Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Shield

PHesiod belongs to the transitional period in Greek civilization between the oral tradition and the introduction of a written alphabet. His two major surviving works, the ITheogony/I and the IWorks and Days/I, address the divine and the mundane, respectively. The ITheogony/I traces the origins of the Greek gods and recounts the events surrounding the crowning of Zeus as their king. A manual of moral instruction in verse, the IWorks and Days/I was addressed to farmers and peasants./PPIntroducing his celebrated translations of these two poems and of the IShield/I, a very ancient poem of disputed authorship, Apostolos Athanassakis positions Hesiod simultaneously as a philosopher-poet, a bard with deep roots in the culture of his native Boeotia, and the heir to a long tradition of Hellenic poetry. For this eagerly anticipated revised edition, Athanassakis has provided an expanded introduction on Hesiod and his work, subtly amended his faithful translations, significantly augmented the notes and index, and updated the bibliography. Already a classic, IHesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Shield/I is now more valuable than ever for students of Greek mythology and literature./P