presumably originates among the peoples of western Asia, the earliest human generation was a golden
race of men who did not need to work. In contrast to the generations of the gods, which became
progressively more righteous and blessed, the generations of humans degenerated through ages of silver,
then bronze, then (anomalously) an age of heroes, and finally the iron age in which Hesiod considers
himself to be living. Humans have become increasingly vicious and, as punishment from the gods,
conditions have become increasingly harsh. We mortals have to make the most of a very bad lot and the
best we can do, Hesiod seems to be telling us, is to listen carefully to the lessons contained in the
Theogony and the Works and Days in hopes that further degeneration can be minimized.
Hesiod’s poetry is of considerable importance to us, not only because now, finally, we have a
representative of ancient Greek civilization who can actually talk to us, but also because what he has to
say illustrates so well what we have seen to be characteristic of the developments of the eighth century,
the century in which Hesiod was born. His works survive as a result of the new technology of writing,
and we have noticed a few of the many instances in his work of orientalizing influence. Further, the
community in which he lives has an administrative and ritual focus typical of the polis that was just
beginning to emerge in Greece, as we can see from Hesiod’s concern with the political power of the
basileis and with the details of myth and cult.
“First the immortals who dwell on Olympus created a generation of mortal men that was golden.
They lived at the time of Cronus, when he ruled as king in the heavens. Their existence was like that
of the gods; their hearts were free of cares and they lived without pain and toil. Nor were they
afflicted with the feebleness of old age, but their limbs remained always unchanged and they took
their joy in feasting, removed from all troubles. When they died it was as though they were
succumbing to sleep. All good things were theirs; the fruitful furrows of the fields bore bounteous
produce of their own accord.” (Hesiod, Works and Days 109–18)The terms in which Hesiod tells his story of the progress of the gods and deterioration of humankind seem
somewhat naïve, but we can also see hints of a more abstract, even scientific mentality that will come to
fruition in the following centuries. Hesiod speaks primarily in terms of biological procreation: Birth and
organic growth are for Hesiod the process by which development of any sort occurs. The progression
from night to day, for example, is represented in Hesiod’s construction of the cosmos as the goddess Night
“giving birth to” the goddess Day after mating with her “brother” Darkness. Similarly Ares, the god of
war, “sires” divinities named Terror and Fear. To what extent are these “mere metaphors,” like the use of
the word “metropolis” to refer to the “parent” city of a new foundation, and to what extent does Hesiod
expect his audience to understand these “literally”? The difficulty of answering this seemingly
straightforward question becomes apparent when we direct the same question to a modern scientist, who
constructs sophisticated “models” of the brain, say, or global warming. The scientist will be unlikely to
admit that these models are “mere metaphors”; rather, they are “cognitive instruments.” The same is true
of Hesiod’s use of generation as a “metaphor” for the process of development and for what we are
inclined to regard as more “abstract” relationships. So poets and musicians are “descended from” Apollo
and the Muses, as basileis are “descended from” Zeus, and women are “descended from” Pandora. All
women are literally descended from Pandora, but so are all men; the predominately metaphorical sense
here is fortified by the literal, making this an especially effective cognitive instrument, one that
convincingly explains existing reality in terms accessible to Hesiod’s contemporaries.
Some of the divinities whose generation Hesiod recounts are gods and goddesses familiar to Hesiod’s
audience from contemporary cult and ritual. Some, however, have no existence in Greek cult and may