Editing Georgics (section)

===Greek===
[[File:Cristoforo_Majorana_-_Leaf_from_Eclogues,_Georgics_and_Aeneid_-_Walters_W40016V_-_Open_Reverse.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Cristoforo Majorana]] – Leaf from ''Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid'' – Walters W40016V – Open Reverse]]
Virgil's model for composing a [[Didacticism|didactic poem]] in hexameters is the archaic Greek poet [[Hesiod]], whose poem ''[[Works and Days]]'' shares with the ''Georgics'' the themes of man's relationship to the land and the importance of hard work. The Hellenistic poet [[Nicander]]'s lost ''Georgics'' may also be an important influence. Virgil used other Greek writers as models and sources, some for technical information, including the Hellenistic poet [[Aratus]] for astronomy and meteorology, Nicander for information about snakes, the philosopher [[Aristotle]] for zoology, and Aristotle's student [[Theophrastus]] for botany, and others, such as the Hellenistic poet [[Callimachus]] for poetic and stylistic considerations. The Greek literary tradition from [[Homer]] on also serves as an important source for Virgil's use of mythological detail and digression.