Editing Hesiod (section)

==Life==
The dating of Hesiod's life is a contested issue in scholarly circles (''see [[#Dating|§ Dating]] below''). [[Epic poetry|Epic narrative]] allowed poets such as [[Homer]] no opportunity for personal revelations. However Hesiod's extant work comprises several [[didactic poem]]s in which he went out of his way to let his audience in on a few details of his life. There are three explicit references in ''[[Works and Days]]'', as well as some passages in his ''[[Theogony]]'', that support inferences made by scholars. The former poem says that his father came from [[Cyme (Aeolus)|Cyme]] in [[Aeolis]] (on the coast of [[Anatolia]], a little south of the island of [[Lesbos]]) and crossed the sea to settle at a hamlet near [[Thespiae]] in [[Boeotia]] named [[Ascra]], "a cursed place, cruel in winter, hard in summer, never pleasant" (''Works'' 640). Hesiod's patrimony {{gloss|mode=def|property inherited from one's father or male ancestor}} in Ascra, a small piece of ground at the foot of [[Mount Helicon]], occasioned [[lawsuits]] with his brother [[Perses (brother of Hesiod)|Perses]], who at first seems to have cheated him of his rightful share thanks to corrupt authorities or ‘kings’ but later became impoverished and ended up scrounging from the thrifty poet (''Works'' 35, 396).

Unlike his father Hesiod was averse to sea travel, but he once crossed the narrow strait between the Greek mainland and [[Euboea]] to participate in funeral celebrations for one Amphidamas of [[Chalcis]] and there won a [[Sacrificial tripod#Ancient Greece|tripod]] in a singing competition.<ref>Jasper Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', J. Boardman, J. Griffin and O. Murray (eds), Oxford University Press (1986), pp. 88, 95.</ref> He also describes meeting the [[Muses]] on [[Mount Helicon]], where he had been pasturing sheep, when the goddesses presented him with a [[Laurus nobilis|laurel]] staff, a symbol of poetic authority (''Theogony'' 22–35). Fanciful though the story might seem, the account has led ancient and modern scholars to infer that he was not a professionally trained [[rhapsode]] or he would have been presented with a [[lyre]] instead.<ref group="nb">See discussion by M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 163 f., note 30, citing for example [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] IX, 30.3. Rhapsodes in post-Homeric times are often shown carrying either a laurel staff or a lyre but in Hesiod's earlier time the staff seems to indicate that he was not a rhapsode, a professional [[minstrel]]. Meetings between poets and the Muses became part of poetic folklore: compare, for example, [[Archilochus]]' account of meeting the Muses while leading home a cow and the legend of [[Cædmon]].</ref>

[[File:Hesiod and the Muse.jpg|thumb|left|''Hesiod and the [[Muse]]'' (1891), by [[Gustave Moreau]]. The poet is presented with a [[lyre]], in contradiction to the account given by Hesiod himself, in which the gift was a laurel staff.]]

Some scholars have seen Perses as a literary creation, a foil for the moralizing that Hesiod develops in ''Works and Days'', but there are also arguments against that theory.<ref>Hugh G. Evelyn-White, ''Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' (= [[Loeb Classical Library]], vol. 57), Harvard University Press (1964), p. xiv f.</ref> For example, it is quite common for works of moral instruction to have an imaginative setting as a means of getting the audience's attention,<ref group="nb">Jasper Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', Oxford University Press (1986), cites for example the [[Book of Ecclesiastes]], a Sumerian text in the form of a father's remonstrance with a prodigal son, and Egyptian wisdom texts spoken by viziers, etc. Hesiod was certainly open to oriental influences, as is clear in the myths presented by him in ''Theogony''.</ref> but it could be difficult to see how Hesiod could have traveled around the countryside entertaining people with a narrative about himself if the account was known to be fictitious.<ref>Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', p. 95.</ref> [[Gregory Nagy]], on the other hand, sees both ''Pérsēs'' ("the destroyer" from {{lang|grc|πέρθω}}, ''pérthō'') and ''Hēsíodos'' ("he who emits the voice" from {{lang|grc|ἵημι}}, ''híēmi'' and {{lang|grc|αὐδή}}, ''audḗ'') as fictitious names for poetical [[persona]]e.<ref>Gregory Nagy, ''Greek Mythology and Poetics'', Cornell (1990), pp. 36–82.</ref>

It might seem unusual that Hesiod's father migrated from Anatolia westwards to mainland Greece, the opposite direction to most colonial movements at the time, and Hesiod himself gives no explanation for it. However, around 750 BC or a little later, there was a migration of seagoing merchants from his original home in Cyme in Anatolia to [[Cumae]] in [[Campania]] (a colony they shared with the Euboeans), and possibly his move west had something to do with that, since [[Euboea]] is not far from [[Boeotia]], where he eventually established himself and his family.<ref>Barron and Easterling, 'Hesiod' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', p. 93.</ref> The family association with Aeolian Cyme might explain his familiarity with Eastern myths, evident in his poems, though the Greek world might have already developed its own versions of them.<ref name="Burn, 77">A. R. Burn, ''The Pelican History of Greece'', Penguin (1966), p. 77.</ref>

In spite of Hesiod's complaints about poverty, life on his father's farm could not have been too uncomfortable if ''Works and Days'' is anything to judge by, since he describes the routines of prosperous [[yeoman]]ry rather than peasants. His farmer employs a friend (''Works and Days'' 370) as well as servants (502, 573, 597, 608, 766), an energetic and responsible ploughman of mature years (469 ff.), a slave boy to cover the seed (441–6), a female servant to keep house (405, 602) and working teams of oxen and mules (405, 607f.).<ref>Barron and Easterling, 'Hesiod' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', p. 93 f.</ref> One modern scholar surmises that Hesiod may have learned about world geography, especially the catalogue of rivers in ''Theogony'' (337–45), listening to his father's accounts of his own sea voyages as a merchant.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 41 f.</ref> The father probably spoke in the [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolian dialect]] of Cyme but Hesiod probably grew up speaking the local Boeotian, belonging to the same dialect group. However whilst his poetry features some Aeolisms there are no words that are certainly Boeotian. His basic language was the main literary dialect of the time, Homer's [[Ionic Greek|Ionian]].<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 90 f.</ref>

It is probable that Hesiod wrote his poems down, or dictated them, rather than passing them on orally, as [[rhapsode]]s did—otherwise: the pronounced personality that now emerges from the poems would surely have been diluted through oral transmission from one rhapsode to another. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] asserted that [[Boeotia]]ns showed him an old tablet made of lead on which the ''Works'' were engraved.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D31%3Asection%3D4 IX, 31.4].</ref> If he did write or dictate, it was perhaps as an aid to memory or because he lacked confidence in his ability to produce poems extempore, as trained rhapsodes could do. It certainly was not in a quest for immortal fame since poets in his era had probably no such notions for themselves. However some scholars suspect the presence of large-scale changes in the text and attribute it to oral transmission.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', pp. 40 f., 47 f.</ref> Possibly he composed his verses during idle times on the farm, in the spring before the May harvest or the dead of winter.<ref name="Burn, 77"/>

[[File:1807 Thorvaldsen Tanz der Musen auf dem Helikon anagoria.JPG|thumb|400px|right|''The Dance of the Muses at Mount Helicon'' by [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]] (1807). Hesiod cites inspiration from the [[Muses]] while on Mount Helicon.]]

The personality behind the poems is unsuited to the kind of "aristocratic withdrawal" typical of a rhapsode but is instead "argumentative, suspicious, ironically humorous, frugal, fond of proverbs, wary of women."<ref>Griffin, 'Greek Myth and Hesiod' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', p. 88.</ref> He was in fact a "[[Misogyny|misogynist]]" of the same calibre as the later poet [[Semonides]].<ref>Barron and Easterling, 'Hesiod' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', p. 99.</ref> He resembles [[Solon]] in his preoccupation with issues of good versus evil and "how a just and all-powerful god can allow the unjust to flourish in this life". He recalls [[Aristophanes]] in his rejection of the idealised hero of epic literature in favour of an idealized view of the farmer.<ref>Andrewes, ''Greek Society'', pp. 218 f., 262.</ref> Yet the fact that he could eulogize kings in ''Theogony'' (80 ff., 430, 434) and denounce them as corrupt in ''Works and Days'' suggests that he could resemble whichever audience he composed for.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 44.</ref>

Various legends accumulated about Hesiod and they are recorded in several sources: 
*the story about the ''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod]]'';<ref>Translated in Evelyn-White, ''Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'', pp. 565–597.</ref>
*a ''[[Biography|vita]]'' of Hesiod by the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] grammarian [[John Tzetzes]];
*the entry for Hesiod in the ''[[Suda]]'';
*two passages and some scattered remarks in [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (IX, 31.3–6 and 38.3 f.);
*a passage in [[Plutarch]] ''Moralia'' (162b).

===Death===

Two different—yet early—traditions record the site of Hesiod's grave. One, as early as [[Thucydides]], reported in Plutarch, the ''Suda'' and John Tzetzes, states that the [[Delphic oracle]] warned Hesiod that he would die in [[Nemea]], and so he fled to [[Locris]], where he was killed at the local temple to Nemean Zeus, and buried there. This tradition follows a familiar [[Irony|ironic]] convention: the [[oracle]] predicts accurately after all. The other tradition, first mentioned in an [[epigram]] by [[Chersias]] of [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] written in the 7th century BC (within a century or so of Hesiod's death), claims that Hesiod lies buried at Orchomenus, a town in Boeotia. According to [[Aristotle]]'s ''Constitution of Orchomenus,'' when the [[Thespiae|Thespian]]s ravaged Ascra the villagers sought refuge at Orchomenus, where, following the advice of an oracle, they collected the ashes of Hesiod and set them in a place of honour in their ''[[agora]]'', next to the tomb of [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]], their eponymous founder. Eventually they came to regard Hesiod too as their "hearth-founder" ({{lang|grc|οἰκιστής}}, ''oikistēs''). Later writers attempted to harmonize these two accounts. Yet another account taken from classical sources, cited by author [[Charles Abraham Elton]] in his ''Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan, Including the Shield of Hercules by Hesiod'', depicts Hesiod as being falsely accused of rape by a girl's brothers and murdered in reprisal despite his advanced age while the true culprit (his [[Milesians (Greek)|Milesian]] fellow-traveler) managed to escape.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elton |first1=Charles Abraham |title=The Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan, Including the Shield of Hercules by Hesiod |date=1815 |publisher=BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY |location=London |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66350 |access-date=29 September 2021}}</ref>

=== Dating<!--linked from the 'Life' section above--> ===
[[File:Helikonmountainascent.JPG|thumb|right|Modern Mount Helicon. Hesiod once described his nearby hometown, [[Ascra]], as "cruel in winter, hard in summer, never pleasant."]]

Greeks in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC considered their oldest poets to be [[Orpheus]], [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]], Hesiod and [[Homer]]—in that order.<ref>Rosen, Ralph M.(1997) Homer and Hesiod University of Pennsylvania
ScholarlyCommons https://repository.upenn.edu/classics_papers/7</ref> But thereafter, Greek writers began to consider Homer earlier than Hesiod. Devotees of Orpheus and Musaeus were probably responsible for precedence being given to their two cult heroes and maybe the [[Homeridae]] were responsible in later antiquity for promoting Homer at Hesiod's expense.

The first known writers to locate Homer earlier than Hesiod were [[Xenophanes]] and [[Heraclides Ponticus]], though [[Aristarchus of Samothrace]] was the first actually to argue the case. [[Ephorus]] made Homer a younger cousin of Hesiod, the 5th century BC historian [[Herodotus]] (''Histories'' II, 53) evidently considered them near-contemporaries, and the 4th century BC [[sophist]] [[Alcidamas]] in his work ''Mouseion'' even brought them together for an imagined poetic ''[[Agon|ágōn]]'' ({{lang|grc|ἄγών}}), which survives today as the ''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod]]''. Most scholars today agree with Homer's priority but there are good arguments on either side.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', pp. 40, 47.</ref>

Hesiod certainly predates the [[Greek lyric|lyric]] and [[elegiac]] poets whose work has come down to the modern era.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} Imitations of his work have been observed in [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]], [[Epimenides]], [[Mimnermus]], [[Semonides]], [[Tyrtaeus]] and [[Archilochus]], from which it has been inferred that the latest possible date for him is about 650 BC.

An upper limit of 750 BC is indicated by a number of considerations, such as the probability that his work was written down, the fact that he mentions a sanctuary at [[Delphi]] that was of little national significance before c. 750 BC (''Theogony'' 499), and he lists rivers that flow into the [[Euxine]], a region explored and developed by Greek colonists beginning in the 8th century BC. (''Theogony'' 337–45).<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 40 ff.</ref>

Hesiod mentions a poetry contest at [[Chalcis]] in [[Euboea]] where the sons of one [[Amphidamas]] awarded him a tripod (''Works and Days'' 654–662). [[Plutarch]] identified this Amphidamas with the hero of the [[Lelantine War]] between Chalcis and [[Eretria]] and he concluded that the passage must be an interpolation into Hesiod's original work, assuming that the Lelantine War was too late for Hesiod. Modern scholars have accepted his identification of Amphidamas but disagreed with his conclusion. The date of the war is not known precisely but estimates placing it around 730–705 BC fit the estimated chronology for Hesiod. In that case, the tripod that Hesiod won might have been awarded for his rendition of ''Theogony'', a poem that seems to presuppose the kind of aristocratic audience he would have met at Chalcis.<ref>West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', p. 43 ff.</ref>