Hesiod: Volume I, Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia (Loeb Classical Library No. 57N) (v. 1) [Hardcover]

Hesiod (Author), Glenn W. Most (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674996224 | ISBN-13: 978-0674996229 | Publication Date: January 15, 2007

Hesiod describes himself as a Boeotian shepherd who heard the Muses call upon him to sing about the gods. His exact dates are unknown, but he has often been considered a younger contemporary of Homer. This volume of the new Loeb Classical Library edition offers a general introduction, a fluid translation facing an improved Greek text of Hesiod's two extant poems, and a generous selection of testimonia from a wide variety of ancient sources regarding Hesiod's life, works, and reception.

In Theogony Hesiod charts the history of the divine world, narrating the origin of the universe and the rise of the gods, from first beginnings to the triumph of Zeus, and reporting on the progeny of Zeus and of goddesses in union with mortal men. In Works and Days Hesiod shifts his attention to the world of men, delivering moral precepts and practical advice regarding agriculture, navigation, and many other matters; along the way he gives us the myths of Pandora and of the Golden, Silver, and other Races of Men.

(20070320)

Editorial Reviews

Review

For a wider audience, especially in this era of resurgent environmental verse, the day of the rural seer and sage may finally have arrived. Glenn Most's splendid new bilingual volume is, therefore, timely...It offers readers and scholars alike the most reliable prose translation and the richest supplementary materials available.
--Richard Martin (New York Sun 20070910)

In the stimulating introduction to his new Loeb Classics two-volume edition of Hesiod, Glenn Most makes the case that we, too, should admire Hesiod for his powerful and unified worldview...The vast questions that are addressed in these poems--the origins of the gods, the way the world works, the reasons why things are as they are--can be seen as the first rumblings of natural science, physics, philosophy, theology, medicine, autobiography, agriculture, law, even history and textual criticism...Hesiod is our oldest source for many of the best-known and best-loved stories of Greek mythology...The disturbing moral complexity of the Hesiodic poems is all the more reason why we should continue to read and study them...No other modern English translation includes the fragmentary works or the ancient testimonia. If you already have some familiarity with Hesiod's two best-known works and you want to know more about the rest of the Hesiodic corpus and about the ancient reception of this canonical figure, then Most's new Loeb books will be essential. Most makes various important corrections and improvements in his translation...We may look back to Hesiod's poetry as representative of a cultural Golden Age when it was possible for a single work of literature to encompass the whole of traditional 'wisdom': high and low, ancient and modern, philosophical and poetic, practical and metaphysical. Perhaps even our Age of Iron could learn from him.
--Emily Wilson (New Republic )

About the Author

Glenn W. Most is Professor of Greek Philology, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, and Professor of Social Thought, University of Chicago.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library (January 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674996224
• ISBN-13: 978-0674996229
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good edition for students or casual scholars, November 16, 2010

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sibylla11 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hesiod: Volume I, Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia (Loeb Classical Library No. 57N) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

This is one of the 'newer' Loebs, with a very decent translation and some notes on textual variants. Like most Loebs, it has no extended apparatus criticus or commentary. A major bonus in this edition is the Testimonia section, with quotations from later ancient sources who reference Hesiod or his work. This product pales in comparison to the extensive ML West text and commentary (Oxford) but is a good starter edition.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference work on Hesiod (Loeb edition), January 9, 2012

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stephen liem (antioch, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hesiod: Volume I, Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia (Loeb Classical Library No. 57N) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

This is a review of Hesiod's works (Theogony, Works & Days, and Testimonia), Loeb edition #57.

This book contains Theogony, Works & Days, and Testimonia. What set this edition apart is the Testimonia. Testimonia contains 157 cross references and references of Hesiod's life and works found in other authors. Includes both his contemporary and others writers in the Roman worlds (Ovid, Cicero, etc). Excellent source of references on Hesiod. I dont believe other editions of Hesiod's works include this.

10 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent human insight showing past and future is only a matter of technology., December 27, 2008

By 

turntable "turntable" (Worldwide) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hesiod: Volume I, Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia (Loeb Classical Library No. 57N) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

Listen up. A message without clutter.

To fully understand other classics you need this and other books written during the period. People haven't changed, just the technological environment in which they work. Like scientists who study weather on other planets to understand our own, this book and it's other volumes, present a view of human behavior with a clear spoken narrative and without the filter of our propagandized times and our emotional bagage.