The ancient Greeks revered Hesiod, believing he had beaten Homer in a singing contest and that after his dead body was thrown to sea, it was brought back by dolphins. His Works and Days is one of the most important early works of Greek poetry. Ostensibly written by the poet to chide his lazy brother, it recounts the story of Pandora's box and humanity's decline since the Golden Age, and can be read as a celebration of rural life and a hymn to work.
Author Biography
Hesiod (Author) a contemporary of Homer, probably lived in the eighth century in Boeotia on the Greek mainland. He is often considered to be the author of both the Theogony and Works and Days, although this has been debated.
Alicia Stallings (Translator) is an American poet and translator. She has published three books of original verse, Archaic Smile (1999), Hapax (2006), and Olives (2012), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her verse translation of Lucretius' The Nature of Things (2007) is published in Penguin Classics.
