![]() ![]() Unlike his father, Hesiod was averse to sea travel, but he once crossed the narrow strait between the Greek mainland and Euboea to participate in funeral celebrations for one Athamas of Chalcis, and there won a tripod in a singing competition. Hesiod's patrimony there, a small piece of ground at the foot of Mount Helicon, occasioned lawsuits with his brother Perses, who seems, at first, to have cheated him of his rightful share thanks to corrupt authorities or "kings" but later became impoverished and ended up scrounging from the thrifty poet (Works 35, 396). The former poem says that his father came from Cyme in Aeolis on the coast of Asia Minor, a little south of the island Lesbos and crossed the sea to settle at a hamlet, near Thespiae in Boeotia, named Ascra, "a cursed place, cruel in winter, hard in summer, never pleasant" Works 640. There are three explicit references in Works and Days, as well as some passages in his Theogony that support inferences made by scholars. However, Hesiod's extant work comprises several didactic poems in which he went out of his way to let his audience in on a few details of his life. Epic narrative allowed poets like Homer no opportunity for personal revelations. The dating of Hesiod's life is a contested issue in scholarly circles. ![]() Modern scholars refer to him as a major source on Greek mythology, farming techniques, early economic thought, archaic Greek astronomy and ancient time-keeping. Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek religious customs. He is generally regarded as the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an individual persona with an active role to play in his subject. Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |