homer and hesiod

what does herodotus in his histories say about homer and hesiod

they

• composed theogonies (origins)

• described the gods for us giving the

  • titles

  • offices

  • powers

so herodotus hold these 2 poets accountable for

the landscape of gods

hesiod composed the x2

theogony

works and days

the theogony by hesiod :

account of

• origins

• family relationships of gods

• how zeus (father of gods and men) came to establish himself as rule of mount olympus

works and days by hesiod

agricultural instruction

draws ethical instruction

• zeus and justice oversee behaviour

  • behave well = reward

  • if not = punished

• farming is perfect lifestyle - good farmers are the ideal citizens

homer works x2

iliad

odyssey

aston says that homer and hesiod both provide

visualisation of how gods and men interacted

gods

• appearance

• behaviour

homers cultural signif (aston)

more signif than shakespeare

aston - if asked ancient greek who was most important poet it would be without exception

homer

MORGAN says homers poem were a mix of

shakespeare the bible and einstein

homer was the greeks cultural.. (aston)

cultural figure head -

a source of collective pride

homer was known to and (aston)

loved by all greeks (across greek world)

• panhellenic

aston - homer was shared by all greek so he was the g

glue that bound them all together

eventhough greece seems fragmented with all different poleis (it was not a united nation) homer is one ex of something that

homer ties them all together

underneath the panhellenic religion there is a local more x2

specific and various

aston - even though there was lost of variety and inconsistency in gr, the greeks make no effort to

remove inconsistencies in gr - they could happily coexist