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Hesiod

Theogony, Works and Days, Shield

translation, introduction, and notes by Apostolos N. Athanassakis

third edition
Publication Date
Binding Type

This best-selling translation of Hesiod's the Theogony, the Works and Days, and the Shield has been updated into the most indispensable edition yet for students of Greek mythology and literature.

Next to the works of Homer, Hesiod's poems are foundational texts for students of the classics. His two major surviving works, the Theogony and the Works and Days, address the divine and the mundane, respectively. The Theogony traces the origins of the Greek gods and recounts the events surrounding the crowning of Zeus as their king, while the Works and Days is a manual of moral instruction in verse...

This best-selling translation of Hesiod's the Theogony, the Works and Days, and the Shield has been updated into the most indispensable edition yet for students of Greek mythology and literature.

Next to the works of Homer, Hesiod's poems are foundational texts for students of the classics. His two major surviving works, the Theogony and the Works and Days, address the divine and the mundane, respectively. The Theogony traces the origins of the Greek gods and recounts the events surrounding the crowning of Zeus as their king, while the Works and Days is a manual of moral instruction in verse addressed to farmers and peasants. Though modern scholars dispute the authorship of the Shield, ancient texts treat this final poem about the shield of Herakles as unquestionably Hesiodic.

Introducing his celebrated translations of Hesiod, Apostolos N. Athanassakis positions the philosopher-poet as heir to a long tradition of Hellenic poetry. Hesiod's poems demonstrate the author's passionate interest in the governance of human society through justice and a tangible work ethic. As a physicist and a materialist, Hesiod avoided such subjects as honor and the afterlife. His works contain the oldest fundamentals on law and Greek economy, making Hesiod the first great thinker of Western civilization. Athanassakis's contextual notes offer both comparison to Biblical and Norse mythologies as well as anthropological connections to modern Greece.

The third edition of this classic undergraduate text includes a thoroughly updated bibliography reflecting the last two decades of scholarship. The introductions and notes have been enriched, clarifying contextual history and the meaning of Hesiod's own language and themes, and notes have been newly added to the Shield. Athanassakis has lightly improved his translation throughout the text, expertly balancing the natural flow of the verse while adhering closely to the literal Greek.

Reviews

Reviews

The translations in themselves have the pleasing flow, sound, rhythm, and idiom of good English poetry even though... they follow the original Greek text line by line and adhere closely to its literal meaning.

Athanassakis provides a readable and stimulating English version... [and] displays a good command of Hesiodic scholarship.

Athanassakis's notes are informative and interesting, full of cross references to the ancient sources and comparisons to Biblical, Norse, and other sources. His anthropological interest includes and indeed highlights modern Greece... I found his translation of epithets refreshing and intriguing.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
7
x
10
Pages
200
ISBN
9781421443942
Illustration Description
1 map, 2 charts
Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
List of Abbreviations
The Theogony
Theogony
Notes
The Works and Days
Works and Days
Notes
The Shield
Shield
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Author Bio
Featured Contributor

Apostolos N. Athanassakis

Apostolos N. Athanassakis (ATHENS, GR) is professor emeritus in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he held the Argyropoulos Chair in Hellenic Studies from 2001 to 2011. Among his many translations is The Homeric Hymns.