Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Orientations: the Theogony
- 2 Orientations: the Works and Days
- 3 Overtures
- 4 The origins and nature of mankind
- 5 The two Prometheuses
- 6 Perspectives on gods and men
- 7 Hybrids
- Conclusion: Hesiod and Calchas at Aulis
- Bibliography
- Indexes
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Orientations: the Theogony
- 2 Orientations: the Works and Days
- 3 Overtures
- 4 The origins and nature of mankind
- 5 The two Prometheuses
- 6 Perspectives on gods and men
- 7 Hybrids
- Conclusion: Hesiod and Calchas at Aulis
- Bibliography
- Indexes
Summary
This study of the Theogony and the Works and Days is intended primarily as a contribution to scholarly debate on Hesiod. At the same time, I have tried to make it accessible to students and those interested readers who may be less familiar with the Hesiodic poems. To that end, I have translated quotations from Hesiod and avoided scholarly polemics and academic jargon. I simply find it impossible to use words like conceptualize, thematize, or problematize. I hope my colleagues will forgive such queasiness. Chapters 1 and 2, insofar as they provide an overview of the poems’ contents, can serve as a general introduction to Hesiod's work. Sections of Chapter 3 (on the Muses), Chapter 6 (on Hecate), and Chapter 7 (on the monsters) are in part revised versions of earlier articles (Clay [1984], [1988], [1993a], and [1993b]). Some readers may prefer to ignore the notes where I have acknowledged the work of my predecessors, including both agreements and disagreements. I have also tried to make these more explicit than has become customary by including specific quotations that I have found especially apt or telling.
At a cocktail party, someone once asked me what I was working on. After explaining the general outline of the book, I suddenly realized that I could already compose the book reviews.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hesiod's Cosmos , pp. ixPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003