Ancient bronze bust, the so-called Pseudo-Seneca, now conjectured to be an imaginative portrait of Hesiod^[1]

Hesiod (Greek: Ἡσίοδος Hesiodos) was an early Greek poet and rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BC. The so-called Pseudo-Seneca is a Roman bronze bust of the late first century BCE that was discovered at Herculaneum in 1754 the finest example of about two dozen Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" In Classical Greece, in the fifth and fourth centuries BC and perhaps earlier a rhapsode (ῥαψῳδός was a professional Performer of Poetry, especially Hesiod and Homer are generally considered the earliest Greek poets whose work has survived since at least Herodotus's time (Histories, 2. Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash 53), and they are often paired. Scholars disagree about who lived first, and the fourth-century BCE sophist Alcidamas' Mouseion even brought them together in an imagined poetic agon, the Contest of Homer and Hesiod. Alcidamas, of Elaea, in Aeolis, Greek Sophist and Rhetorician flourished in the 4th century BC. The Contest of Homer and Hesiod ( Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi) is a Greek narrative that expands a remark made in Hesiod 's Works and Aristarchus first argued for Homer's priority, a claim that was generally accepted by later antiquity. Aristarchus of Samothrace (, 220? &ndash 143 BC?) was a Grammarian noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry ^[2]

Hesiod's writings serve as a major source on Greek mythology, farming techniques, archaic Greek astronomy and ancient time-keeping. Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study For other uses see Time (disambiguation Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events to compare the durations of

Headline text

Life

J. A. Symonds writes that "'Hesiod is also the immediate parent of gnomic verse, and the ancestor of those deep thinkers who speculated in the Attic Age upon the mysteries of human life". John Addington Symonds ( October 5 1840 - April 19, 1893) was an English poet and literary critic For the map projection see Gnomonic projection; for the game see Nomic. ^[3]

Some scholars have doubted whether Hesiod alone conceived and wrote the poems attributed to him. For example, Symonds writes that "the first ten verses of the Works and Days are spurious - borrowed probably from some Orphic hymn to Zeus and recognised as not the work of Hesiod by critics as ancient as Pausanias". Pausanias ( Greek:) was a Greek traveller and Geographer of the 2nd century CE, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus ^[4]

As with Homer, legendary traditions have accumulated around Hesiod. Unlike Homer's case, however, some biographical details have survived: a few details of Hesiod's life come from three references in Works and Days; some further inferences derive from his Theogony. His father came from Cyme in Aeolis, which lay between Ionia and the Troad in Northwestern Anatolia, but 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, l. This article is about the ancient Ionian city see also Kymi for the Greek form of Cyme Cyme (or Kymi, also Phriconis Alternative meaning the Aeolis region of Mars. Geography Aeolis was an ancient district on the western coast of Asia Minor Geography Physical Ionia was of small extent not exceeding 90 geographical miles in length from north to south with a breadth varying from 40 to 55 miles but to this Troas or The Troad is the historical name of the Biga peninsula ( modern Turkish: Biga Yarımadası) in the northwestern part of Anatolia Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black Thespiae ( Greek Θεσπιαι Thespiai) was an ancient Greek city in Boeotia. Boeotia, Beotia, or Bœotia ( Greek: Βοιωτία - English biːˈoʊʃiə formerly Cadmeis was a region of Ancient Greece, north of the 640). Hesiod's patrimony there, a small piece of ground at the foot of Mount Helicon, occasioned a pair of lawsuits with his brother Perses, who won both under the same judges. Mount Helicon (Ἑλικῶν is a mountain in the region of Thespiai in Boeotia, Greece, with an elevation of 1749 meters (5735 ft In law a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a Court in which the party commencing the action the Plaintiff, seeks a legal or equitable remedy

Some scholars have seen Perses as a literary creation, a foil for the moralizing that Hesiod directed to him in Works and Days, but in the introduction to his translation of Hesiod's works, Hugh G. Evelyn-White provides several arguments against this theory. ^[5] Gregory Nagy, on the other hand, sees both Persēs ("the destroyer": πέρθω / perthō) and Hēsiodos ("he who emits the voice": ἵημι / hiēmi + αὐδή / audē) as fictitious names for poetical personae. Gregory Nagy (pronounced /nadj/ born in Budapest Hungary, is an American professor of Classics at Harvard University, specializing in A persona, in the word's everyday usage is a social Role or a character played by an Actor. ^[6]

The Muses traditionally lived on Helicon, and, according to the account in Theogony (ll. In Greek mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek, hai moũsai: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root * men- "think" are 22-35), gave Hesiod the gift of poetic inspiration one day while he tended sheep (compare the legend of Cædmon). Cædmon (ˈkædmɒn is the earliest English poet whose name is known Hesiod later mentions a poetry contest at Chalcis in Euboea where the sons of one Amiphidamas awarded him a tripod (ll. Chalcis or Chalkida, Halkida, Halkis or Chalkis ( Greek, Modern Χαλκίδα xal'ciða Ancient/ Katharevousa: -ίς For the mythological figure see Euboea (mythology Euboea ( Modern Greek, Εύβοια - Évia &mdash 654-662). Plutarch first cited this passage as an interpolation into Hesiod's original work, based on his identification of Amiphidamas with the hero of the Lelantine War between Chalcis and Eretria, which occurred around 705 BC. Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c The Lelantine War was a long military conflict between the two ancient Greek city states Chalkis and Eretria that took place in the early This is an article about the Greek city of Eretria on Euboea It should not be confused with Eretria in western Magnesia, Greece or the modern African nation Plutarch assumed this date much too late for a contemporary of Homer, but most Homeric scholars would now accept it. The account of this contest, followed by an allusion to the Trojan War, inspired the later tales of a competition between Hesiod and Homer. In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her

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. Thucydides ( C 460 BC &ndash C 395 BC) ( Greek Θουκυδίδης Thoukydídēs) was a Greek The Suda or Souda ( also, Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean John (Johannes Tzetzes (Ιωάννης Τζέτζης (c 1110 &ndash 1180 was a Byzantine Poet and Grammarian known to have lived at Constantinople Delphi ( Greek,) ( pronounce and dialectal forms) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western Locris ( Greek, Modern Lokrida, Ancient Lokris) was a region of Ancient Greece, the homeland of the Locrians, made up of two districts This tradition follows a familiar ironic convention: the oracle that predicts accurately after all. Irony is a literary or Rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or Discordance between what one says or does and what one means or

The other tradition, first mentioned in an epigram of Chersios of 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. An epigram is a short Poem, often with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement Chersios of Orchomenus was written in the 7th century BC and contains an Epigram which mentions the burial place of Hesiod at Orchomenus, a town in The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC. According to Aristotle's Constitution of Orchomenus, when the Thespians ravaged Ascra, the villagers sought refuge at Orchomenus, where, following the advice of an oracle, they collected the ashes of Hesiod and placed them in a place of honour in their agora, beside the tomb of Minyas, their eponymous founder, and in the end came to regard Hesiod too as their "hearth-founder" (οἰκιστής / oikistēs). Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Thespiae ( Greek Θεσπιαι Thespiai) was an ancient Greek city in Boeotia. The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states In Greek mythology, Minyas (Μινύας was the founder of Orchomenus or son of king Orchomenus, depending on the story

Later writers attempted to harmonize these two accounts.

The legends that accumulated about Hesiod are recorded in several sources: the story "The poetic contest (Ἀγών / Agōn) of Homer and Hesiod";^[7] a vita of Hesiod by the Byzantine grammarian John Tzetzes; the entry for Hesiod in the Suda; two passages and some scattered remarks in Pausanias (IX, 31. John (Johannes Tzetzes (Ιωάννης Τζέτζης (c 1110 &ndash 1180 was a Byzantine Poet and Grammarian known to have lived at Constantinople The Suda or Souda ( also, Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean Pausanias ( Greek:) was a Greek traveller and Geographer of the 2nd century CE, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus 3–6 and 38. 3–4); a passage in Plutarch Moralia (162b). Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c

Works

Of the many works attributed to Hesiod, three survive complete and many more in fragmentary state. Our witnesses include Alexandrian papyri, some dating from as early as the 1st century BC, and manuscripts written from the eleventh century forward. Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια Papyrus (/pəˈpaɪrəs/ (Rhymes -aɪrəs)is a thick paper-like material produced from the Pith of the papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus Demetrius Chalcondyles issued the first printed edition (editio princeps) of Works and Days, possibly at Milan, probably in 1493. Demetrius Chalcocondyles or Demetrios Chalcocondylis or Chalcocondylas or Chalcondyles (1423 &ndash 1511 born in Athens, was one of the most In Classical scholarship, editio princeps is a Term of art. It means roughly the first printed edition of a work that previously had existed only in In 1495 Aldus Manutius published the complete works at Venice. Aldus Manutius (1449/1450 – February 6, 1515) the Latinized name of Teobaldo Mannucci, sometimes called Aldus Manutius the Elder to distinguish

Hesiod's works, especially Works and Days, are from the view of the small independent farmer, while Homer's view is from nobility or the rich. Even with these differences, they share some of the same beliefs as far as work ethic, justice, and consideration of material items.

Works and Days

Main article: Works and Days

Hesiod wrote a poem of some 800 verses, the Works and Days, which revolves around two general truths: labour is the universal lot of Man, but he who is willing to work will get by. Works and Days (in Ancient Greek / Erga kaí Hemérai, which sometimes goes by the Latin name Opera et Dies, as in the OCT) Scholars have interpreted this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of documented colonisations in search of new land. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Colonies in antiquity were City-states founded from a mother- City

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) as well as the practice of usury. The Ages of Man are the stages of human existence on the Earth according to Classical mythology. A judge, or justice, is an Official who presides over a Court of law It describes immortals who roam the earth watching over justice and injustice. ^[8] The poem regards labor as the source of all good, in that both gods and men hate the idle, who resemble drones in a hive. ^[9]

Theogony

Main article: Theogony

Tradition also attributes the Theogony, a poem which uses the same epic verse-form as the Works and Days, to Hesiod. Theogony ( Greek: Θεογονία theogonia = the birth of God(s is a Poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies Despite the different subject-matter most scholars, with some notable exceptions like Evelyn-White, believe both works were written by the same man. As 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. "^[10]

The Theogony concerns the origins of the world (cosmogony) and of the gods (theogony), beginning with Gaia, Nyx and Eros, and shows a special interest in genealogy. This article discusses scientific theories of creation (cosmogony Gaia (ˈgeɪə or /ˈgaɪə/ (" land " or " Earth " from the Ancient Greek Γαîα also Gæa or Gea Genealogy (from Greek: el γενεά el-Latn genea, "descent" and el λόγος el-Latn logos, "knowledge" is the study of Embedded in 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 the fifth century historian Herodotus, the accepted version that linked all Hellenes. The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions

Other writings

A short poem traditionally attributed to Hesiod is The Shield of Heracles (Ἀσπὶς Ἡρακλέους / Aspis Hêrakleous). The Shield of Heracles ( Ancient Greek: Ἀσπὶς Ἡρακλέους Aspis Hêrakleous) is a fragment of Greek epic, of 481 lines of This survives complete; the other works discussed in this section survive only in quotations or papyri copies which are often damaged.

Classical authors also attributed to Hesiod a lengthy genealogical poem known as Catalogue of Women or Eoiae (because sections began with the Greek words e oie 'Or like the one who . The Catalogue of Women ( Greek: γυναικών κατάλογος gynaikōn katalogos) is an Ancient Greek poem . . '). 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 poems were sometimes ascribed to Hesiod:

• Aegimius
• Astrice
• Chironis Hypothecae
• Idaei Dactyli
• Wedding of Ceyx
• Great Works (presumably an expanded Works and Days)
• Great Eoiae (presumably an expanded Catalogue of Women)
• Melampodia
• Ornithomantia

Scholars generally classify all these as later examples of the poetic tradition to which Hesiod belonged, not as the work of Hesiod himself. The Shield, in particular, appears to be an expansion of one of the genealogical poems, taking its cue from Homer's description of the Shield of Achilles. This article is about the shield of Achilles For the poems by W

The "portrait" bust

The Roman bronze bust of the late first century BC found at Herculaneum, the so-called Pseudo-Seneca was first reidentified as a fictitious portrait meant for Hesiod by Gisela Richter, though it had been recognized that the bust was not in fact Seneca since 1813, when an inscribed herm portrait with quite different features was discovered. Herculaneum (in modern Italian Ercolano) is an ancient Roman town located in the territory of the current commune of Ercolano. The so-called Pseudo-Seneca is a Roman bronze bust of the late first century BCE that was discovered at Herculaneum in 1754 the finest example of about two dozen Gisela Marie Augusta Richter ( August 14, 1882 &ndash December 24, 1972) was a classical archaeologist and art historian Most scholars now follow her identification.

Notes

1. ^ Erika Simon (1975). Pergamon und Hesiod (in German). Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern. OCLC 2326703. The OCLC Online Computer Library Center is according to its website a "nonprofit membership computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purpose  
2. ^ M. L. West, "Hesiod", in Oxford Classical Dictionary, second edition (Oxford: University Press, 1970), p. The Oxford Classical Dictionary ( OCD) is the standard one-volume Encyclopedia in English of topics relating to Ancient Greece and 510.
3. ^ J. A. Symonds, Sbreasın strabnssk lkjsdaflj nsdurps sdflfsj toı urnststlhg aa şgg fgafn asdeut sgsgmg fmgfmgfmgktş . çföböbatudies of the Greek Poets, p. 166
4. ^ J. A. Symonds, p. 167
5. ^ Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Cambridge: Harvard Press, 1964) Volume 57 of the Loeb Classical Library, pp. xivf.
6. ^ Gregry Nagy, Greek Mythology and Poetics (Cornell 1990), pp. 36-82.
7. ^ Translated in Evelyn-White, Hesiod, pp. 565-597.
8. ^ Hesiod, Works and Days, line 250: "Verily upon the earth are thrice ten thousand immortals of the host of Zeus, guardians of mortal man. Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology They watch both justice and injustice, robed in mist, roaming abroad upon the earth". (Compare J. A. Symonds, p. 179)
9. ^ Works and Days, line 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. Bees are flying Insects closely related to Wasps and Ants Bees are a Monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea "
10. ^ West, "Hesiod", p. 521.

References

• Philip Wentworth Buckham, Theatre of the Greeks, 1827.
• Erwin Rohde, Psyche, 1925.
• J. A. Symonds, Studies of the Greek Poets, 1873.
• Thomas Taylor, A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, 1791.

External links

• Works by Hesiod at Project Gutenberg
• Hesiod, Works and Days Translated from the Greek by Mr. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works 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 #57, 1914, ISBN 0-674-99063-3:
  • Scanned text at the Internet Archive, in PDF and DjVu format
  • 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. DjVu (pronounced Déjà vu) is a Computer File format designed primarily to store scanned images especially those containing text and line Theogony ( Greek: Θεογονία theogonia = the birth of God(s is a Poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies )
  • Versions of the electronic edition of Evelyn-White's English translation edited by Douglas B. Killings, June 1995:
    • Project Gutenberg plain text.
    • Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE: The Online Medieval and Classical Library: Hesiod
    • Sacred Texts: Classics: The Works of Hesiod (Theogony and Works and Days only)