Abstract
Hesiod’s poems are two of the first written ideological products of European literature, representing the bible of Greek mythology on the one hand (Theogony), and the first historical writing dealing with current issues of that time (Works and Days) on the other. Hesiod re-invents the gods of ancient Greece and, at the same time, incorporates them in a context of continuous conflicts, where through total prevalence rather than through consensus new power is created.
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- 1.
The simplicity of the alphabet, the trade needs, the homogeneity of dialects of the Greek-speaking tribes and the political need for written laws, led to this outcome (Murray 1993, p. 140).
- 2.
The ones claiming a new social position in the transition period, and the others to secure their place in authority under the new ideological terms.
- 3.
Kymi, the greatest Aeolian city together with Mytilene had very early on developed close relations with Phrygians, while, having a rich inland with large fields and fertile earth, agriculture was its main resource. Hesiod’s father left from there, because of the bad financial conditions.
- 4.
We use the translation by Hugh Evelyn-White (open access) in http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/works.htm (Work and Days) and http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm (Theogony).
- 5.
Later on Aeschylus too, in his tragedy Prometheus Bound, mentions: “Kratos (State/Power) and Via (Violence), your charge from Zeus already has its end, and nothing further in the way. For the mind of Zeus is hard to be hanged; and he is wholly rugged who may newly rule.”
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Georgoulas, S. (2018). Hesiod. In: The Origins of Radical Criminology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94752-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94752-5_4
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