Works and Days
Hesiod's didactic poem on agriculture, morality, and the five ages of mankind
The Meaning of Works and Days
Works and Days, composed by Hesiod around 700 BCE, is addressed to his brother Perses, whom Hesiod accuses of cheating him out of an inheritance. The poem weaves together moral instruction, agricultural advice, and mythological narrative. Hesiod recounts the myth of Prometheus and Pandora to explain why humans must toil for their sustenance, then describes the Five Ages of Man — Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron — tracing humanity's decline from a state of ease to the present age of hardship. The central portion is a farming almanac, detailing when to plough, plant, and harvest according to the stars and seasons. Hesiod insists that honest labour is the path to prosperity, while idleness and injustice lead to ruin. The poem also catalogues lucky and unlucky days for various activities. Works and Days provides an invaluable window into the daily life and moral outlook of archaic Greek peasant society.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Hesiod's poem is the earliest known farmers' almanac in European literature and was used as a practical guide for centuries
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Hesiod
💭 conceptDidactic poetry, cosmogony
Boeotian poet who composed the Theogony and Works and Days in the archaic period
Iliad
💭 conceptLiterature
Homer's epic poem recounting the wrath of Achilles during the final year of the Trojan War
Golden Age
💭 conceptLanguage and history
A proverbial expression for a past period of peace, prosperity, and happiness, derived from Hesiod's account of the first and best age of humanity under the rule of Kronos
Hippolytus and Phaedra
💭 conceptNarrative
A tragedy of forbidden desire, false accusation, and divine cruelty destroying an innocent young prince
Goddess of Harvest
💭 conceptHarvest, agriculture, grain, fertility of the earth
Demeter controls the growth of crops and the fertility of the soil, and her grief governs the cycle of the seasons.
Creation of Man
💭 conceptNarrative
The mythological accounts of how humanity was fashioned from clay and endowed with life by the gods
Homer
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Troy, Odyssey
Legendary blind poet credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey
Homeric Hymns
💭 conceptLiterature
A collection of thirty-three ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual Olympian and chthonic deities
Virgil
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Rome, fate
Roman poet who composed the Aeneid linking Rome's founding to the Trojan War through Aeneas's journey
Abduction of Persephone
💭 conceptNarrative
The seizing of Persephone by Hades and its consequences, which explain the origin of the seasons
Oedipus Cycle
💭 conceptNarrative
The interconnected myths tracing the cursed lineage of Oedipus from prophecy to tragic fulfilment
Theogony
💭 conceptLiterature
Hesiod's epic poem describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods