Review of “Works and Days” (ca. 700 BCE)
Hesiod (writer).
Read in 2026.
Life advice directed to the poet’s brother, Perses, who has more slaves than wisdom. The advice includes several snippets of mythology and a farmer’s almanac that weaves toxic superstition into sound advice on economics and local meteorology.
Though it is full of non sequiturs and ugly prejudice, “Works and Days” is delightful to read.
References here: “Theogony” (ca. 730 BCE), Pandora’s Box (1929), Always Coming Home (1985).