HESIOD
Works & Days
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Contents
HESIOD ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3
SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................................................... 5
IN DEPTH SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 6
I. Prometheus .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
II. Pandora ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
III. Myth of the 5 Ages..................................................................................................................................... 8
IV. Fable of the Hawk & the Nightingale ....................................................................................................... 9
ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 10
QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................................................................... 11
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This is a didactic poem written by the very early ancient Greek poet Hesiod. It was probably written around
700 BCE or earlier and is the first example we have of Greek didactic poetry (poetry that emphasizes
instructional and informative qualities). It embodies the experiences of his daily life and work, forming a sort
of shepherd's calendar, interwoven with episodes of fable, allegory, advice and personal history. It may have
been written against a background of an agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of
documented colonization’s in search of new land.
HESIOD
• Lived about 700 BCE
• first Greek poet who tried to put order into the confusing Greek mythology
o today we know Greek beliefs about the origin of the world and the gods
• different and poor life (western Greece)
• agriculture life hard: his works reflect his pessimism and lament for the harshness of life
GLOSSARY
Eris ("Strife")
“Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her name is the equivalent of Latin
Discordia, which means, "discord". Eris' Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart
is Concordia.”
Fable
A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. See the fable of the
hawk & the nightingale
Gnomic
Expressed in or of the nature of short, pithy (concise and forcefully expressive) maxims (a
short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct) or aphorisms (a pithy
observation that contains a general truth)
Hesiod
What’s in a name?
Ἡσίοδος / Hesiod: might be just a word made up of the verb ‘to throw’ or ‘to emit’ ‘to put
forward’: ἱημί / hiemi, a form of which is ἱης – hies, and also the word for singer: Αὀιδος /
aoidos, meaning: Song-Maker
Hope = Elpis = expectation
Definition: hope, expectation, trust, confidence.
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Pandora
The name given to the first woman in Hesiod’s Works & Days.
• NB. She is not named in the Theogony but only described as a “lovely evil” (l.588L)
and a “sheer deception, irresistible to men” (l.593L). The reader is also told that
she is the origin of the “deadly race and population of women” (l.595 p.77L)
Literally: “all gift’ meaning 1) ‘receiver of all’ (received the gifts of the gods) or 2) ‘giver of
all’ (‘giver of all [miseries]’); or ‘endowed by all [the gods]’; ‘all endowed’
Proem
A preface or prologue to a book or speech or a long poem
Literally: “before the song [i.e. the poem, what the poet is about to sing]
Usually contains an invocation to a divinity (a Muse or, in this case Muses, plural) & the main
theme
Prometheus & Epimetheus
Pro (before) + metheus [Metis: smarts; cunning thought; ‘wisdom’] = “Forethought”
Epi (after) + metheus [Metis: smarts; cunning thought; ‘wisdom’] = “Afterthought”
• Two more brothers, each the other’s opposite.
Metis [mee-tis] = cunning thought / cunning intelligence = thought that is strategic.
Thought that uses guile to gain a victory over another—i.e. to win at the cost of someone
else, who loses or wins less (power, rank, wealth, prestige & recognition) in the case that
the other is an ally.
• Hence, “wisdom” (metis) or thought here is not moral in any modern sense. It could,
however, be said to be “moral” in the ancient sense, in the way it preserves the
“status quo”—the accepted and ‘proper order’ where the superior (in brain &/or
brawn) “man” dominates the inferior. Force & guile are used together in order to
ensure that the “best”—those of superior areté (excellence)—win.
o Force & guile can be applied to the body and the mind separately & the way
they work together to overpower another. So the strong mind persuades,
with its power of logic & reasoning, and/or tricks, with its power of cunning,
another person. The hero having a strong mind must also have a strong
body—a body that is physically strong but also ‘mentally’ strong—i.e. trained
& disciplined in, for instance, the arts of war: martial valour & strategy.
Works & Days
, Page |2
Contents
HESIOD ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3
SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................................................... 5
IN DEPTH SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 6
I. Prometheus .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
II. Pandora ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
III. Myth of the 5 Ages..................................................................................................................................... 8
IV. Fable of the Hawk & the Nightingale ....................................................................................................... 9
ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 10
QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................................................................... 11
, Page |3
This is a didactic poem written by the very early ancient Greek poet Hesiod. It was probably written around
700 BCE or earlier and is the first example we have of Greek didactic poetry (poetry that emphasizes
instructional and informative qualities). It embodies the experiences of his daily life and work, forming a sort
of shepherd's calendar, interwoven with episodes of fable, allegory, advice and personal history. It may have
been written against a background of an agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of
documented colonization’s in search of new land.
HESIOD
• Lived about 700 BCE
• first Greek poet who tried to put order into the confusing Greek mythology
o today we know Greek beliefs about the origin of the world and the gods
• different and poor life (western Greece)
• agriculture life hard: his works reflect his pessimism and lament for the harshness of life
GLOSSARY
Eris ("Strife")
“Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her name is the equivalent of Latin
Discordia, which means, "discord". Eris' Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart
is Concordia.”
Fable
A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. See the fable of the
hawk & the nightingale
Gnomic
Expressed in or of the nature of short, pithy (concise and forcefully expressive) maxims (a
short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct) or aphorisms (a pithy
observation that contains a general truth)
Hesiod
What’s in a name?
Ἡσίοδος / Hesiod: might be just a word made up of the verb ‘to throw’ or ‘to emit’ ‘to put
forward’: ἱημί / hiemi, a form of which is ἱης – hies, and also the word for singer: Αὀιδος /
aoidos, meaning: Song-Maker
Hope = Elpis = expectation
Definition: hope, expectation, trust, confidence.
, Page |4
Pandora
The name given to the first woman in Hesiod’s Works & Days.
• NB. She is not named in the Theogony but only described as a “lovely evil” (l.588L)
and a “sheer deception, irresistible to men” (l.593L). The reader is also told that
she is the origin of the “deadly race and population of women” (l.595 p.77L)
Literally: “all gift’ meaning 1) ‘receiver of all’ (received the gifts of the gods) or 2) ‘giver of
all’ (‘giver of all [miseries]’); or ‘endowed by all [the gods]’; ‘all endowed’
Proem
A preface or prologue to a book or speech or a long poem
Literally: “before the song [i.e. the poem, what the poet is about to sing]
Usually contains an invocation to a divinity (a Muse or, in this case Muses, plural) & the main
theme
Prometheus & Epimetheus
Pro (before) + metheus [Metis: smarts; cunning thought; ‘wisdom’] = “Forethought”
Epi (after) + metheus [Metis: smarts; cunning thought; ‘wisdom’] = “Afterthought”
• Two more brothers, each the other’s opposite.
Metis [mee-tis] = cunning thought / cunning intelligence = thought that is strategic.
Thought that uses guile to gain a victory over another—i.e. to win at the cost of someone
else, who loses or wins less (power, rank, wealth, prestige & recognition) in the case that
the other is an ally.
• Hence, “wisdom” (metis) or thought here is not moral in any modern sense. It could,
however, be said to be “moral” in the ancient sense, in the way it preserves the
“status quo”—the accepted and ‘proper order’ where the superior (in brain &/or
brawn) “man” dominates the inferior. Force & guile are used together in order to
ensure that the “best”—those of superior areté (excellence)—win.
o Force & guile can be applied to the body and the mind separately & the way
they work together to overpower another. So the strong mind persuades,
with its power of logic & reasoning, and/or tricks, with its power of cunning,
another person. The hero having a strong mind must also have a strong
body—a body that is physically strong but also ‘mentally’ strong—i.e. trained
& disciplined in, for instance, the arts of war: martial valour & strategy.
