Theogony, Works and Days

This new, fully-annotated translation by a leading expert on Hesiodic poems combines accuracy with readability and includes an introduction and explanatory notes on these two works by one of the oldest known Greek poets. The Theogony contains a systematic genealogy and account of the struggles of the gods, and the Works and Days offers a compendium of moral and practical advice for a life of honest husbandry.

Customer Review

"Theogony" is one of, if not "the", original sources of Greek mythology. Hesiod tells us the full genealogy and origins of the Greek gods, and how the hegemony of Zeus was established after bitter fights and prolific intercourse with godesses and human females. Perhaps the most impressive part of this poem is the story about the god Typhoon. Hesiod depicts a horrific set of disasters that happened to the Earth, with Typhoon apparently being an unimaginable electric storm. Scholars like Immanuel Velikovsky have taken this episode as proof that many centuries ago, Venus and Mars, then wandering cosmic bodies, came very close to each other in a location near the Earth, which presumably caused our planet's rotation to stop, with the following earthquakes, electric storms and the like. In fact, reading that passage by Hesiod strongly seemed to me to be the writing of very old memories of a defining catastrophe that left an indelible mark on human memory. Be that true or not, the poem is very powerful.

"Works and Days" is a very different story. After Hesiod's father died, his apparently indolent brother Perses tried to rob him of part of the inheritance. We all know how bitter fights among siblings can be, especially about inheritances. So Hesiod decided to write a book to teach his brother some lessons, beginning with a little history and theology, and then some practical advice on how to make a decent living by hard work and honesty. The result is a simply wonderful account of some important myths, like the ages through which man has passed (Golden, Silver, Heroic, Bronze and our own), as well as Pandora's myth. He also tells us about Prometheus, the Christ-like figure of the Greeks. After that, Hesiod tells us how a Greek farmer should plan his activities for the year, with delicious depictions of the seasons and very concrete information about their way of life.

It is a very pleasant experience to go down to the very sources of our culture, especially when written in Hesiod's light, brief and humorous way. A very old masterpiece whhich is very important for how much of it we have carried to the present day.