Hesiod

Greek poet

• Born: fl. c. 700 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Ascra, Greece
• Died: Unknown
• Place of death: Ozolian Locris, Greece(?)

Hesiod organized and interpreted the Greek myths that form the basis for European civilization and examined with moral conscience the working life of Greek society at the dawn of modern history.

Early Life

In the centuries after his death, Hellenic historians and writers so embellished the life of Hesiod (HEE-see-uhd) that a moderately detailed portrait of him developed through commentary and speculation. The work of more recent classical scholars has demonstrated that most of this material cannot be substantiated through historical records. While it is not inconceivable that subsequent archaeological discoveries will provide additional information, it seems reasonable to assume that the autobiographical information provided by Hesiod himself in Erga kai Emerai (c. 700 b.c.e.; Works and Days, 1618) is the only basis for drawing an outline of his life. Like some of the work traditionally attributed to him, it is fragmentary and sketchy, but as one of Hesiod’s best translators, Apostolos Athanassakis, contends, it is “better than all fanciful conjecture.” Although some scholars maintain that even this work cannot be positively authenticated, without it, “there is no poet named Hesiod,” as P. Walcot argues.

In Works and Days, four assertions about Hesiod’s father are presented—that he made a living as a merchant sailor, that he came from the province of Cyme in Aeolis, that “grim poverty” drove him from Asia Minor, and that he settled in Ascra in the region known as Boeotia, an initially inhospitable but visually striking district near Mount Helicon. Considering the fact that others who followed this migration pattern moved on to establish Greek colonies in Italy when they were unable to make a living, it is reasonable to assume that Hesiod’s father was comparatively prosperous, an assumption corroborated by the story of the division of his estate between Hesiod and his brother Perses in Works and Days. Although Boeotia was thought to be something of a backwater by scholars possibly influenced by the prejudices of its neighbors, there is convincing evidence from artistic and poetic sources that it was actually more like a cultural center. Boeotian verse shared many of the traits of epic poetry associated with the Ionian region, and the area’s geographic location on the trade route to the Near East provided many opportunities for cultural advancement, including an earlier adoption of the alphabet than that in many other parts of the Hellenic world.

In both Works and Days and the Theogonia (c. 700 b.c.e.; Theogony, 1728), the crucial moment of transformation in Hesiod’s life is presented as a justification for his work. While tending sheep, probably in early manhood, Hesiod was visited by the Muses, who gave him the gift of song (that is, wisdom in poetic language) and charged him with the responsibility to instruct his fellow Boetians. Hesiod combines the perspective of the common person—the “country bumpkin,” the “swag-bellied yahoo,” whom the Muses address—with the poet’s power to create pleasure that counters the pains of human existence, and the orator’s eloquence, which reconciles citizens to the necessity for compromise in a social community. Thus, when Hesiod found himself in a dispute with Perses over the division of their father’s estate, he took the occasion to criticize the nobles (or “kings”) who presided as judges for accepting bribes and not rendering true justice. He developed Works and Days as a poem in which he counsels his brother and his fellow citizens about the kind of society in which, through the gods’ justice, they may all have an opportunity to live relatively comfortably.

There are hints in Works and Days and Theogony that Hesiod lived much of his life as a bachelor, although he briefly speaks as if he had a son, and there is an account of a visit to Chalcis in Euboea for funeral games, in which he won a handsome prize. M. L. West argues that the poem he performed was the Theogony. Beyond that, a number of inferences may be made from the sensibility that emerges through his work. As West observes in explaining the style of his translation, “If I have sometimes made Hesiod sound a little quaint and stilted, that is not unintentional: He is.” The obscurity that wreathes Hesiod’s life is an intriguing invitation to conjecture. As long as it is based on a careful reading of the work in its known historical context, it is a kind of modern equivalent of the mentally active participation of the audience in that earlier era of oral communication.

Life’s Work

Most of the poems that were originally attributed to Hesiod in the centuries after he lived have been designated the work of other writers by modern scholarship. From an original oeuvre consisting of eleven fragments and two titles, only the Ehoiai (c. 580-520 b.c.e.; The Catalogue of Women, 1983), describing heroic genealogies and appended to Theogony, and Ornithomanteia (divination by birds), which was appended to Works and Days, may have been based on something Hesiod wrote. Athanassakis mentions that both works, which were thematically connected and impressive imitations by anonymous writers, were often amalgamated into the work of a commanding literary figure, as is the case with Homer and Hippocrates. Athanassakis observes that the Aspis Herakleous (Shield of Herakles, 1928) is included in most standard editions of Hesiod, “thus paying homage to ancient tradition,” but he makes a plausible case that it is a visionary poem of apocalyptic power that stands comparison with Hesiod’s finest writing.

In any event, Theogony stands as the beginning of Hesiod’s work. It carries out the Muses’ injunction to “sing of the race of the blessed gods” and “tell of things to come and things past,” in return for their fabulous gift. This gift, however, like most divine bounty, carries the burden of its own mystery, and Theogony is not only a form of thanks and worship but also an attempt to understand the import and consequence of the action of the gods in the affairs of humans.

To do this, Hesiod reaches back to the creation of time and space from an immeasurable, primordial flux to chart the origins of cosmic history. As he describes the beginning of the known universe, the elemental aspects of the cosmos, Earth (Gaia), Sky (Ouranos), and Sea (Pontos), are not only physical components of firmament and terrain but also are gods, with all the attributes of divinity (and humanity) common to the Hellenic vision of deity. This merging compels him, in composing a poem on the birth and genealogy of the gods, to create also cosmogony, or an account of the development of the shape and form of the universe through time. As a correlative, without actually identifying the precise moment of the emergence of the human race, Theogony also presents an early history of humanity set amid, and sometimes parallel to, the genealogy of the Olympian deities.

Because the eighth century b.c.e. was a time of rapid economic expansion and increasing mobility for Greece, with contacts with the Orient already in process for more than a hundred years, it is not surprising that elements of creation myths from the thirteenth century b.c.e. Hittite castration motif (known as Song of Ullikummi, 1952), the Babylonian Enuma Elish (twelfth century b.c.e.; The Seven Tablets of Creation, 1902), the Indian Rigveda (also known as Ṛgveda, c. 1500-1000 b.c.e.; English translation, 1896-1897), and even the Norse Poetic Edda (ninth to twelfth century; English translation, 1923) appear in Theogony. Hesiod was working at the apex of a tradition, but his singular contribution was to place—above the diversity of the separate families of gods, shaping the chaos of turmoil and struggle—the controlling power of Zeus’s sovereignty. The argument of the poem is the rightness and justice of Zeus’s reign, the intelligent ordering of what had been a saga of endless, almost random violence. The structure of the poem itself contributes to this sense of order, beginning with the world in Hesiod’s time, then moving back to show the evolution from Chaos, and then concluding with a reaffirmation of Zeus’s wise aegis.

The direction of cosmic evolution is from a focus on the form of the natural world to a concentration on the structure of an anthropocentric one. This is a reflection of the imposition of the will of Zeus, because, as Hesiod presents it, the first “beings”—Chaos (Void), Gaia (Earth), and Eros (immanent creative energy)—are essentially elemental impulses, unbound and undirected. Hesiod does not postulate what preceded this condition but sees Eros as a crucial catalyst to the proceeding procreation. First, Hesiod lists the progeny of Chaos and the progeny of Earth. The birth of the Mountains and the Sea by parthenogenesis, and then the birth of the Titans through Earth’s incestuous union with her son Sky, are actions apparently without purpose, more impulse than vision. The lineage of Zeus is established with the castration of Kronos (Time)—an act challenging order—who is the last of the Titans, son of Sky and father of Zeus. Parallel to this, the children of Chaos arrive, dark and gloomy, negative in impact, a plague to humankind.

The story of the ascendancy of Zeus involves a shift from the maternal line with an obscure partner to a patriarchal lineage much more in accordance with Hesiod’s own society. Zeus, a male sky god, is ultimately evolved from Mother Earth, an evolutionary process directed toward male dominance, which Hesiod justifies as necessary for law and order. Zeus, “the father of gods and men,” generates the seasons (emblems of regularity and predictability) by his second wife, Thetis, herself an embodiment of wisdom that he assimilates. Their children symbolize the constants of civilization: Eunomia (Law), Dike (Justice), and Eirene (Peace). Thus, the history of Zeus is also a progression from chaos to law, as Zeus stands in antithesis to his defeated but still dangerous rivals, who are expressions of wild energy. As Theogony concludes, Zeus divides his spoils—titles and spheres of influence—with some principles of fairness that lead gradually to a civilized order of governmental succession. The union of Zeus with noble women produced the race of heroes that drew humankind closer to the immortals, but as the children of Night remain on the scene, strife and sorrow will always be the lot of humans. For this reason, the Muses have given the poet the gift of song to provide some relief.

Works and Days is a shift of emphasis from the cosmological and eternal to the local and specific. Hesiod examines the ways in which a man might lead a reasonably satisfying life. Working within the larger pattern of the universe as presented in Theogony and assuming a familiarity with it, Hesiod confronted the limitations imposed by often unfathomable forces and offered a program of sorts for survival. Because the only style of literary expression available was the dactylic hexameter of the Homeric epic, the poem follows that form, but it is essentially didactic in tone and style, a series of instructions regarding the proper conduct of a man’s working life in an agricultural economy controlled by not always scrupulous nobles or “kings.” The form is not ideal for Hesiod’s purposes, and the poem tends to ramble, but it contains fascinating lessons designed as guidance for those who were prepared to commit their lives to productive industry proscribed by moral behavior.

Works and Days is developed out of the sense of divine justice elaborated in Theogony. It accepts the concept of order in human existence and sees work as “the action to fulfill that order.” The rationale behind the poem is that conditions have steadily deteriorated since the Golden Age. As Hesiod tells it, humans have progressively weakened through the “Five Ages,” their working conditions becoming harder, their physical strength diminishing, and such afflictions as hunger and disease, unknown in earlier times, now plaguing humankind in the Iron Age.

These banes occur as a consequence of human deviousness as expressed in the myths of Prometheus and Pandora. Hesiod sees violence and injustice emerging from Prometheus’s challenge and, without being specific, names Pandora (meaning “all gifts”) as a source of increasing complexity in human affairs for the introduction of sexual and artistic matters. Bound by the thinking of his era, he describes the feminine role as one of distraction, undermining a man’s clarity of purpose and, by implication, his control. A woman’s “glamor” and guile encourages dissipation and waste, which restricts independence. For Hesiod, woman is “the other,” an outsider, who must be taught “right” ways. That is, she must eradicate the singularity in her nature that makes her different from a man. Once a similarity is achieved, she will become valuable property, because she contributes to the permanence of the home. The perspective is very male-oriented and very narrow. A larger view of the two myths suggests that Prometheus introduces the technical to the natural and Pandora introduces the beautiful or ecstatic to the rational, each complicating but also deepening human experience. In a sense, Zeus has used Pandora as a tactic in his contest with Prometheus, and both myths are part of Hesiod’s explanation for the current condition of the world.

In order to overcome these unpleasant conditions, Hesiod stresses justice as the crucial virtue, the essential value in all endeavor. Focusing on his own life, he decries the local politicians, subject to bribes, who have unjustly favored his brother Perses in dividing their father’s legacy. The entire poem is supposedly addressed to Perses, who is exhorted to follow a life of honest work because without it, men would scheme to gain riches and justice could not exist. The central text of the poem is a series of maxims, suggestions, folk sayings, and specific advice about how to function in a grain-growing or wine-making world.

Rather than a manual, however, it is more an outline of operations framed by a reliance on the right time of the year for a particular action. The purpose is really to inculcate a sense of appropriateness and propriety in everything. Similarly, the long, expressive descriptions of the harshness of winter and the pleasures of summer are designed to reconcile human nature to the larger patterns of the natural cosmos. The “works” section is a kind of astronomical guide for plowing, planting, and harvesting, that places man in harmony with his environment, thus putting him in synchronization with the will of Zeus. The part of the poem known as the “Days” is less impressive because it is rooted in the “science” or superstition of Hesiod’s world. It is a forerunner of astrological prediction—an attempt to make sense of mysterious, perplexing aspects of existence. It represents a variety of superstitions, particularly numerology, in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Hesiod is recording the folk wisdom of the tribe, another valid task of the didactic poet.

Significance

The fifth century judgment of Herodotus, that “Hesiod and Homer are the ones who provided the Greeks with a theogony, gave the gods their names, distinguished their attributes and functions, and defined their various types,” is still valid. The mythic truth that Hesiod established is the basis for the origin of the European mind and worldview, the beginning of a definition of Western civilization. In his work, the strong thread of value and principle that distinguishes the most admirable attributes of culture can be traced back to its inception. The ultimate lessons of his philosophy, organized through reflection on astronomical phenomena, are to live in harmony with the visible, the regular, the knowable, and to acknowledge and forbear the illusive, the abrupt, the terrible. Speaking across the gulf of time, Hesiod remains the “great teacher and civilizer,” the poet as embodiment of the divine voice that offers access to universal truth that humankind ignores at its own peril.

Bibliography

Brown, Norman O. Introduction to Theogony, by Hesiod. New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1953. A detailed, interpretive introduction that contains perceptive commentary on the poem’s meaning accompanies a reliable translation.

Burn, Andrew Robert. The World of Hesiod: A Study of the Greek Middle Ages. 2d ed. New York: B. Blom, 1966. An early study that examines the poet in his historical context. Includes much basic background information.

Evelyn-White, Hugh G., ed. and trans. Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica. 1914. Reprint. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982. The translation considered standard through most of the twentieth century.

Havelock, Eric. Preface to Plato. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982. An excellent discussion of “oral acoustic intelligence,” the tradition in which Hesiod composed.

Hesiod. “Theogony,” “Works and Days,” “Shield.” Translated by Apostolos N. Athanassakis. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983. An imaginative modern translation, combined with lucid, thorough notes and an incisive introduction. The translator’s familiarity with historic and contemporary Greece enables him to offer many relevant details from folk culture. Includes bibliography.

Janko, R. Homer, Hesiod, and the Hymns: Diachronic Development in Epic Diction. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Solid scholarship and interesting speculation about the development of the hexameter tradition, with many theoretical assertions about dates and origins.

Lamberton, Robert. Hesiod. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Hermes Books, 1988. An accessible introduction to Hesiod’s works. Historical background of the poems and problems of dating them are discussed. Major subsidiary works are analyzed.

Nelson, Stephanie A. God and the Land: The Metaphysics of Farming in Hesiod and Vergil. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Shows how Hesiod as well as Vergil viewed the farming lifestyle as a religion unto itself.

Penglase, Charles. Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod. New York: Routledge, 1997. Examines how Mesopotamian ideas and themes influenced Greek religious mythological works, including the Homeric hymns to the gods and the works of Hesiod.

Pucci, Pietro. Hesiod and the Language of Poetry. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977. An extremely detailed examination of the meaning of words in Hesiod. Primarily for the specialist but clear in presentation.

Thalmann, William G. Conventions of Form and Thought in Early Greek Epic Poetry. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. A comprehensive, carefully annotated examination of the form and structure of the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, illuminating parallel approaches in the work of both poets and providing many incisive comments on the meanings of their poems. An impressive assimilation and extension of much previous scholarship on the subject.

West, M. L. The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: Its Nature, Structure, and Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. A definitive study of a work previously attributed to Hesiod.