Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns: Including Theogony and Works and Days

In Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns, highly acclaimed poet and translator Daryl Hine brings new life to the words of Hesiod and the world of Archaic Greece. Unlike most available prose renderings of their works, Hine's illuminating translations present these classics as they originally appeared, in verse.

This volume includes Hesiod's Works and Days and Theogony, two of the oldest non-Homeric poems to survive. Works and Days is filled with cautionary tales and advice for managing harvests and maintaining a good work ethic. Theogony is the earliest comprehensive account of classical mythology—including the names and genealogies of the gods and monsters of Olympus, the sea, and the underworld. Hine captures Hesiod's gritty and persuasive voice, which provides a rare glimpse into the everyday life of ordinary people in the eighth century BCE.

In contrast, the Homeric Hymns depict aristocratic life in voices whose polished tones reveal little of the narrators' personalities. These hymns (so named because they address the deities in short invocations at the beginning and end of each) are among the earliest examples of  Greek epyllia, or short stories in the epic manner.