Hesiodos

Hesiod (700 BC), along with Homer, is one of the first almost legendary Greek Epic poets. His works are not of comparable length to those of Homer. Hesiod's poems are considered epics not because of their length but because of their language.

 Hesiod produced two completed works that reached us. These are Theogony and Works and Days. Both were written in the oral tradition. Various other works have been attributed, rightly or wrongly, to Hesiod. These include the Shield of Heracles, the Catalogue of Women, the Principles of Chiron, Melampus, and Astronomy. These are all in pieces. Unfortunately, the story that Hesiod was competing with Homer in a poetry competition is absolutely false.

 Theogonia

The theogony consists of about a thousand hexameter lines and is a unique representation of the Greek gods and lineages. Hesiod, like many other epic poets, claims that he was inspired by the Muses (Museums) and that this happened "while shepherding his lambs under Mount Helikon".

 Theogonia mainly covers these areas:

 Earth's beginning with Chaos, followed by Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros (this chapter is mentioned near the beginning of Plato's Symposium)

Gaia creating Uranus and their breeding Titans, Cyclopes and other giants

The story of Kronos castrating Uranus

The upbringing of the twelve Olympian gods Kronos and Rhea, how Kronos ate his gods as soon as they were born, and how only Zeus survived and then forced Kronos to vomit.

The story of Prometheus, who tells how he was punished by Zeus for setting people on fire.

The Titanomahia War between the Olympians and Titans, in which Zeus was victorious, dragged the Titans and Typhons into Tartarus.

A chapter dedicated to Zeus, his last wife, Hera, and many other wives

Birth of Hercules

The offspring of goddesses and mortal men, two lines later added to enter the Catalogue of Women.

 Works and Days consist of 828 hexameters. 'Jobs' refers to the events of the agricultural year. 'Days' (recorded from about 765 lines) deals with recording the days of the month that are auspicious or unlucky to do certain things. Again, the poem begins with an appeal to the Muses (Muses), but then goes on to address Hesiod's brother Perses, urging him to put their disagreements aside: "Perses, feel them in your heart and see how this chaos god ( Eris) don't let your heart hold back from work...'' (W.D. 28).

 Works and Days can be divided into these main areas:

 The justification for man's hard work and the obligation to act justly is explained by legends and proverbs such as the tales of Prometheus, Pandora, the falcon and the nightingale.

Instructions to Perses on how to be a good farmer (works)

Advice on maritime trade

Proverbs on religious and social expectations

Lucky and unlucky days ('days')

Not much is known about Hesiod's real life. He says that his father left his home in the Aetolian Cyme because he could not profit from the maritime trade; “He settled in Ascra, a wretched village near Helikon that was bad in winter, sweltering in summer, and never good.” (W.D. c. 640), and there are several passages in his poems that refer to his real life. The whereabouts of Hesiod's death is also controversial; There was a tomb for him in Boeotia, either at Locris or Orhomenos.