One of the greatest poets of the ancient Greek civilizations was Hesiod. He was thought to live around the eighth century B.C. He was a very well known poet in his time, especially for his genealogy work. He was a simple man, living the life of a middle class farmer when he wrote his poetry.

Hesiod, his father, and his brother lived in Asia Minor, near the coast of Turkey. Hesiod's father found merchant life hard, so he traveled from Ryme in Aiolia, to Askra, which is in the territory of Thespiai. His father stayed in Askra and became a farmer. When Hesiod's father died in Askra, he left his land to his two sons, Perses and Hesiod. In the Works and Days, Hesiod talks about how his brother Perses was greedy because Perses talked to the "kings", or barons of the land, to convince them to give him a bigger portion of the land. The barons did give Perses more land than his brother got.

As time went on after Hesiod's death, the Greeks passed on several vivid and possibly fictional stories about his death. One story of Hesiod's death was that he beat Homer in a poetry contest. At the place where the contest was held, he committed adultery with the host of the contest's sister. When he had relations with the sister, he got her pregnant. The child, Stesichours, was also a poet, obtaining his abilities from his father. When Hesiod got her pregnant, the host found out, killing Hesiod and throwing his body into the sea. Dolphins found Hesiod's body and brought him ashore.

The second story of his death was a little different. Hesiod was told by the Delphi oracle to avoid the grove of Nemean Zeus. Hesiod thought this meant the famous Nemea from Peloponnese, but he was wrong. He did not know that Oinoe in Lokris was sacred also to Nemean Zeus. He went to Lokris, and seduced the sister of the host. The host murdered him and tossed him into the sea. The dolphins brought him ashore. This version of his death also talks of Stesichours, the son of the affair he had with the sister of the host. Stesichorus became a Lokriran lyric poet. Some think Stesichorus might have been the son of Hesiod merely because he drew heavily on Hesiod's poems and not because of him being Hesiod's son. Some of his poetry include: The Theogony, The Catalogue, The Shield of Herakles, and Works and Days, which is the most well known and important of his poems. Theogony is a close second.

The poem Theogony is about the origin of the gods. The Theogony says that the first gods were Chaos, Gaia(earth), Tartaros, and Eros(love). The book continues describing who came from who and what their importance was. The poem is a large, descriptive family tree of the gods and how things came to be.

The Catalogue of Women, The Catalogue for short, was a continuation of The Theogony. The Catalogue was five books long. It is mainly about the genealogy of the heroic line. The heroic line's origin was usually told in the poems of The Catalogue by describing a mortal woman with a god, and on down the line of generations of the different heroes that came from woman, god relationships.

The Shield of Herakles, The Shield for short, was simply about Herakles, or Hercules as modern day people know him. The first fifty six lines tell about the birth of Herakles and his twin brother Iphikles, from Zeus and mother Amphitryon. Alkmene, king of Thebes and Amphitryon's husband, took Iphikles and Zeus took Herakles. The poem also speaks of the origins of Herakles' shield.

The Works and Days, which is considered the best of Hesiod's poems, starts with Hesiod asking Pieria to tell him of Zeus. He did not get enough information from Pieria so he went to the Muses. The Muses tell him of Zeus and of Strife. One part of Strife was bad, "war"; the other was good, "understanding." Strife was the oldest daughter of Night. She sent men to work. This helps the rich man succeed, causing the lazy man to be envious and work harder, which creates competition. The poem says not to be controlled by competition or try to beat others. This only holds you back. There is no time for this until you have taken care of business. If you have taken care of your business then you can try to monopolize or focus on competition. However, if you are trying to take another's goods, they will produce more than you. Do not use trickery to beat your neighbor. You will be judged too. The easy way is not the best way to keep ahead.

Zeus created challenges to stop mankind from resting too long. Ever since Prometheus tried to out smart him to make things easier for men Zeus acted in this way. Zeus had fire, but Prometheus, the son of Lapetos, stole the fire. Prometheus stole the fire to give it to the mortals, which were only men. He put the fire in a fennel stalk, which is an herb like parsley, in order to hide it from Zeus. Zeus punished Prometheus as well as mortal men by giving them an evil thing, women. Although most men now think of women as a blessing, they really were not in this poem. Zeus sent Hephaistos to cover the earth with water and fill it with human characteristics. Zeus said that this creature will be intriguing and look like immortal goddesses. This is how the woman was created from man's evil. The woman would be taught to desire. She will have the mind of a hussy(immoral thoughts), be deceptive, and have an unreliable nature. Athene, Persuasion, and Seasons, created the woman with gold necklaces and floral wreaths for her hair. Hermes filled her head with dishonesty, her heart with lies and misleading words. Zeus gave her a voice and called her Pandora. She was called Pandora because all the gods gave her a gift to be man's sorrow. When Zeus was done, he had Hermes take her to Epimetheus, Prometheus's brother, as a gift. Prometheus said to never accept a gift from Zeus, but to instead send it back. Epimetheus did a foolish thing by accepted the gift, and men have been miserable ever since. Before Pandora, they lived long lives without long hairs of work or sickness. Woman set all these evils free. Hope for the man remained throughout all the evils.

The poem then continues by speaking of the five ages. The first immortals created a golden generation of mortals called the Golden Age. This took place in Kronos's time, Zeus's father. Mortals were free from evil and sorrow and did not have to work, had no pain, and never grew old. Mortals also died without pain. Everything belonged to them and they did not have to work for it. The first immortals watch over earth, defend men from evil, which were angels, and give them wealth.

The second generation, the starting of the rule of Zeus, was the Silver Age. Life for mortals was short. People got themselves into a lot of trouble. They were foolish and reckless. They did not worship the gods and Zeus became angry with them for not worshipping him, killing them for their lack of faith.

The third generation was called the Bronze Age. The men were big, strong, dominant, and violent. Weapons and horses were made of bronze because there was not iron yet. Even though they were strong, they still killed each other off and went to Hades or hell as we call it today.

All the gods created the fourth generation. It was called the Hero Age. Evil and carnage took over in Thebes and Troy. Wars sent them to sea and to fight for Helen's honor. This was the end of the heroes of earth. Some died and others moved to the end of the world where Kronos was the king of all the heroes.

The fifth generation was the Iron Age. Hesiod wished he was from one of the earlier generations because the iron age, his time, was full of hard work in the day, and Night brought pain and anxieties to the weary. Zeus will also destroy the Iron Age when the people have lost their sense of right or wrong. Hesiod thinks the people should live by justice and not be violent. Justice will prevail. Good comes to those who live justly. Justice is the daughter of Zeus. Hesiod discusses justice because his brother Perses took more than his fair half of the land that their father left him, by persuading the barons of the land.

That was only the beginning of the Works and Days. The Works and Days is a very long poem containing about one thousand lines. The information from the lines above were only up to line two hundred and fifty. It is amazing that a person who started out in a farming family could create such a masterpiece of ancient poetry about the history and genealogy of the gods and heroes of ancient Greece.