Hesiod's Didactic Poetry

Abstract

In this paper I shall approach Hesiod's poetry from two, rather different, directions; consequently, the paper itself falls into two parts, the argument and conclusions of which are largely independent. In (I) I offer some observations on the vexed question of the organisation of Works and Days; that is, my concern is with the coherence of the poem's form and content. In (II) my attention shifts to the function of this poem and of its companion, Theogony; given the form and content of these two poems, what can we plausibly conjecture about the end or ends to which they were composed? In particular, I shall consider whether, and in what sense, these poems may be regarded as didactic in intent. Much of what I have to say in (I) I say with a measure of confidence; in (II), by contrast, my primary aim is to undermine unwarranted confidence — although I do, even here, reach some positive conclusions.

Untitled

“…The great majority of researchers of Hesiod's works consider him as contributing to many disciplines, but very few to economics literature, albeit, as shown in Papanikos (2022a), some economic historians and historians of economic thought did mention him as one of the contributors. For example, some have observed in Hesiod's works elements of political philosophy (Bartlett [2006]); religion (Beall [2004]); morality and justice (Claus [1977]); Teggart [1947]); didactic poetry (Heath [1985]); education (Papastephanou [2008]) and an agricultural manual (Nelson [1996]).…”

‘Mere bellies’?: A new look atTheogony26–8

“…6 This view was vigorously put forward by Stroh (1976) and subsequently heavily criticized, e.g., by Kannicht (1980), Neitzel (1980) and Rosier (1980). Pratt (1993) 106-13 proposes a similar reading, and Thalmann (1984) 146-9 and Heath (1985) 258-9 lean in the same direction but are more tentative; see also the literature cited in Neitzel (1980) 388 n.3. Neitzel suggests a quite different 'monist' interpretation: according to him, both verses refer solely to non-Hesiodic poetry, which Hesiod realized was characterized by some truth (28) and many lies (27) -whereupon he decided to compose different, 'truthful', poetry himself.…”

Las figuras protectoras y su efecto político. Reys y damimones: las marcas de la custodia

“…Sobre el valor del mito como discurso y para un análisis exhaustivo del mito de las cinco razas, puede verseCrubellier (1996).8 Mito de probable origen iranio que con el tiempo llegó a Grecia por el Oriente y lo encontramos por primera vez en Hesíodo. 9 Sobre la dimensión didáctica de la poesía hesiódica, véase,Heath (1985) …”