Hesiod

Hesiod was one of the greatest poets of ancient Greece, repeatedly awarded for his philosophical thoughts and his way of leading life, he is recognized as one of the first philosophers of Greece and one of the most important for his time.

Biography of Hesiod

Most of the data that has been collected about this character throughout history are thanks to him, since he expresses it in his various works, without these complements, it would be impossible to know about his existence , for what is known.

Hesiod was born in Ascra , which is now Palaioppanagia , his father was a cabotage merchant in Cumas on the western coast of Anatolia , always with the pretense of getting rich, however, he did not succeed, so he returned extremely disappointed to the His parents’ house in Boeotia, some time later he was granted fertile lands, in which he dedicated himself to farming and being a shepherd , it is presumed that Hesiod was born in these lands.

During his childhood and adolescence was devoted to the same as his father, the agriculture and grazing , along with his brother Perses, with whom ended up having a heated argument and confrontation because of the inheritance that would allow them to her father, setting A judicial conflict between the two, coupled with this, the courts gave the reason to Perses and Hesiod because of this he had to give part of his inheritance , however, some time later Perses appeared before him in a deplorable economic situation, asking for forgiveness for his past actions and begging for his help, yet Hesiod refused him, Arousing his anger and causing him to threaten him again with taking the case to trial and unleashing a new conflict, Hesiod again refused and his brother was left with nothing but to leave to his own devices.

A long time after this happened, Hesiod decides to become a poet , since he affirms that some muses appeared to him while he was with his flock at the foot of Mount Helicon , he headed to Chalcis, currently Calcidia, the capital of the island of Euboea. and he attended some funeral games in tribute to Anfidamante , participated in a poetry contest that he later won, obtaining as a prize a two-handled tripod that he gave as an offering to the muses who guided him to be a poet.

He was moving away from the primitive perceptions of his time, he had a more focused conception including his beliefs about religion in this area , he was closer to thinking that everything in its entirety had a logical and scientific reason, he tried to interpret reality through diverse well- grounded and permanent conceptualizations, his style of prose and writing was clearly colloquial and had great moral standards and precepts , these last two things were the ones that granted him an exception in the authors of Greek literature and in a certain way, catapulted him to its peak moment .

He died on Ascra and his ashes were taken to Agora .

Theogony of Hesiod

Hesiod is one of the first scholars to talk about the gods in his work theogony , this has roots in philosophy , this being the first orderly and structured work written about the gods with a hint that speaks of the muses , it is a proem in which he meets these and the work takes shape based on this idea, the second part of this tells the life of the first greats who were Gea and Uranus , the creators of everything and from whom the Titans descend , the cyclopes, the muses and various amount of mythological creatures in the area.

Talking in this way about the origin of order and how the earth came to be what it was, after this, in the denouement it speaks of the descendants as Zeus who obtains the power of the divine world and Olympus , narrating the descent in detail of this until arriving at Heracles .

the jobs and the days

These are the first works written by Hesiod , which served as references for many of his poems. This type of poetry had a very simple goal, which was to instruct. At the same time, it offered a series of life advice, some recipes and agricultural regulations and the occasional religious calendar.

What the work was mainly based on was the decline of morality that already existed for the time, the lack of values ​​and various external factors are highlighted in a simple way, recounting the history of the world from their perspective , with five stages , from the golden age until culminating in the iron age, which for the author was dominated and subjugated to evil.

Other works

• Chiron’s Tips or Chiron’s Lessons.
• Ceix’s wedding.
• Great Eeas (Μεγαλαι εοιαι)
• Melampodia (Μελαμποδεια)
• Descent of Pirítoo
• Ideos dactyls
• Great works (Μεγαλα εργα)
• Egimio (Αἰγίμιος)
• Potters
• Ornithomancy
• Astronomy
• Other fragments.

Phrases

Some phrases of this renowned philosopher and poet are the following:

• 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 often, 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 heavier 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.

Repercussion of Hesiod

Hesiod was one of the most important poets and philosophers for his time , so much so that today his works and his highly moralistic and value-filled thoughts are still remembered , he was a man who was born and grew up striving for what he wanted, what catapulted him to be admired by some and envied by others, in addition to this, the theogony that he developed was one of the first works that dared to speak of the gods in a structured and complete way, thus causing a strong impact on readers .