The Generation of Monsters in Hesiod

THE DISEASE OF MORTALITY IN HESIOD'STHEOGONY: PROMETHEUS, HERAKLES, AND THE INVENTION OFKLEOS

“…Most (1993), 89: 'Hesiod succeeded in establishing a continuity of thought between Theogony and Works and Days at the same time that he demonstrated an evolution beyond the earlier poem'. Building on Most's 'temporalized intertextuality', Clay (2003), 6, treats both poems as 'fundamentally complementary and interdependent', going so far as to speculate that 'from the beginning Hesiod conceived of the poems as a diptych, and as he composed, he continually revised and reworked the one in the light of the other'. On intertextuality within an oral poetic tradition, see also Burgess (2006), Tsagalis (2008), Bakker (2013), 157-69, andLoney (2014).…”

“…West (1966), 313, suggests that 'killing a pestilential monster is a heroic deed, and it is by this that Heracles' glory is increased', while Clay (2003), 158, states that Zeus allows Herakles 'to achieve kleos by killing yet another beast', but there is no evidence in Hesiod's text that the eagle itself is 'pestilential', only that by killing it Herakles 'drives away the terrible disease' from Prometheus; nor is there any indication that the eagle itself is inherently monstrous, along the lines of the cosmogonically challenged creatures Herakles is reported to have killed earlier in the poem (270-336).…”

A Scenario for Stesichorus’ Portrayal of the Monster Geryon in the Geryoneis

“…The monstrous offspring of Phorcys and Ceto (Th. 270-336), as Clay (1993) points out,¹⁰¹ "all diverge from an implied canonical form that is simultaneously theo-and anthropomorphic": indeed, they are οὐδὲν ἐοικὸς / θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὐδ᾿ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι, "in no way similar either to mortal men or to the undying gods" (Th. 295-96), and they are "not to be described" οὐ τι φατειόν (Th.…”

“…also the eloquent analogy between Amalthea's horn and being king at Tartessos for a hundred and fifty years made by Anacreon, PMG 131. 101 Clay 1993, 106. 102 Cf.…”

Hesiod's Metallurgy Simile (Th.861–7)

“…1 Contrast the vast bibliography on the similes of Homer. In particular, the literary contribution the similes make to the poem has been overlooked for a variety of reasons: scholars have been preoccupied with questions of passages' authenticity (see Clay (1993) 106 n. 7; also n. 17 below); Hesiod has been read as a mine for historical and theological data (see for example Sussman (1984)); readers presume the poem's literary inferiority (see for example West (1966) 73: 'It is in general narrative that one is most conscious of a contrast between Hesiod and the Homeric singer. It is as if an artisan with his big, awkward fingers were patiently, fascinatedly, imitating the fine seam of the professional tailor').…”