author
Hesiod
One of the earliest Greek poets still read today, he helped shape how the ancient world imagined its gods, its work, and its moral order. His surviving poems mix myth, practical advice, and flashes of personal voice in a way that still feels surprisingly alive.
3 Audiobooks
About the author
Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet, usually placed around the late 8th or early 7th century BCE. Unlike the grand battlefield world associated with Homer, his poetry often feels closer to everyday life: farming, hardship, justice, family conflict, and the rhythms of the seasons.
Two works are especially central to his reputation. Theogony sets out the origins and family lines of the Greek gods, while Works and Days blends moral advice, agricultural instruction, and reflections on labor into one of the oldest surviving poems about ordinary human life. Together, they made him one of the key voices in early Greek literature.
Much about his life remains uncertain, and some ancient stories about him may be legend rather than fact. Even so, readers have long been drawn to the distinct personality in his verse: thoughtful, stern, observant, and deeply interested in how divine power and human effort shape the world.