Hesiod’s Shield of Heracles

Hesiod, a poet of Ancient Greece, was active between 750 and 650 BC, and may therefore have been a contemporary of Homer. Renowned as a pioneer in Western poetic tradition, Hesiod’s works are crucial sources for Greek mythology, agricultural practices, early economic thought, and Ancient Greek astronomy.

Born to a father from Cyme in Aeolis, Hesiod’s family later resettled at Ascra, near Thespiae in Boeotia. His writings reveal a contentious relationship with his brother Perses over their inheritance.

Hesiod’s encounter with the Muses on Mount Helicon, as described in his “Theogony,” suggest a non-traditional poetic training, evident in his receipt of a laurel staff instead of a lyre. His narratives mix personal insights with broader themes.

Hesiod’s works suggest that he was relatively prosperous, contrary to his own claims of poverty, his poetry, written in the Ionian dialect with Aeolian influences, likely reflecting his familial and regional background. Pausanias’ description of a lead tablet, inscribed with “Works and Days,” suggests a departure from the oral poetic tradition of the time, in favour of written texts.

Hesiod’s personality, as inferred from his writings, was critical, pragmatic, and cautious - particularly in regard to his views on justice and social norms. His works, including “Theogony” and “Works and Days,” exhibit philosophical leanings, and reveal a keen interest in the origins of the world, gods, and human society. His portrayal of human history in “Works and Days” presents a cyclical view involving social decline from a golden age to inferior eras, with an intervening, idealized heroic age.

Apart from the major works, the “Hesiodic corpus” includes several other attributed texts including the “Shield of Heracles,” though their authenticity is debated.

The events around Hesiod’s death are unclear, with conflicting accounts of his burial place as either Locris or Orchomenus.

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