Hesiod

Hesiod, translated by Richmond Lattimore

241 pages

Here I am, exposed in all my geekiness and pedantic glory;  I've just finished reading a verse translation of an ancient greek poet, not for a class, mind you, but for "fun".  Recognizing the limited appeal of such a thing, I'm not recommending or discouraging anyone to pick this up; you're either interested or you're not.  Nevertheless, here I am to deliver my thoughts for the greater good of the book challenge!

I generally fail to understand or like poetry as it exists in our time, with a rare exception here and there; obscure symbolism and the significance of meter, especially, frequently elude me, and I take the road often travelled by the ignorant by dismissing a work as pretentious bs.  This isn't the case with ancient greek poetry; not only am I a fan of mythology, but I am fascinated with the rich construction and use of language employed by the classicists in translating the ancient works.  I designated Richmond Lattimore as one of my favorites after earlier coming across his work with Oedipus Rex, and I certainly wasn't let down this time either.

The book actually consists of three Hesiodic epics: The Works and Days, Theogony, and The Shield of Herakles.  The Works and Days is a poem conveying wisdom to a man on how to be an upright, economical, and successful farmer in ancient Greece.  It points out that the shiftless man who sleeps well into the afternoon is unlikely to thrive, while he who rises early and sets upon his work will have better luck (though this is never certain, the "mind of Zeus" being unfathomable).  The poet even delves into the specifics of caring for one's oxen.  In summation, handle your business and "live innocently toward the gods" to maximize your chances for happiness in life, an idea you can find in the wisdom literature of most ancient cultures. 

Theogony is the story of the gods' origins and geneology, and recounts the victory of Zeus over the Titans, and hence his prominence in Greek religion.  There are also cool monsters like the 100-armed, 50-headed Briareos.  The Shield of Herakles tells of the battle between the demi-god Herakles and Kyknos, the son of the god of war, Ares.  However, the main point of the story is to describe Herakles' shield, a masterful work of the divine blacksmith Hephaistos, which is a visual panorama of Greek society in its entirety, from weddings and feasts, to sporting and grim warfare. 

The origins of western culture are multifaceted, and my main interests in reading old works has always been seing the common denominators that underly humanity in terms of values, fears, aspirations, etc.  I want to see what's borrowed and what's new.  The more I read, the more I see that, fundamentally, there is "nothing new under the sun", to quote the Bible's book of Ecclesiastes.  It's ironic that the Bible comes to mind, believed to be a "divine" book, but it has shared myths and values with almost every other ancient literary work.  I think we're all familiar with the Old Testament's misogynistic inclinations in many parts, most prominently the fact that "woman", Eve, brought all the sin and hardship into the world by eating of the tree of knowledge.  Hesiod agrees with this sentiment, as according to him, women are the sole source of mankind's woes and were given to man as a punishment after Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humanity.

"...so Zeus of the high thunder established women,

                                                for mortal

                                             men an evil thing,

                                                and they are accomplished in bringing

                                             hard labors."

I couldn't help but chuckle that such a questionable view could be stated so... gracefully.  I just want to say that as I look at these common threads that connect ancient and modern cultures, misogyny is still the one that has me shaking my head in confusion.  Sure, I've read plenty of rational sociological and historical explanations for the phenomenon, but that doesn't change my bewilderment.  Just in the spirit of open mindedness, I tried to imagine what the world would be like without women.  Suffice it to say it wasn't a pleasant imaginary place and , in retrospect, I'm thankful there wasn't a bottle of sleeping pills within reach while I indulged that unspeakably horrid thought experiment.