week three: hesiod's works and days

author, title, date, location, language

Author: Hesiod​

Title: Works and Days​

Date: some time between 750 and 650 BCE​

Location: Ascra in Boeotia, a region in Greece​

Language: Greek

Hesiod’s ruke of his brother (Perses)

• Hesiod accuses Perses of being consumed by "gloating Strife," which leads him to prioritize quarrels and assemblies over productive work

• Perses is chastised for stealing more than his fair share of their inheritance and bribing corrupt rulers (referred to as "gift-eaters")

• Hesiod emphasizes the importance of self-sufficiency and hard work, symbolized by storing "Demeter’s grain" —> warns perses not to rely on conflict to obtain wealth

• Hesiod contrasts greed with moderation through the paradoxical statement, "how much more the half is than the whole." + satisfied with mallow + asphodel (poor crops for poor people)

• Hesiod invokes Zeus as the arbiter of justice, urging Perses to accept "straight judgments" instead of exploiting corrupt systems for personal gain

Timeline between Works and Days and the Theogony

Although the date of the Works and Days is just as uncertain as that of the Theogony

• indications that WAD was written after

• The most telling is in line 11 (on page 87):​“So there was not just one birth of Strifes after all, but upon the earth there are two Strifes.”​

• This seems to correct Theogony lines 223-225 (on page 21: ​

• “Deadly Night gave birth to Nemesis (Indignation) too, a woe for mortal human beings; and after her she bore Deceit and Fondness and baneful Old Age, and she bore hard-hearted Strife.”

• suits his purpose to have there be two Strifes, and so he corrects himself —> demostrates flexibility of mythology

Story of prometheus, theft of fire, and pandora

Another place where the Works and Days interacts with the Theogony

• Prometheus tried to deceive Zeus when they were dividing up the portions of sacrificial meat, and in retaliation Zeus concealed fire from humans.

• retaliation Zeus concealed fire from humans.

• Prometheus stole fire in a hollow reed and gave it to humans, and Zeus retaliated by creating a woman, Pandora, and giving her to Epimetheus, who unwisely accepted the gift.

• Pandora brought a jar full of evils, and opened the lid, releasing them all into the world, but she replaced the lid and kept in the jar hope (or, as Most translates it, Anticipation).

• Zeus punished Prometheus by having a vulture eat his liver until Heracles rescued him

Etiological Myth​

. An αἴτιον in Greek is a cause, and when that word is Latinized it becomes first “aetium” and then “etium.” Etiology is the explanation of causes.

• Very frequently, Greeks and Romans (not to mention a lot of other people) use myths to offer an explanation of why things are the way that they are. This applies to cultural practices and also to natural phenomena.​

• In the story of Pandora, Hesiod finds a way to explain why his society is patriarchal.

• Blaming Women for Hardship, Pandora is created by the gods as a punishment for humanity after Prometheus steals fire for them, portraying women as inherently disruptive or dangerous without male guidance.

Etiological myth: malinowski

He argued that the main purpose of myth is to offer a justification of present social practices by rooting them in the ancient past.

• Myth, in this view, serves an important social function. In fact, Malinowski argued that no social practice or custom survives unless it has a useful function.​

• The past exerts an extraordinary influence over social practices, and whoever controls social memory of the past can use that control to justify present power relations.

• This is very visible in modern nationalism, which uses stories of past origins to justify present social and political systems.

Myth and Ritual

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Theories of mythology that explicitly link myth to religious and/or sacrificial rituals have been around for a long time, but they became especially prominent following Jane Harrison’s 1912 book Themis: A Study in the Social Origins of Greek Religion. Harrison became the central scholar in a group known as the Cambridge Ritualists.

• ​The main idea is that myths arise as explanations of religious rituals, so, for example, an initiation ritual that enacts the taking away of the childhood self might give rise to a mythical story about a child, like Zeus or Zagreus, being hidden away. This can help explain the Prometheus myth too.​

Myth and ritual: walter burkert influences

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A more modern version of theory of the origin of myth and ritual

• ​Burkert’s two greatest influences were Konrad Lorenz, the ornithologist and key figure in the beginning of “ethology” (the study of animal behavior) + emile durkheim

myth and ritual: Burkert interpretation

social behavior like ritual and religion is determined by evolutionary psychology and sociological approaches that argue that social behavior is determined by cultural constructions rather than innate instinct, Burkert’s approach is sometimes called sociobiological. ​

• starts with Lorenz’s definition of ritual as a behavior that has lost its original function, but is maintained because it has found a new function —> creates + affirms social interaction

• in Ancient Greece as in many other cultures, the ritual of animal sacrifice is central to anything serious in the society

• origin —> to a ritualization of hunting behavior, in which strong social bonds formed because people undertook a dangerous and violent activity together.

• hunting violence threatens to spill over into “intraspecific violence.” The ritual beginnings and ends of hunts and sacrifices help to draw boundaries around what violence is acceptable, and what violence is unacceptable.​

• myth —> kind of verbal ritual

• myth often includes themes of inclusion and exclusion in communities, and it also frequently includes themes of aggression and sexuality, which are two of the forces that most closely bond communities and most strongly threaten them.

myth and rituals: harrision vs burkert

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For Harrison’s ritualists, once the original function of ritual was lost, people invented myths, especially etiological myths, to explain why they performed the rituals they did. Burkert argued, however, that finding the origin of myths or rituals does not explain at all what is important about them, and it is probably impossible anyway.​

etiological vs socialbiological interpretation of Prometheus

etiological interpretation: odd that in the sacrificial ritual, the gods got the useless parts and the humans got the good parts. That person invented a story explaining the origin of that practice as a way to help themselves and others accept and perpetuate the ritual.​

socialbiological: Theogony is not only the story of the origin of the gods, but also their social organization. It tells us how Zeus came to be in charge and what kind of rules and organization he enforces. ​

• Works and Days is a counterpart to the Theogony in that it is the story of the social organization of humans.​

• story of Prometheus, the sacrifice, and the theft of fire, is in both poems because it is an interaction between gods and humans. Sacrificial ritual is where gods and humans come together, but it also separates the two communities.​

golden age

1. golden age (before pandora): lived free of evils, toil, disease, during time of cronus, death came gently

   • race was covered by the earth (no longer mortal beings), became benevolent spirits —> guardians of humanity

2. opening of pandora’s jar, releasing evil into human existence

3. while all evil escaped, anticipation (hope) stayed in the jar

silver race

1. created by olympian gods, inferior to golden race, remained immature —> spending 100 yrs in mothers home

2. once they reached adulthood, only lived short time, plagued by pain and suffering due to their own foolish actions

3. failed to honor gods + perform sacrifices —> destroyed by zeus —> became blessed mortals ranked second to golden race

bronze race

1. created from ash trees (associated w warlike implements) —> characterized by strength, violence, focus on warfare

2. did not eat bread —> lack of cultural refinement compared to earlier races

3. massive, great strength, hands “untouchable’ grew from their shoulders —> lives revolved around bronze (iron has not been discovered)

4. self-destruction —> violent nature —> not remebered w honor, died nameless, without distinction

heroic race

1. characterized by justice + excellence —> consisted of demigods

2. nobler and more superior in nature compared to bronze

3. destruction through war

4. many heroes perished, some blessed afterlife by zeus, taken to the Island of the Blessed

5. live free from care, with land bearing honey-sweet fruit three times a year

iron race

1. cursed with toil and distress during the day and suffering at night, life with both good and evil, burden of existence outweighs the blessings

2. relationships characterized by discord and selfishness —> premature aging of infants

3. zeus will eventually destroy this race due to their degeneration

Hesiod’s Lament

Hesiod expresses his wish to have been born before or after the Iron Race, emphasizing his despair at living among such a corrupt generation. His lament reflects his belief that humanity has reached its lowest point, where even divine retribution and moral codes are ignored.

virtuses of justice (dike) and perils of fostering outrageousness (hhybris)

• Justice (Dike): Represents fairness, truth, and the divine order that upholds society. Hesiod warns that justice may seem slow, but it ultimately triumphs —> over suffering and time

  • Justice is personified as a weeping figure who mourns the wrongful acts of men, particularly those in power (gift-eaters—judges or rulers swayed by bribes)

  • The goddess Peace (Eirene), often associated with youth and prosperity, is described as nurturing the community. Justice ensures her presence, which brings stability and wards off war and famine.

• Outrageousness (Hybris): Symbolizes arrogance, excess, and lawlessness. It is destructive and brings calamity even to those who initially appear strong or virtuous.

Justice (dike)

personified as a maiden, born of Zeus, who is celebrated and revered by the gods

• When someone harms Justice by committing acts of injustice, she immediately appeals to her father, Zeus, the god of justice and order.

• Hesiod directly addresses kings and rulers, urging them to avoid crooked judgments and to administer justice fairly. He warns that the wrongdoers (particularly those in power) will suffer the consequences of their actions, as their wickedness will provoke divine retribution.