Theogony, Works and Days (Oxford World's Classics)

Before Homer, there was Hesiod . . .

An amazing piece of Ancient Greek Lit. 9.5/10

Slow read, but interesting.

Theogony/Works and Days is quite a difficult book to review. The first part of the book - Theogony - is a description of the creation of the world, the gods and society, as believed by a writer living in Greece in 800 BC. These stories have been told a thousand times throughout the history of Western civilisation in print, paint, song, play, opera and film, and so are quite familiar to most...more

Theogony/Works and Days is quite a difficult book to review. The first part of the book - Theogony - is a description of the creation of the world, the gods and society, as believed by a writer living in Greece in 800 BC. These stories have been told a thousand times throughout the history of Western civilisation in print, paint, song, play, opera and film, and so are quite familiar to most people, even if they do not realise the origin of the stories. Consequently, it is quite possible that a reader would not find Theogony that interesting, particularly if he or she is not that keen on the idiom of 800 BC Greek writing. Works and Days is, essentially, a long letter from a father to a son about how life should be lived, the values that one should hold and the way one should treat others. The "life" that Hesiod talks about is that of an agrarian, if extremely literate, society, with a decidedly international outlook. As with Theogony, this may not appeal to many readers, but for different reasons. However, as a devotee of classical literature, I found it fascinating, illuminating and extremely entertaining, and would recommend it highly to anyone who has read The Iliad or Odyssey and wishes to delve a little deeper into the writings of the Ancient Greeks.   hide

At first I was forced to read it for school and I hated it...then I realized that God of War was based around it so I read it and loved it.

Extremely hard to remember what the last passage meant as you're trying to get through the next. I love mythology, but this was absent in that it lacked actual flow of the storyline. It should have just had bullets with a timeline of what happened and who said what that was important enough to remember. It's a classic though, so I accept the fact that it may be in part due to introducing an old...more

Extremely hard to remember what the last passage meant as you're trying to get through the next. I love mythology, but this was absent in that it lacked actual flow of the storyline. It should have just had bullets with a timeline of what happened and who said what that was important enough to remember. It's a classic though, so I accept the fact that it may be in part due to introducing an old form of beliefs in today's society.   hide

THAT IS HOW THE WORLD BEGUN ACCORDING TO THE ACIENT GREEKS...OF COURSE EVERYTHING IS SYMBOLIC...