Hesiod

Hesiod is one of the oldest known Greek poets, writing in the eighth and seventh century B.C., roughly contemporaneous with Homer. Very little is known about Hesiod (even his lifespan is somewhat contentious), though scholars have been able to piece together bits of Hesiod’s life based on admissions in his own poems. For instance, most scholars agree that Hesiod hailed from Boeotia (central Greece), and his father was originally from Cyme. Hesiod’s poems, like that of Homer, draw their subject matter from myth and legend, detailing the struggles of gods, goddesses, and heroes, as well as more everyday influences such as agricultural and pastoral life in ancient Greece. Hesiod is best known for his poems Works and Days and the Theogony. While Hesiod was certainly influenced by existing mythology, as well as by older oral compositions, he also spun many of his own tales; Hesiod himself is the source of many of the oldest versions of Greek myths, including the stories of Pandora, Prometheus, and more.