Hesiod: . Greek poet who occupies an exceptional place in Greek Literature , both for his moral precepts and for his colloquial style.
Summary
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- 1 Biography
- 2 Works that were attributed to him
- 3 Outstanding works
- 1 The Theogony
- 2 The jobs and the days
- 4 Phrases
- 5 Source
Biography
Very little is known about his life , except what the author himself suggests in his work. He was born in Ascra , Boeotia (today Palaioppanagia ).
The family Hesiod residence in Beocia , from Cuma (Eolia), birthplace of his father. It seems that the enmity with her brother Perses was fundamental in her because of the paternal inheritance, and this subject was approached in her work The works and the days .
Works that were attributed to him
Many of the works that were attributed to him during antiquity, such as the poems on divinatory art: Ornithomancy, The Mantic Verses, and The Explanations of Prodigies, are not really his.
What seems to be proven with certainty is that he was the author of: The works and the days, of the Theogony , which explains the origin of the universe and the genealogy of the gods, and of the first fifty-four verses of the Shield of Heracles .
Hesiod in his work defends the middle class where the workers were grouped and nevertheless criticizes the aristocrats as they do justice in his favor.
Outstanding works
The Theogony
It deals with the origin of the gods and is the older of the two. The work starts from Philosophy since it seeks the truth as the muses of Mount Helicón ask it . It is the first work to order all the material to be written and in which the parts, structure and language take their place according to the intention.
It has three parts: the first is a Proem in which he meets the muses of Helicon and promises to sing to them and the gods; the second is the center in which the descendants of the gods from Gea and Uranus are related, that the Titans, Cyclops , Muses, etc. come out.
In this part we talk about the cosmogony (about the origin of order) and the castration or emasculation with which the one who did it took the power of the castrated; and the third one is the end in which Zeus takes the power of the divine world and counts the descendants of this one until arriving at Heracles of which it counts his exploits.
There are some oriental elements as they appear in some tablets about castration and its power to take over manhood. Another example in the Mesopotamian poem called Euma Elis of which is related to the origin of the universe.
the jobs and the days
It was his first work, and it was the first example of didactic poetry, intended to instruct rather than entertain. This work recounts the experiences of Hesiod during his time as a peasant , and is dotted with allegorical episodes and fables.
In a simple and moralizing style, Hesiod underlines the importance of work and righteousness. It offers practical advice on how to live, while providing recipes and agricultural regulations, and includes a religious calendar with the favorable and unfavorable days for certain tasks in the field.
The main theme of the work is moral decline. Hesiod tells the history of the world in five stages, from the golden age to the iron age, which he considers dominated by evil.
Phrases
- A bad reputation is a burden, light to lift, heavy to carry, difficult to unload.
- If you add a little to a little and do so frequently, it will soon become a lot.
- Unhappy is the one who sleeps in the morning.
- If you speak badly, it will speak of you worse.
- Be cautious. The best thing about everything is to choose the occasion.
- Do not be a companion of the bad or a slanderer of the good.
- It is not work that debases, but idleness.
- Education helps the person learn to be what he is capable of being.
- Shame comes to the aid of men or debases them.
- Fame is dangerous, its weight is light at first, but it becomes more and more heavy to bear and difficult to unload.
- Hunger is the inseparable companion of the sloth.
- Punishment enters the heart of man from the moment he commits the crime.
