Ancient Greece from Homer to Alexander

The World of Hesiod

CHAPTER CONTENTS

2.1 Individual, Communal, and Divine Justice

2.2 Women and Pandora’s Jar

2.3 Household and Marriage WEB

2.4 The Value of Labor

2.5 Hesiod WEB

2.6 The Orientalizing Period

This chapter examines the society depicted by the poet Hesiod in his Works and Days. It includes passages dealing with attitudes toward men of the elite and their treatment of people weaker than them, as well as perceptions of women and work. The chapter also illustrates through a vase aspects of Asian influence on Greek culture in this early period.

As with Homer, it is not certain whether Hesiod wrote the poems ascribed to him. According to one scholarly view, the ancients attributed different poetic traditions of various times to Hesiod. We shall follow the orthodox view, which largely assumes the authenticity of his authorship.

Hesiod was a contemporary or near contemporary of Homer (ca. 700). According to his own account in Works and Days, his father had emigrated from Cyme in Asia Minor to Ascra in Boeotia, where he became a farmer. When Hesiod’s father died, his inheritance was divided between Hesiod and his brother Perses, although Hesiod complained that Perses took more than his rightful share following a crooked judgment.

In his Theogony, Hesiod systematized Greek myths of heroes and gods. In his later poem, Works and Days, written around 700, he remonstrates with his brother for his misconduct over the inheritance. Yet mostly he imparts folk wisdom and advice on issues of justice, morality, religion, seafaring, and especially farming. While the Iliad and the Odyssey focus on the elite, Works and Days deals with the ways of life, beliefs, and mores of those who, while not downtrodden, are still less privileged – in other words, small to middling landholders.

Accordingly, Works and Days describes no big chiefs on the Homeric scale. Instead there are “gift-eating kings,” powerful individuals who dispense injustice. They reside in the neighboring polis Thespia, which probably controlled Ascra at that time. In his appeal to the Thespian elite and to his brother, Hesiod deifies justice (dikê) and retribution (atê), and suggests that injustice will result in suffering for the family and community. Leaders are expected to show public responsibility.

2.1 Individual, Communal, and Divine Justice

Hesiod Works and Days 213–273

(213) You, Perses, should listen to Right [Dikê]; do not promote Violence [Hubris]. Violence is bad for a poor man; (215) even a man of substance cannot bear it easily, and is oppressed by it when he meets Retribution [Atê]. Better to take the road on the other side, the one leading to righteousness, for in the end Justice prevails over Violence. The fool learns this only through suffering the consequences; for Oath straightway keeps pace with perverse judgments. (220) There is uproar when Right is forcibly dragged wherever bribe-devouring men take her, adjudicating claims with perverse verdicts. She follows in tears to those men’s abodes in their community [polis], wrapped in mist and bringing misfortune to the men who drove her out and did not dispense straightforward justice.

(225) But those who give straight judgments to foreigners and local people, and do not stray from the path of justice, these men see their community flourish, and their populations prospering in it. There is throughout their land a peace that fosters children, and never does far-seeing Zeus apportion grievous war to them. (230) Never do famine or retribution afflict men who give fair judgments, and they enjoy much feasting as they till the fields they care for. For them the earth provides a rich livelihood, and on the hills the oak tree bears acorns on the exterior and bees within. They have fleecy sheep laden with wool, (235) and their wives bear children who resemble their fathers. They always have an abundance of good things; they do not make sea journeys, and their farmland is productive and bears them fruit.

To those who are given to iniquitous violence and evil deeds, however, far-seeing Zeus apportions punishment. (240) Often an entire community has suffered because of one man who does wrong and has iniquitous designs. On such folk the son of Cronus brings suffering from heaven in the form of famine and plague, and the people die out. The women fail to produce children, and their households fade away through the design of Olympian Zeus. (245) Sometimes, too, the son of Cronus destroys their broad army or their city wall, or wrecks their ships upon the sea.

Oh kings, you too should take note of this punishment. For there are immortals rubbing shoulders with humans and (250) observing those who exhaust their fellow men with perverse judgments with no thought for punishment from the gods. Zeus has thirty thousand immortal spirits on the fertile earth watching mortal men, and these keep an eye on judgments and wicked deeds, (255) clothed in mist and roaming everywhere in the world.

And there is the maiden, Justice, who is the daughter of Zeus, an illustrious maiden respected by the gods who live on Olympus. And whensoever someone does her harm with unjust censure she straightway takes a seat beside Cronus’ son Zeus (260) and apprises him of the wicked thoughts of men so that the people may pay for the iniquities of their leaders who, with evil thoughts in their hearts, make fraudulent statements and pervert the course of Justice. Be on your guard against this, you kings, and make your judgments straight, you who swallow bribes – forget all about perverse judgments.

(265) The man who inflicts wickedness on another inflicts wickedness on himself, and an evil plan turns out most evil for the planner.

The eye of Zeus sees all things, and takes account of all things; and it looks down on these things, too, if it wishes, not failing to see the quality of the justice that a community employs within it. (270) In the present circumstances I would not myself be “righteous” amongst men, or have my son be so, for it is bad for a man to be “righteous” if the less righteous man will have the greater right.

Questions

1. What were the relationships between divine and human justice according to Hesiod?

2. What, according to Hesiod, are the incentives and deterrents that should guide the conduct of leaders? Are they effective in your opinion?

2.2 Women and Pandora’s Jar

The desirable Hesiodic oikos is relatively modest in size. It consists of a husband, wife, preferably one son, a small number of male and female slaves, and farm animals and equipment. Hesiod believes that young women who are modest, docile, and concerned about the family’s good name may turn into good wives (cf. Works and Days 519–522). However, his version of the myth of Pandora reveals masculine concerns, fears, and stereotypes of women. The speaker in lines 57–58 is Zeus, who has decided to punish Prometheus’ theft of fire from the gods by unleashing suffering on humans. Pandora (lit., “gift for all”) was given a jar, which she opened and so let loose evils on humankind.

Hesiod Works and Days 59–82; cf. 373–375

(59) So saying, the father of gods and men laughed aloud. And he ordered the renowned god Hephaestus to mix earth and water immediately, to set in the mixture the voice and strength of a human being, and to mold the delightful form of a lovely maiden with the features of the immortal goddesses. Athena he ordered to teach her handiwork, how to weave the intricate web; (65) while Aphrodite was to shower upon her head both painful desire and enfeebling cares. And he bade Hermes, the messenger god and killer of Argos, to set in her the mind of a bitch and a perfidious nature.

Such were his orders, and the deities obeyed their master, Zeus son of Cronus. (70) The famous lame god [Hephaestus] immediately molded from clay, in accordance with the plans of the son of Cronus, the figure of a modest girl. The gray-eyed goddess Athena clothed her and decked her out; the divine Graces and Queen Seduction [Aphrodite] placed golden necklaces upon her; (75) and the lovely-tressed Seasons made a garland of spring flowers for her head. The messenger, the killer of Argos [Hermes], created in her breast lies, wheedling words, and a cunning nature, after the plans of loud-thundering Zeus. (80) And the herald of the gods also put a voice within her, and named this woman Pandora, because all those having their homes on Olympus contributed to her – a disaster for men who live on bread.

See WEB 2.3 for Hesiod on desirable household and marriage.

Questions

1. What feminine attributes are highlighted in the creation of Pandora?

2. Based on the myth of Pandora and the descriptions of household and marriage in WEB 2.3, how were men to contend with the harmful potential of women?

2.4 The Value of Labor

It may be expected that a farming community would endorse the value of hard work. Hesiod accordingly extols labor as a key to material prosperity and as a moral virtue that separates the honorable from the shameful. Homer associates excellence (aretê), fame, and competitiveness with combat, courage, and leadership qualities. Works and Days links these values to wealth that comes from labor, and contextualizes them in farming and other working environments. In spite of Hesiod’s praise of work, leisure continued to distinguish the elite from the masses and to signal the former’s social and moral superiority.

Hesiod Works and Days 299–318

(299) But you, divine-born Perses, set yourself to work so that hunger may hate you and venerable well-garlanded Demeter may love you, filling your barn with sustenance. For hunger is always the companion of the idle man. Gods and men feel rancor against the man who lives in idleness, (305) being in his nature similar to the stingless drones who, eating without working, consume the fruits of the bees’ labor. Your efforts should be directed toward putting your work in proper order, so that your barns may be full of the food of each season. It is from work that men have abundant flocks and wealth, (310) and those who work are more loved by the immortals. Work is no disgrace; disgrace lies in not working. And if you work the idle man will soon be jealous of your growing wealth; and rank [aretê] and honor [kudos] go along with wealth. But whatever your fortune, work is the better course, (315) if you direct your foolish heart away from other people’s possessions and focus on work as I tell you. A discreditable shame accompanies the man in need – shame which can harm men greatly, but also greatly benefit them.

See WEB 2.5.I–II for Hesiod on slaves and competitiveness, and WEB 2.5.III for a link to a bust of Hesiod.

Question

1. What makes working preferable to idleness according to Hesiod?

2.6 The Orientalizing Period

Occurring close to, or contemporary with, the world of Hesiod was what modern scholars have termed the “orientalizing period” (ca. 725–650). It is characterized by a strong eastern influence on Greeks in many areas, but especially in the realms of religion, myth, writing, and art. Indeed, some critics have attributed the direct or indirect origins of Hesiod’s Works and Days to the so-called wisdom literature that flourished in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Oriental influences were imported either by Greeks from the east or by Egyptians or Phoenicians who settled in and traded with the west. Cults like that of Adonis or the later Orphic religion, Greek cosmology, and the systematization of gods and heroes demonstrated similarities with more ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian beliefs and practices. The Greeks adopted and modified the Phoenician alphabet, though it is unclear where this script was first introduced and how it was diffused. The orientalizing style in vase-painting began around 725 with what is known as the proto-Corinthian style and continued for about a century. Naturalist motifs, many of them imported from the east, replaced or supplemented earlier Geometric patterns. They included, among others, rosettes, lotus flowers, and even animals like panthers that the artists knew only from oriental art and myths.

Image not available in this digital edition.

The jug shown in Figure 2.1 exemplifies the mixture of Geometric and orientalizing elements. Produced around 675 in one of the Cycladic islands, it was found on the island of Aegina near Attica. The top is shaped like a griffin, a motif adopted from Syria and modified by Greek artists. The central panel depicts the eastern motif of a lion and its prey next to a grazing horse, which is a scene that appears already in the Geometric style. The bottom combines Geometric triangles with oriental flower patterns. It might be significant that the jug was found in Aegina, a thriving trade center, and not in an inland settlement like Hesiod’s Ascra. In an agriculture-based community, wealth and worth were probably measured differently than in towns where overseas trade constituted a major economic activity.

Review Questions

1. What were the dominant moral values in the society described by Hesiod?

2. Describe the structure and activities of the Hesiodic household based on the documents in 2.4, WEB 2.3, and WEB 2.5.I–II.

3. Describe the relations between leader and community as characterized by Hesiod. How did they resemble and differ from similar relations in Homer?

Suggested Readings

Society and politics in Hesiodic Ascra: Millett 1984; Tandy 1997; Thomas and Conant 1999, 144–161; A. Edwards 2004. Hesiod’s conflict with Perses: in addition to the above see Gagarin 1974, but also Clay 2003, 34–38. Women in Hesiod (and in other Greek authors): Arthur 1973; Zeitlin 1996, 53–86. Pandora: Ogden 1998. Hesiodic household: Hanson 1999, 90–106. Hesiod and the value of hard work: G. Nussbaum 1960. On the Hesiodic value system as the opposite of Homer’s: Zanker 1986, but also Pearson 1962, 72–73, 82–83. Orientalizing period: Burkert 1992, 2004; Murray 1993, 81–101.