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The “Theogony” (Gr: “Theogonia”) of the ancient Greek poet Hesiod is a didactic or instructional poem describing the origins of the cosmos and the complicated and interconnected genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, as well as some of the stories around them.
Hesiod’s description of Hecate emphasizes the intimate connection between the human, the divine, and the natural. In favoring her devout worshippers, Hecate blesses them with natural bounty and agricultural good fortune, illustrating the inextricable connections between nature, humans, and the gods.
The Theogony details the genealogy of ancient Greek gods, from the beginning of the universe through the Olympian gods and various monsters and heroes descended from them. The poem begins with an invocation to the Muses typical of epic poetry, but with a twist: Hesiod claims that the Muses themselves once descended to visit him and taught him ...
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's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over the cosmos. It is the first known Greek mythical cosmogony.
Read the introduction to the book, pp. 3-8 to learn about Hesiod's life and times. Read also pages 12-16 and "Characteristics of Oral Composition" in this packet. You will find Frazer's comments most helpful.
HESIOD, THEOGONY. HESIOD was a Greek epic poet who flourished in Boeotia in the C8th B.C. He was alongside Homer the most respected of the old Greek poets. His works included a poem titled the Theogony, a cosmological work describing the origins and genealogy of the gods, Works and Days, on the subjects of farming, morality and country life ...
