* {{harvc |last=Cingano |first=E. |c=The Hesiodic Corpus |in=Montanari |in2=Rengakos |in3=Tsagalis |year=2009 |pages=91–130 |mode=cs2}}.
* Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (1964), ''Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' (= [[Loeb Classical Library]], vol. 57), Harvard University Press, pp. xliii–xlvii.
* [[Robert D. Lamberton|Lamberton, Robert]] (1988), [https://books.google.com/books?id=BL2AZpopNu8C ''Hesiod''], New Haven: [[Yale University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-300-04068-7}}.
* {{Citation| last=Marckscheffel| first= Johann Georg Wilhelm| title=Hesiodi, Eumeli, Cinaethonis, Asii et Carminis Naupactii fragmenta| url=https://archive.org/details/fragmenta00hesigoog|publisher=Sumtibus F.C.G. Vogelii| place=Leipzig| year=1840}}.
* {{Citation| last1=Montanari| first1=Franco| last2=Rengakos| first2=Antonios| last3=Tsagalis| first3=Christos| title=Brill's Companion to Hesiod| place=Leiden| year=2009| isbn=978-90-04-17840-3}}.
* [[Gilbert Murray|Murray, Gilbert]] (1897), ''A History of Ancient Greek Literature'', New York: [[D. Appleton and Company]], pp.&nbsp;53 ff.
* {{Citation|last=Griffin|first=Jasper|title=The Oxford History of the Classical World|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1986|chapter=Greek Myth and Hesiod}}.
* 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. {{ISBN|0-87395-059-3}}.
* Pucci, Pietro (1977), ''Hesiod and the Language of Poetry'', Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. {{ISBN|0-8018-1787-0}}.
* {{Citation| last=Reinsch-Werner| first=Hannelore| title=Callimachus Hesiodicus: Die Rezeption der hesiodischen Dichtung durch Kallimachos von Kyrene| year=1976| place=Berlin|publisher=Mielke}}.
* [[Erwin Rohde|Rohde, Erwin]] (1925), ''Psyche. The cult of the souls and belief in immortality among the Greeks'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.
* [[John Addington Symonds|Symonds, John Addington]] (1873), ''Studies of the Greek Poets'', London: Smyth, Elder & Co.
* [[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Taylor, Thomas]] (1891), ''A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries'', New York: J. W. Bouton.
* {{Citation|last=West|first=Martin L.|title=Hesiod: Theogony|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1966}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal|last=Athanassakis|first=A.N.|title=Cattle and Honour in Homer and Hesiod|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=2|pages=156–186|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002617|s2cid=163262958 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Athanassakis|first=A.N.|title=Introduction to 'Essays on Hesiod I'|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=1|pages=1–10|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002642|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite journal|last=Athanassakis|first=A.N.|title=Introduction to 'Essays on Hesiod II'|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=2|pages=117–118|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002587|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite book|last=Burn|first=Andrew Robert|title=The World of Hesiod: A Study of the Greek Middle Ages, c. 900–700 BC|year=1937|publisher=Dutton|location=New York}}
*{{cite journal|last=Clay|first=Diskin|title=The World of Hesiod|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=2|pages=131–155|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002605|s2cid=192778324 }}
*{{cite book|last=Debiasi|first=Andrea|title=Esiodo e l'occidente|year=2008|publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider|location=Roma|isbn=978-88-8265-487-0|language=it}}
*{{cite journal|last=DuBois|first=Page |title=Eros and the Woman|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=1|pages=97–116|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002691 |s2cid=163277871 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Gagarin|first=Michael|title=The Poetry of Justice: Hesiod and the Origins of Greek Law|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=1|pages=61–78|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002678|s2cid=159821254 }}
*{{cite book|last=Janko|first=Richard|title=Homer, Hesiod and the Hymns : diachronic development in epic diction|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-03565-1}}
*{{cite journal|last=Kirby|first=John T.|title=Rhetoric and Poetics in Hesiod|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=1|pages=34–60|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002666|s2cid=192214724 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Kõiv|first=Mait|title=A Note on the Dating of Hesiod|journal=The Classical Quarterly|year=2011|volume=61|issue=2|pages=355–377|doi=10.1017/s0009838811000127|s2cid=171061196}}
*{{cite book|last=Lucas|first=Frank Laurence|author-link=F. L. Lucas|title=Studies French and English|url=http://ia600401.us.archive.org//load_djvu_applet.php?file=1/items/StudiesFrenchAndEnglish/StudiesFrenchAndEnglish.djvu|year=1934|publisher=Cassell & Co|location=London|chapter=Two Poets of the Peasantry|pages=23–75}}
*{{cite book|last=Luchte|first=James|title=Early Greek Thought: Before the Dawn|year=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-0567353313}} 
*{{cite journal|last=Martin|first=Richard P.|title=Hesiod's metanastic poetics|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=1|pages=11–33|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002654|s2cid=192780443 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Nagler|first=Michael N.|title=Discourse and Conflict in Hesiod: Eris and the Erides|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=1|pages=79–96|doi=10.1017/S0048671X0000268X|s2cid=193362059 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Nagy|first=Gregory|title=Authorisation and Authorship in the Hesiodic Theogony|journal=Ramus|year=1992|volume=21|issue=2|pages=119–130|doi=10.1017/S0048671X00002599|s2cid=191714303 }}
* Slatkin, Laura. 2011. "Measuring Authority, Authoritative Measures: Hesiod’s Works and Days," in ''The Power of Thetis and Selected Essays.'' Hellenic Studies Series 16. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Slatkin.The_Power_of_Thetis_and_Selected_Essays.2011. 
*{{cite book|last=Thalmann|first=William G.|title=Conventions of form and thought in early Greek epic poetry|year=1984|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|isbn=978-0-8018-3195-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Walcot|first=P.|title=Hesiod and the Near East|year=1966|publisher=Wales University Press|location=Cardiff}}
*{{cite book|last=West|first=M.L.|title=The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: its nature, structure, and origins|year=1985|publisher=Clarendon|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-814034-4}}
*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.&nbsp;53–86.

=== Selected translations ===
* [[George Chapman]], ''The Works of Hesiod'', London, 1618, dedicated to [[Sir Francis Bacon]].
* Cooke, Hesiod, ''Works and Days'', Translated from the Greek, London, 1728
* Sinclair, Thomas Alan (translator), ''Hesiodou Erga kai hemerai'', London, Macmillan and co., 1932.
* [[Martin Litchfield West|West, Martin Litchfield]] (translator), ''Hesiod Works & Days'', [[Oxford University Press]], 1978, {{ISBN|0-19-814005-3}}. Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary.
* [[Apostolos Athanassakis|Athanassakis, Apostolos N.]], ''Theogony; Works and days; Shield / Hesiod; introduction, translation, and notes'', Baltimore: [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 1983. {{ISBN|0-8018-2998-4}}
* Frazer, R.M. (Richard McIlwaine), ''The Poems of Hesiod'', Norman: [[University of Oklahoma Press]], 1983. {{ISBN|0-8061-1837-7}}
* Tandy, David W., and Neale, Walter C. [translators], ''Works and Days: a translation and commentary for the social sciences'', Berkeley: [[University of California Press]], 1996. {{ISBN|0-520-20383-6}}
* Schlegel, Catherine M., and Henry Weinfield, translators, ''Theogony and Works and Days'', Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2006
* {{Citation| last=Most| first=G.W.| author-link=Glenn W. Most| title=Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia| series=Loeb Classical Library| volume=57| year=2006| place=Cambridge, MA| isbn=978-0-674-99622-9| url=https://archive.org/details/hesiod00hesi}}.
* {{Citation| last=Most| first=G.W.| title=Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue, Other Fragments| series=Loeb Classical Library| volume=503| year=2007| place=Cambridge, MA| isbn=978-0-674-99623-6}}.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource|Author:Hesiod|Hesiod}}
{{Commons category|Hesiod}}
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Hesiod
  |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=191}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11552}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}
* Hesiod, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110129031410/http://animalrightshistory.org/animal-rights-timeline/animal-rights-h/hesiod/works-and-days-1.htm ''Works and Days Book 1''] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110130214825/http://animalrightshistory.org/animal-rights-timeline/animal-rights-h/hesiod/works-and-days-2.htm ''Works and Days Book 2''] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110130214856/http://animalrightshistory.org/animal-rights-timeline/animal-rights-h/hesiod/works-and-days-3.htm ''Works and Days Book 3''] 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]] No. 57, 1914, {{ISBN|0-674-99063-3}}:
**[https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft Scanned text at the Internet Archive], in [[Portable Document Format|PDF]] and [[DjVu]] format
** [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Hesiod Perseus Classics Collection: Greek and Roman Materials: Text: Hesiod] (Greek texts and English translations for ''Works and Days'', ''[[Theogony]]'', 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:
*** [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/348 Project Gutenberg plain text].
*** [http://mcllibrary.org/Hesiod/ The Medieval and Classical Literature Library: Hesiod]
*** [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/index.htm Sacred Texts: Classics: The Works of Hesiod] (''Theogony'' and ''Works and Days'' only)
** [http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=archaic:hesiod Hesiod Poems and Fragments] including Ps-Hesiod works ''Astronomy'' and ''Catalogue of Women'' at [http://demonax.info/ demonax.info]

{{Hesiod}}
{{Ancient Greece topics|state=autocollapse}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hesiod| ]]
[[Category:8th-century BC births]]
[[Category:8th-century BC Greek poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Boeotian poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek didactic poets]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:8th-century BC philosophers]]
[[Category:7th-century BC Greek philosophers]]