Hesiod’s Works and Days, Summary

Hesiod, an ancient Greek rhapsode of the late 8th and early 7th centuries BC, combines didactic epic poetry with fundamental cosmogony in this corpus of texts. The most important feature of these works is that, for the first time in European literature, the author asserts himself as a real person, addressing a specific addressee — his brother Perses — and systematizing disparate mythological concepts into a unified genealogical structure.

The texts are fundamental documents of ancient culture, which shaped the religious and ethical views of the Greeks, although due to their antiquity they have not been awarded modern prizes or directly adapted for film.

Instructions on labor and justice

The poem "Works and Days" opens with an invocation to the Pierian Muses to glorify Zeus, the ruler capable of exalting or humiliating any mortal. The author addresses his brother Perses, with whom he is engaged in an inheritance dispute, and explains the nature of rivalry. There are two Eris (discords): one causes wars and enmity, while the other, born of Night and beneficial to mankind, encourages labor and competition. Hesiod urges Perses to abandon legal intrigues and envy and turn to honest work, since the gods have hidden easy sources of sustenance from mankind.

The poet attributes the plight of humanity to Zeus’s wrath at Prometheus, who had deceived him into stealing fire. As punishment, Zeus commanded Hephaestus to create a beautiful maiden, Pandora. The gods gifted her with beauty, cunning, and a deceitful soul. Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother, accepted this gift, forgetting the warnings not to take anything from Zeus. Pandora opened the lid of the vessel, releasing illness and sorrow into the world; only Hope remained within.

Human history is represented as a succession of five generations. The Golden Race lived carefree under Cronus, like the gods, without old age or toil. The Silver Race was distinguished by foolishness and pride, for which it was destroyed by Zeus. The Copper Race, fearsome and powerful, loved war and destroyed itself. The fourth was the race of demigod heroes who perished at Thebes and Troy; they dwell on the Isles of the Blessed. The fifth race — the Iron Race — was contemporary with the poet. This was a time of incessant toil, sorrow, the disintegration of family ties, and the triumph of brute force over law, when Shame and Conscience abandoned humanity.

Proverbs and household tips

Hesiod tells the fable of the hawk and the nightingale, illustrating the futility of resisting the powerful, but warns kings against unjust judgment. Justice (Dike) is the daughter of Zeus, and injustice brings punishment upon the entire city in the form of plague or war. Prosperity requires work. Hunger is the companion of the lazy, but honest labor brings wealth and the favor of the gods.

The practical part of the poem contains an agronomic calendar tied to astronomical phenomena. Harvesting should begin with the rising of the Pleiades, and sowing with their setting. The rules for making agricultural tools are described in detail: a mortar should be cut three feet high, a pestle three cubits long, and a plowshare seven feet long. Oak is best for a plow, and elm or laurel for a drawbar. The author advises having two plows in case of breakdown and assigning a forty-year-old worker to the plowing, who is not distracted by peers.

The poet offers advice on sailing, though he admits to little experience: he only sailed to Euboea for the games in honor of Amphidamas, where he won a tripod. The safe time for navigation is fifty days after the solstice. Spring sailing is dangerous and unwise. His advice also concerns family life: one should marry around the age of thirty, choosing a wife from among the neighbors.

The first part concludes with a list of lucky and unlucky days established by Zeus. The thirtieth is good for inspecting works, the seventh is Apollo’s birthday, and the fourth and twenty-fourth are favorable for important matters, while fifths are dangerous, for on these days the Erinyes serve Orca.

The Origin of the Gods and the World

The Theogony begins with a glorification of the Heliconian Muses, who appeared to Hesiod while he was tending sheep, handed him a laurel staff and inspired him with the gift of song, commanding him to sing of the race of immortals.

In the beginning, Chaos arose, then Earth (Gaia), Tartarus, and Eros. Earth gave birth to Uranus (Sky), Horus, and Pontus (Sea). From the union of Gaia and Uranus came the Titans (including Oceanus, Hyperion, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, and Cronus), the Cyclopes, and the hundred-handed giants (Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes). Uranus hated his children and hid them deep within the Earth. Gaia, exhausted by the weight, persuaded Cronus to castrate his father. From drops of Uranus’s blood, the Erinyes and the Giants were born, and from the foam around his severed penis, which fell into the sea, Aphrodite arose.

The descendants of Night (Pestilence, Kera, Death, Sleep, the Moirai, Nemesis) and the sea-faring elder Nereus (the fifty Nereids) are listed. Special attention is given to Hecate, whom Zeus honored with great privileges on land, at sea, and in heaven; she grants victory in war, success in court, and in hunting.

Change of divine rulers

Cronus, fearing a prophecy of his own son’s overthrow, swallowed the children born to Rhea. When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea, on her parents’ advice, took refuge in Crete and gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Zeus grew up, tricked his father into regurgitating the swallowed children, and freed his Cyclopes uncles, who gave him thunder and lightning.

A ten-year war broke out between the Titans (from Mount Othrys) and the Olympian gods. Zeus summoned the hundred-armed giants to his aid, feeding them nectar and ambrosia. The battle shook the universe, engulfing Chaos in a fever. The Titans were defeated and cast into Tartarus, where they are guarded by hundred-armed guards. Tartarus is described as a gloomy abyss surrounded by a brazen wall, home to the sources of the earth and sea, the homes of Night, Sleep, and Death, and the palace of Hades, guarded by a hound.

Styx, Oceanus’ eldest daughter, also lives there. The water Styx serves as an unbreakable oath for the gods; any god who breaks it lies lifeless for a year and is banished from the council for nine years.

Assertion of the power of Zeus

After defeating the Titans, Gaia gave birth to the monstrous Typhon, with a hundred serpentine heads, from Tartarus. Zeus engaged him in battle, incinerated him with lightning bolts, and cast him into Tartarus; Typhon is the source of the destructive winds.

The gods chose Zeus as king. He wisely distributed honors. Zeus’s first wife was Metis (Wisdom). Zeus swallowed her while she was pregnant to prevent her from bearing a son who would overthrow him, and later fathered Athena from her head. Themis gave birth to the Horae and the Moirai, Eurynome to the Charites, Demeter to Persephone, Mnemosyne to the Muses, and Leto to Apollo and Artemis. His last wife was Hera, who bore Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia.

The text concludes with a list of the offspring of other gods and the unions of goddesses with mortal men. Demeter bore Plutus to Iasion, Harmonia to the daughters of Cadmus, Eos to Memnon, Thetis to Achilles, Cypris to Aeneas, Circe to Agrias, and Latinus to Odysseus. "Now, Olympian Muses, sing to me of the women, the sweet-tongued daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus…"