Hesiod's Cosmos [Paperback]

Reads Hesiod's poems as complementary halves of a whole embracing the divine and human cosmos.In his two poems, the Theogony and the Works and Days, Hesiod, who was roughly contemporary with Homer, does not describe the deeds of the heroes but provides the earliest systematic and comprehensive account of the genesis of the Greek gods and the nature of human life that became the foundation for all later Greek literature and philosophy. Hesiod's Cosmos reveals the unity of his vision by reading the two poems as complementary halves of a whole embracing the divine and human cosmos.In his two poems, the Theogony and the Works and Days, Hesiod, who was roughly contemporary with Homer, does not describe the deeds of the heroes but provides the earliest systematic and comprehensive account of the genesis of the Greek gods and the nature of human life that became the foundation for all later Greek literature and philosophy. Hesiod's Cosmos reveals the unity of his vision by reading the two poems as complementary halves of a whole embracing the divine and human cosmos.This study reveals the unity of Hesiod's vision of the Cosmos by reading both his poems as two complementary halves of a whole embracing the human and divine cosmos. In the Theogony and Works and Days, Hesiod, roughly contemporary with Homer, does not describe the deeds of the heroes. He provides instead the earliest comprehensive account of the genesis of the Greek gods and the nature of human life that became the foundation for later Greek literature and philosophy.Introduction; 1. Orientations: the Theogony; 2. Orientations: the Works and Days; 3. Overtures; 4. The origins of mankind; 5. The two Prometheuses; 6. Perspectives on gods and men; 7. Hybrids; Conclusion. ...an excellent scholarly book abounding in insights and informed by a vast scholarship. Highly recommended. Choice Clay's valuable book should become essential reading on Hesiod and archaic Greek poetry. New England Classical Journal ThilS,