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Hermes Books Series
Hesiod
Hesiod (fl. c. 800 BC), was (along with Homer) one of the earliest Greek poets. His works include "Theogony" (on the origins of the gods and the universe) and "Works and Days" (on the rituals of daily life in archaic Greece). A historical and literary study of the poet, his work and influence. One of the Hermes Books series on classical authors.
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1988
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December 22, 2021An interesting discussion of the works of the Hesiodic corpus. Lamberton focuses on the literary aspects of Hesiod's work. However, his most interesting claims -- by my lights, at least -- are about the Hesiodic 'persona'. He suggests that aoidoi would take up the persona of Hesiod to perform certain poems, and that this persona was known to their audience. On this view, the aoidos is, then, part actor and part poet -- they are constructing/reciting the Hesiodic poems while taking up the part of Hesiod, the Boetian shepherd. Lamberton makes this claim, in part, to explain the ironic distance characteristic of certain passages of Hesiod. But, the view itself seemed to be the most interesting part of the book. It provided a perspective on the Homeric/Hesiodic Question that I had not seen before.
Overall, a nice introductory book. But, it was a little long. The last chapter dragged on, and felt as though it could have been omitted.
Overall, a nice introductory book. But, it was a little long. The last chapter dragged on, and felt as though it could have been omitted.
January 11, 2016
After having read Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid I was eager to begin reading more archaic, epic greek poetry. I guess you could say I have developed a taste for really ancient writing, bahahaha.
Anyway, that being said, I was not terribly thrilled by Hesiod. The two works compiled in this book are "Works & Days" and "The Theogony".
The first poem is framed as Hesiod instructing his morally decrepit brother Perseis on how to farm He offers moral guidance as well such as "don't procrastinate" - to quote this book word for word, "The procrastinator is always wrestling with annihilation". Grim words! Works & Days also contains a mythical explanation for why the world is full of suffering, or rather, two. The first is the standard "Pandora's Box" story, which features a woman named Pandora being sent by the Olympians to tempt mankind. She is given a box and told not to open it, proceeds to do that anyway, and then she unleashes all the evil things that plague mankind. The second story for the origin of suffering is the less misogynist "Five Ages of Man" story, which involves a series of cyclic time periods each of which gets progressively worse before starting over again. The last age is the Iron Age, which unfortunately for Hesiod and for us is the present age.
Unfortunately for modern readers, it is Hesiod's description of how to farm that takes up the vast majority of "Works & Days", essentially 2/3rds. Talk about outdated!
The second piece is significantly more thrilling. The Theogeny is a cosmogony and a genealogy of the Greek deities. It starts off with a deeply compelling initiation of sorts by Hesiod into the art of poetry by the Muses, the greek goddesses who offer artistic and scientific inspiration. After this we get into the story of how the greek world came to be as it is, which essentially happens in three stages. At first there is Gaia and Ouranos and the rest of the primordial beings such as Night, Day, Aether, Eros, etc. Then we get Kronos (who usurps his position as ruler from his father Ouranos by committing castration on Ouranos) and the Titans, then finally after Kronos's paranoia leads him to devour his own children (Kronos is the first person to figure out in the Greek universe that you can't fight fate, I suppose) we get Zeus and the Olympians.
The Titanomachy - the fight between the Gods and the Titans, and the part that follows immediately afterward where Zeus consolidates his power by slaying Typhonus - is the most interesting part of this entire book. Hesiod's primeval poetic imagination is demonstrated at full force here - he writes about hundred-handed giants fighting the titans, about Zeus whose thunderous rage almost tears apart the entire recently created universe, he writes about the description of the horrifying (bordering on Lovecraftian) monster called Typhonus. I wish that we got to see more of Hesiod describing battles and characters of cosmic proportions, because it is just so fascinating and exciting to see a writer from the BC era pushing their imagination to the limits.
All in all, I can't imagine someone wanting to read it unless they have a taste for ancient literature, because as far as ancient writing goes it is not that special except for a few pages.
Anyway, that being said, I was not terribly thrilled by Hesiod. The two works compiled in this book are "Works & Days" and "The Theogony".
The first poem is framed as Hesiod instructing his morally decrepit brother Perseis on how to farm He offers moral guidance as well such as "don't procrastinate" - to quote this book word for word, "The procrastinator is always wrestling with annihilation". Grim words! Works & Days also contains a mythical explanation for why the world is full of suffering, or rather, two. The first is the standard "Pandora's Box" story, which features a woman named Pandora being sent by the Olympians to tempt mankind. She is given a box and told not to open it, proceeds to do that anyway, and then she unleashes all the evil things that plague mankind. The second story for the origin of suffering is the less misogynist "Five Ages of Man" story, which involves a series of cyclic time periods each of which gets progressively worse before starting over again. The last age is the Iron Age, which unfortunately for Hesiod and for us is the present age.
Unfortunately for modern readers, it is Hesiod's description of how to farm that takes up the vast majority of "Works & Days", essentially 2/3rds. Talk about outdated!
The second piece is significantly more thrilling. The Theogeny is a cosmogony and a genealogy of the Greek deities. It starts off with a deeply compelling initiation of sorts by Hesiod into the art of poetry by the Muses, the greek goddesses who offer artistic and scientific inspiration. After this we get into the story of how the greek world came to be as it is, which essentially happens in three stages. At first there is Gaia and Ouranos and the rest of the primordial beings such as Night, Day, Aether, Eros, etc. Then we get Kronos (who usurps his position as ruler from his father Ouranos by committing castration on Ouranos) and the Titans, then finally after Kronos's paranoia leads him to devour his own children (Kronos is the first person to figure out in the Greek universe that you can't fight fate, I suppose) we get Zeus and the Olympians.
The Titanomachy - the fight between the Gods and the Titans, and the part that follows immediately afterward where Zeus consolidates his power by slaying Typhonus - is the most interesting part of this entire book. Hesiod's primeval poetic imagination is demonstrated at full force here - he writes about hundred-handed giants fighting the titans, about Zeus whose thunderous rage almost tears apart the entire recently created universe, he writes about the description of the horrifying (bordering on Lovecraftian) monster called Typhonus. I wish that we got to see more of Hesiod describing battles and characters of cosmic proportions, because it is just so fascinating and exciting to see a writer from the BC era pushing their imagination to the limits.
All in all, I can't imagine someone wanting to read it unless they have a taste for ancient literature, because as far as ancient writing goes it is not that special except for a few pages.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews