Settare (on hiatus)'s Reviews > Theogony and Works and Days
Theogony and Works and Days
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"Hesiod is a less familiar name to the general reader than Homer, Aeschylus, or Plato, and no one would claim that he is as great a writer as they."
I'm relieved that the introduction says this because I found Theogony and Works and Days somewhat dull. I picked it up because I have a personal project to read ancient sources of mythology (and I actually like doing so) and wanted to read Hesiod in preparation for reading Ovid. I'm glad I read it and it's interesting overall, but I can't lie, I fell asleep twice trying to finish this very short book.
Theogony of Hesiod is one of the earliest texts available on Greek mythology. It recounts the Greek creation myths. It starts with the earliest beginnings and how the universe came to be: Chaos, Gaia (Earth) and Eros (Love/Desire), then continues to Uranus (Sky)'s rule, then Kronos' rule, then the Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians) and Zeus' rule and the birth of younger gods and their genealogy.
The Works and Days picks up with the myths of Pandora, Prometheus, and the Five Races and then talks about Hesiod's own life, the conflict of good and bad, advice about domestic life and agriculture, beliefs about specific days of the month (and the mandatory warning about how women are evil and untrustworthy and no wise man should ever trust a woman etc.).¹
It's good to read these weird and fascinating myths in the most original form that's left from ancient times, but Hesiod doesn't have the charm of Homer and his poems are boring. Theogony reads like the book of Genesis and parts of it are dedicated to reciting everyone's names:
This is hard to follow and, really, boring to read. It also depends on the edition you get, the one I quoted from is the driest by far but thankfully, some editions have included pictures of ancient artworks related to the myths to make it more interesting to read.
Editions and Translations:
- I initially got Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica which is available for free on Project Gutenberg. This edition, even though it's complete and has a long and nice introduction is too dry and tiresome to read.
- The Oxford Edition (the one from the review) is still dry but it's annotated (helpful) and I really liked the introduction.
- But the best one I found is “The Poems of Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, and the Shield of Herakles”, translated by Barry Powell. In this edition, the poems are written in a segmented line format (easier on the eyes), it includes genealogy charts (easier to make sense of who is who) and it includes many interesting pictures of historic artworks that make it a lot more interesting to read (Looks like I'm seven years old and I prefer picture books, but seriously, the pictures help).
Also, the introduction of this edition is the most complete and most interesting: there's a general intro as well as individual ones for each poem.
I'm not adding it because I didn't read the Shield of Herakles, but if you want to read Hesiod, this edition looks like the best one to get. (I can't comment on the quality and accuracy of translations, this is the recommendation of a common reader who's easily susceptible to boredom, likes pictures and illustrations and prefers to stay away from plain, boring bible-like texts.)²
Hesiod was alright. I certainly won't remember every detail I read in Theogony (too many names!) but I'll be using it as a reference and to "fact check" myths later on.
¹ Still hoping to find one single ancient text that isn't sexist. I know I won't find it, but I'm still hoping.
² The only reason why I would willingly pick up a text from an ancient religion is that no one will try to persuade me to actually believe in ancient Greek myths, so I can read it for the fun and weird and silly stuff without much annoyance.
2.5 stars?
I'm relieved that the introduction says this because I found Theogony and Works and Days somewhat dull. I picked it up because I have a personal project to read ancient sources of mythology (and I actually like doing so) and wanted to read Hesiod in preparation for reading Ovid. I'm glad I read it and it's interesting overall, but I can't lie, I fell asleep twice trying to finish this very short book.
Theogony of Hesiod is one of the earliest texts available on Greek mythology. It recounts the Greek creation myths. It starts with the earliest beginnings and how the universe came to be: Chaos, Gaia (Earth) and Eros (Love/Desire), then continues to Uranus (Sky)'s rule, then Kronos' rule, then the Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians) and Zeus' rule and the birth of younger gods and their genealogy.
The Works and Days picks up with the myths of Pandora, Prometheus, and the Five Races and then talks about Hesiod's own life, the conflict of good and bad, advice about domestic life and agriculture, beliefs about specific days of the month (and the mandatory warning about how women are evil and untrustworthy and no wise man should ever trust a woman etc.).¹
It's good to read these weird and fascinating myths in the most original form that's left from ancient times, but Hesiod doesn't have the charm of Homer and his poems are boring. Theogony reads like the book of Genesis and parts of it are dedicated to reciting everyone's names:
“(ll. 334-345) And Tethys bare to Ocean eddying rivers, Nilus, and Alpheus, and deep-swirling Eridanus, Strymon, and Meander, and the fair stream of Ister, and Phasis, and Rhesus, and the silver eddies of Achelous, Nessus, and Rhodius, Haliacmon, and Heptaporus, Granicus, and Aesepus, and holy Simois, and Peneus, and Hermus, and Caicus fair stream, and great Sangarius, Ladon, Parthenius, Euenus, Ardescus, and divine Scamander.”
This is hard to follow and, really, boring to read. It also depends on the edition you get, the one I quoted from is the driest by far but thankfully, some editions have included pictures of ancient artworks related to the myths to make it more interesting to read.
Editions and Translations:
- I initially got Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica which is available for free on Project Gutenberg. This edition, even though it's complete and has a long and nice introduction is too dry and tiresome to read.
- The Oxford Edition (the one from the review) is still dry but it's annotated (helpful) and I really liked the introduction.
- But the best one I found is “The Poems of Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, and the Shield of Herakles”, translated by Barry Powell. In this edition, the poems are written in a segmented line format (easier on the eyes), it includes genealogy charts (easier to make sense of who is who) and it includes many interesting pictures of historic artworks that make it a lot more interesting to read (Looks like I'm seven years old and I prefer picture books, but seriously, the pictures help).
Also, the introduction of this edition is the most complete and most interesting: there's a general intro as well as individual ones for each poem.
I'm not adding it because I didn't read the Shield of Herakles, but if you want to read Hesiod, this edition looks like the best one to get. (I can't comment on the quality and accuracy of translations, this is the recommendation of a common reader who's easily susceptible to boredom, likes pictures and illustrations and prefers to stay away from plain, boring bible-like texts.)²
Hesiod was alright. I certainly won't remember every detail I read in Theogony (too many names!) but I'll be using it as a reference and to "fact check" myths later on.
¹ Still hoping to find one single ancient text that isn't sexist. I know I won't find it, but I'm still hoping.
² The only reason why I would willingly pick up a text from an ancient religion is that no one will try to persuade me to actually believe in ancient Greek myths, so I can read it for the fun and weird and silly stuff without much annoyance.
2.5 stars?
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Reading Progress
July 22, 2020
– Shelved
July 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
antiquity
July 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
mythology
July 28, 2020
–
Started Reading
July 28, 2020
–
40.0%
"“Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled mad Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus who from the first was a mischief to men who eat bread; for it was he who first took of Zeus the woman, the maiden whom he had formed.”
LOL so weird."
LOL so weird."
July 29, 2020
–
Finished Reading
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Of course, annotations are essential for we who do not intend to "make a study" of the topic.
(FWIW those juvies had plenty of pictures, too)
Another benefit of reading the "classics" - one has a chance to understand the "ancient mind" - such is the miracle of writing.
Like those myths, I have only "heard of" Lysistrata - wherein the better half of humanity exerted its power to influence the lesser. THERE you might find one classic that is, if only by implication, less sexist than most.
(and now off to find Gutenberg copies)
Thank you Greta for reading my reviews! ☺️