★★★★☆
Theogony and Works + Days are both epic poems from the rich history of Greek epic poetry. They are dated to the 8th century BCE and credited to the greek poet Hesiod. Prior to being written down, these two epic poems were part of the oral traditions of Ancient Greece such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and would have been written down later than their initial telling by Hesiod.
The Theogony, which comes from the Greek word ‘theogonia‘ meaning ‘birth [or generations] of the gods’ is aptly named since it is primarily concerned with describing how the universe came into being, and the genealogy of the titans, gods, monsters, nymphs, dryads, demigods and everything in-between. From chaos or chasm, came the Earth, misty Tartarus, Eros (the god of sexual love), Erebos, and Night. From them came Air and Day, starry Heaven, Mountains, Nymphs and the Oceanus. It all pretty much escalates from there.
This founding myth of the creation of the universe is the cosmogony of Ancient Greece, and explains just how the universe came into being, and why things are. It’s honestly such an interesting read, I really enjoyed it. I loved the interconnectedness of the primordial gods to the rest of their offspring and beyond. Comments about how parts of the Theogony were from specific regions, and regional myths is so fascinating, and the fact that we have the knowledge that sections of the text would have been added in later blows my mind! This piece of work is over 2600 years old, and yet it can still be enjoyed in the modern day.
The themes of power + violence, cycles of succession and family are so prominent in the work and are all interconnected within each other. These themes absolutely transcend time, with violence and power being hand in hand in our current political climate, although hopefully, we are on an upward trajectory away from that damaging time. Family remains as a massively important concept in the modern world, and it is often a device used in literary and cinematic works! This synthesis of such a massive variety of Greek myths and legends concerning gods and the universe needs to be appreciated more!
The Works + Days though… not so much. This was definitely an interesting text, although not as enjoyable. It is very clearly split into different concepts which could only be read as a rule book of sorts. Sections such as myths and fables, works (evil is easy but virtue is hard), a calendar which tells the best time to plant + harvest crops, a calendar on when is best to travel by sea, advice on family management and a section at the end about days and basically which days to do things, and which days to not. It is definitely very intriguing, but not as fun to read.
Works + Days is the first extant account of the concept of the ‘five stages of man’ which incorporates the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, the age of heroes and the Iron Age which is the age of Hesiod’s life. It is a Greek creation myth which essentially traces back the history of man through five stages, or races until it gets to the current stage. We also get the earliest written account of Pandora and her pithos (yeah, it was a jar not a box, sorry). Essentially, Hesiod says that women are the punishment of man, and because Pandora spilled the contents of her jar, the world is plagues by illness and all sorts of evils. When Pandora was created, she was bestowed traits by the gods and goddesses of Olympus including the skills of weaving, a deceitful nature and shameless mind and lies and crafty words. From this alone, you can understand the general attitudes towards women in Ancient Greece.
Not only that, but I really hated reading the section about how men are ready for marriage at around 30 years old, but women (basically still girls), are perfect five years after menstruation began. So for some, as early as 15/16 years old. It’s easy to gloss over uncomfortable and confronting views and beliefs from the ancient world, but it is SO important to acknowledge that there was real issues, just as there is today. It’s okay to read a piece of classical literature and be uncomfortable!
So, overall, I enjoyed reading these two works! They give us SO much information on Ancient Greek beliefs and understanding of the world around them, and of general ideas of everyday life as a farmer. They are really interesting pieces, fairly easy to read and plenty of notes to supplement the reading as you go. I would definitely recommend reading these if you’re a fan of Greek Mythology and the ancient world!