Hesiod was the earliest poet of ancient Greece after Homer, and was famous for his long poems "Work and Time" and "Divine Genealogy". Homer is well known to be a term for blind singers who made a living by playing heroic epics in ancient times; the Iliad and Odysseus were written based on many short songs circulating in folklore about the performance of heroic heroes. Their real authors are the people, a people, many generations. Hesiod, on the other hand, was a real historical figure, while Work and Time, Genealogy, etc. are also considered his personal works.
Work and Time is the first realist work in Western history. The things narrated by the poet are realistic, the contradictions to be resolved are realistic, the truths spoken are realistic, and the aphorisms are also a summary of the people's living experience of that era. At a time when Romanticism and epic writing were in decline, "Work and Time" must have given people a sense of freshness everywhere. That's why people call it "a glorious song", comparing its author to Homer. Secondly, although "Work and Time" uses epic language, it has broken through the limitations of epic poetry and is already a new literary genre - exhortation poetry. There are narratives and teachings, and there are teachings. Various forms of prayer are widely used in the teachings, and some of the narratives are like lyric poems, idylls, and some are fables. Therefore, it can be said that the poem contains various germs of literature in later centuries.
The Genealogy of the Gods had a direct influence on the religious life of the ancient Greeks. From the 8th to 7th centuries BC, three religions were popular in Greece, namely Olympus worship, Orpheus, and The Euphrates. The latter two were mainly worshipped by Demeter and Dionysus, while Olympus was mainly worshipped by Zeus, Apollo, and Athena. The Genealogy of The Gods not only inherits the homeric tradition and establishes Zeus's dominance over heaven and earth, but also lowers the gods of the universe and foreign gods to the status of his vassals, and at the same time draws the relationship between the nobles of the world, Basileus, and Zeus, and describes them as students of Zeus, and praises their justice and wisdom. This suited the tastes of the aristocratic figures of the early class society, who promoted the worship of the Olympian gods as the dominant religion.
"Work and Time Divine Genealogy"
[Ancient Greece] by Hesiod
