Seminar: Hesiod

William A. Johnson

Spring 2007

Bibliography to Hesiod

This running bibliography selects no more than a few, mostly recent works of importance or interest, or which offer good starting points for exploration of the individual topics we will consider in the course. All of these topics are much treated. Items on reserve are marked with an asterisk.

On reserve (*) :

*Jenny Strauss Clay, Hesiod’s Cosmos, 2003, 49-72. PA4011 .C53 2003

*Robert Lamberton, Hesiod, 1988, 1-37. PA 4011 .L36 1988

F. Solmsen, R. Merkelbach, M. L. West, Hesiodi Theogonia, Opera et Dies, Scutum, Fragmenta Selecta (OCT), 1991 (3rd ed.). PA3405 .S8 H44 1990 Reference

*W. Verdenius, Commentary on Hesiod Works and Days vv. 1-382 (Mnemosyne Suppl. 86), 1978. PA .M6 Suppl. no. 86

* M. L. West, Hesiod: Theogony, 1966. PA 4009 .T5 1966

* M. L. West, Hesiod: Works and Days, 1978. PA 4009 .O7 1978

* M. L. West, Hesiod: The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, 1985. PA 4009 .Z5 W4 1985

Hesiod Bibliography – 1

1. The question of the authorial voice: individual or generic?

G. Arrighetti, Esiodo: lettere critiche, 1975, 5-34. 1975, cf. ibid. Esiodo Opere, 1998.

G. Edwards, The Language of Hesiod, 1971. On question of oral vs. written.

Herman Fränkel, Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy, 1975 (=Dichtung und Philosophie des frühen Griechentums, 1962), 94ff. Better on W&D than Theogony.

Mark Griffith, “Personality in Hesiod,” CA 2 (1983): 37-65.

*Robert Lamberton, Hesiod, 1988, 1-37.

M. Meier-Brügger , “Zu Hesiods Namen,” Glotta 68 (1990) 62-67. On the question of the etymology of Hesiodos (contra Nagy).

Glen W. Most, “Hesiod and the Textualization of Personal Temporality,” in La Componente autobiografica nella poesia greca e Latina fra realtà e artificio letterario: Atti del Convegno Pisa, 16-17 maggio 1991, edd. G. Arrighetti and F. Montanari, 1993, 73-92. Cf. P. Hudet de la Combe, “L’Autobiographie comme mode d’universalisation: Hésiode et Hélicon” in the same volume, 25-39.

Gregory Nagy, “Hesiod” in Ancient Authors, ed. T. J. Luce, 1982; cf. ibid., Greek Mythology and Poetics, 1990, and “Autorité et auteur dans la Théogonie hésiodique,” in Métier (1996) 41-52.  Nagy gives the most detailed exposition of the “generic Hesiod” theory.

2. Proem

*Jenny Strauss Clay, Hesiod’s Cosmos, 2003, 49-72. Best general discussion of the proem.

W. Thalmann, Conventions of Form and Thought in Early Greek Epic Poetry, 1984, 134-152. The theory and principles (introduction and chap. 1) often better than the (sometimes overly clever) applications. Also a chapter on W&D.

2a. On poetic truth and lies

G. Ferrari, “Hesiod’s mimetic Muses and the strategies of deconstruction,” in Post-Structuralist Classics, ed. A. Benjamin, 1988 45-78 (an evaluation of Pucci et al.).

H. Neitzel, “Hesiod und die lügenden Musen,” Hermes 108, 1980, 387-401.

W. Stroh, “Hesiods lügende Musen,” in Studien zum antiken Epos, edd. H. Görgemanns and E. A. Schmidt, 1976, 85-112.

Louise H. Pratt. Lying and Poetry from Homer to Pindar: Falsehood and Deception in Archaic Greek Poetics. 1993.

Pietro Pucci, Hesiod and the Language of Poetry, 1977. Much cited, but not very good.

Kathryn B. Stoddard, “The Muses and the mortal narrator : how gods relate to humankind in the Theogony,” Helios 32 (2005) 1-28. Cf. ibid. The Narrative Voice in the Theogony of Hesiod (Mnemosyne Suppl. 255) 2004.

3. Principles of organization (“architecture”)

Jenny Strauss Clay, Hesiod’s Cosmos, 2003, 12-30.

Hermann Fränkel, Wege und Formen frühgriechischen Denkens, 1960 (2nd ed.), 316ff.(?)

Richard Hamilton, The Architecture of Hesiodic Poetry, 1989. Whatever one thinks of the larger thesis, there is much of detail that is worthwhile.

H. Schwabl, “Hesiod,” RE Suppl. 12 (1970) 434-86, esp. 434-64, with schema of Theog. at 447-450.

Hesiod Bibliography – 2

1. Scholia, Instrumenta, sim.

See the bibliography in *West 1966 (pp 101ff) for full bibliography on earlier editions, textual criticism, language and meter through to 1966.

Rzach 1902. A. Rzach. Hesiodi carmina. Leipzig. The editio maior, and still a valuable supplement to West’s commentary when considering textual matters.

Flach 1876. Hans Flach, ed. Glossen und Scholien zur hesiodischen Theogonie. Leipzig.

Dei Gregorio 1975. Lambertus Di Gregorio, ed. Scholia vetera in Hesiodi Theogoniam. Milan.

Paulson 1890. Johnannes Paulson. Index Hesiodeus. Lund. (repr. 1962) Still useful for identifying the non-Homeric words at a glance.

Hofinger 1985. H. Hofinger. Lexicon Hesiodeum cum indice inverso. Leiden, 1973-85. More useful when it was conceived than now, given the availability of the scholia and “inverse index” (in effect) via the TLG.

2. Hesiod and literary composition

a. General: Archaic principles of literary composition

Fränkel 1960. H. Fränkel, “Eine Stileigenheit der frühgriechischen Literatur,” Wege und Formen frühgriechischen Denkens. 2nd ed. 1960. PA3061 .F7 Fundamental on archaic style.

van Groningen 1958. B. van Groningen, La composition littéraire archaïque grecque . Amsterdam.  Also fundamental, esp. on principles of composition.

Lloyd 1966. G. E. R. Lloyd, Polarity and Analogy: Two Types of Argumentation in Early Greek Thought. Cambridge. Again, a fundamental work if now somewhat dated.

Thalmann 1984. Conventions of Form and Thought in early Greek Epic Poetry. Baltimore. Important continuation and updating of the work in Frankel and van Groningen. Cf. esp. chap. 1: "The Organization of Thought." Good also for further bibliography.

b. Hesiod

Angier 1964. C. Angier, “Verbal Patterns in Hesiod’s Theogony,” HSCP 68: 329-44.

Beye 1972. C. R. Beye, “The Rhythm of Hesiod’s Works and Days,” HSCP 76:23-43.

Hamilton 1989. Richard Hamilton. The Architecture of Hesiodic Poetry. Johns Hopkins. Good in detail. Starts from the assumption of a “unity” (insufficiently qualified) to be discovered in the poem.

Janko 1982. Richard Janko. Homer, Hesiod and the Hymns: Diachronic Development in Epic Diction. Cambridge. On the question of dating Hesiod relative to Homer and the Homeric Hymns.

Kirk 1960. G. S. Kirk, “The Structure and Aim of the Theogony,” Entretiens sur l’antiquité classique VII : Hésiod et son influence. Geneva.  An analytic approach to the inconsistencies of the Theogony. Makes for a very tidy Hesiod. The section on Hecate is attacked by West, in his commentary ad loc. [1962, wrongly, in Hamilton’s bibliography]

Lincoln 1997. B. Lincoln, “Competing Discourses: Rethinking the Prehistory of Mythos and Logos.”  Arethusa 30: 341-367.

Mondi 1984. “The Ascension of Zeus and the Composition of Hesiod’s Theogony,” GRBS 25: 325-44.

Peabody 1975. Peabody, Berkley. The Winged Word: A Study in the Technique of Ancient Greek Oral Composition as Seen Principally through Hesiod’s Works and Days. Albany. A detailed analysis of the “poetical grammar” of the W&D, on the premise of answering the question of its oral composition. See J. B. Hainsworth’s review in CR 28 n.s. (1978) 207-8.

Solmsen 1982. F. Solmsen, “The earliest stages in the history of Hesiod’s text,” HSCP 86: 1-31. An analytic view on the composition of the text.

Verdenius 1960. W. J. Verdenius, “L’association des idées comme principe de composition dans Homère, Hésiod, Théognis,” REG 72: 34-61.

3. Theogony and Myth I

a. Female principles; the case of Pandora

Arthur 1982. M Arthur, “Cultural Strategies in Hesiod's Theogony: Law, Family, Society.”  Arethusa 15: 63-82.

Arthur 1983. M Arthur, “The Dream of a World without Women: Poetics and Circles of Order in the Theogony Prooemium.”  Arethusa 16: 97-116.

Bianchi 1953. U. Bianchi, “DIOS AISA, Destino, Uomini e Divinità nell' Epos nelle Teogonie e nel Culto dei Greci.”  Rome.

duBois 1992.  Page duBois, “Eros and the Woman.”  Ramus 21.1: 97-116.

Philips 1973. F. C. Philips Jr. “Narrative Compression and the Myths of Prometheus in Hesiod,” CJ 68 (1973) 289-305.

Sussman 1978. L. Sussman, “The Birth of the Gods: Sexuality, Conflict and Cosmic Structure in Hesiod's Theogony.”  Ramus 7/1: 61-77.

Vernant 1990. J.-P. Vernant, “The Myth of Prometheus in Hesiod.”  in Myth and Society in Ancient Greece, J. Lloyd, tr.  New York.

Zeitlin 1996. F. Zeitlin, “Signifying Difference: The Case of Hesiod's Pandora.”  in Playing the Other.  Chicago.

b. Hekate

Boedecker 1983.  D. Boedecker, “Hecate: A Transfunctional Goddess in the Theogony?”  TAPA 113: 79-93.

Clay 1984. Jenny Strauss Clay, “The Hecate of the Theogony”  GRBS 25: 27-38.

Kirk. See above, #1b.

Marquardt 1981.  P. Marquardt, “A Portrait of Hecate.”  AJP 102: 243-260.

Rudhardt 1993.  J. Rudhardt, “A propos de l'Hécate hésiodique.”  MH 50: 204-213.

4. Byways

Mondi 1989. R. Mondi, “Χάος and the Hesiodic Cosmogony,”  HSCP  92, 1989, 1-4

Race 1982. William H. Race, The CLassical Priamel from Homer to Boethius. Brill.

Roth 1976.  C. Roth, “The Kings and the Muses in Hesiod's Theogony.”  TAPA 106: 331-338.

Heitsch 1962. E. Heitsch, “Die nicht-philosophische ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ,” Hermes 90: 24-33.

Detienee 1960. M. Detienne, “La notion mythique d’ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ,” REG 73:27-35.

Hesiod Bibliography – 3

1. Hesiod and the Near East

a. The critical general treatments for Theogony are:

Walcot 1966. P. Walcot. Hesiod and the Near East. Cardiff. Note that this was published in the same year as West’s commentary. The two discussions thus are reasonably independent of one another.

West 1997. M. L. West. The East Face of Helicon: West Asianic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford University Press. This supersedes the material collected in the introduction to West’s commentary on Theog. A general compilation of evidence for the influence of the Near East (Egypt mostly excluded) on early Greek poetry.

to which can be added:

Penglase 1994. C. Penglase. Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influences in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod. London & New York.

Solmsen 1989. F. Solmsen, “The Two Near Eastern Sources of Hesiod,” Hermes 117: 413-22.

b. Also fundamental as background to the larger question (i.e., not specifically addressing Hesiod) and with copious bibliography is:

Burkert 1992. Walter Burkert. The Orientalizing Revolution. Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age. Cambridge Mass. Translation of the 1984 German edition.

c. The most accessible starting point for reading the principal primary texts of the Near East is the following (and for specific texts relevant to Hesiod see further the notes in West 1997):

Pritchard 1969. (Often abbreviated ANET.) J. B. Pritchard, ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Princeton.

And see also Appendix II in Penglase 1994, which gives a bibliography of sources for Mesopotamian literature.

2. Titanomachy & Typhoeus

Solmsen 1989. Above, #1a.

Walcott 1996. Above, #1a.

Duhoux 1967. Y. Duhoux, “Le caractère des Titans. A propos d’une étymologie hésiodique,” Rech. de Philologie et linguistique, 1: 35-46.

Mondi 1986. R. Mondi, “Tradition and Innovation in the Hesiodic Titanomachy,” TAPA 116: 25-48.

West 1985. M. L. West, “Hesiod’s Titans,” JHS 105: 174-5.

Hesiod Bibliography – 4

1. Some basics for the Works & Days

*West 1978. M. L. West, Hesiod, Works & Days. Oxford. The fundamental commentary. The section on “Wisdom Literature” remains a good summary of analogues in other cultures for this type of poetry, including Near Eastern antecedents.

*Verdenius 1985. W. J. Verdenius, A Commentary on Hesiod, Works and Days, vv. 1-382. Mnemosyne suppl. 86. Brill. One can only pity a commentary so deeply overshadowed by West’s work. Useful for grammatical and other textual puzzles.

*Lamberton 1988. Read Chapter 3, “The Works and Days.”

*Clay 2003. Read Chapter 2, “Orientations: the Works and Days.”

Peabody 1975. Berkley Peabody, The Winged Word: A Study of Ancient Greek Oral Composition as Seen Principally Through Hesiod’s Works and Days. Albany. A long, technical study with ambiguous results, but also with useful discussion, esp. in introduction and conclusion, of the parameters of analysis.

2. Prometheus and Pandora — redux

Penglase 1994. Chapter 9, esp. pp. 216ff. On near eastern antecedents.

Clay 2003. Chapter 5, “The Two Prometheuses.” With special reference to the second telling in the Works & Days.

3. Structure and Program of the Works and Days

Blusch 1970. J. Blusch, Formen und Inhalt Hesiods individuellen Denkens. Bonn.

Hamilton 1989.

Heath 1985. M. Heath, “Hesiod’s Didactic Poetry,” CQ 35: 245-63.

Kerschensteiner 1944. J. Kerschensteiner, “Zum Aufbau und Gedankenführung von Hesiods Erga,” Hermes 79: 149-91.

Lardinois 2003. A. Lardinois, “The Wrath of Hesiod: Angry Homeric Speeches and the Structure of Hesiod’s Works and Days,” Arethusa  36: 1-20.

Thalmann 1984.

Verdenius 1962. “Aufbau und Absicht der Erga,” in Hésiode et son influence. Vandoeuvres. 111-59.

4. Five Ages of Man

Falkner 1989. T. Falkner, “Slouching towards Boeotia: Age and Age-Grading in the Hesiodic Myth of the Five Races,” ClAnt 8: 42-60.

Fontenrose 1974. J. Fontenrose, “Work, Justice and Hesiod’s Five Ages,” CPh 69: 1-16.

Smith 1980. Peter Smith, “History of the individual in Hesiod’s Myth of the Five Races,” CW 84: 145-53. Gives a summary of earlier interpretations and further bibliography.

Vernant 1983. J. P. Vernant, “Hesiod’s Myth of the Races: An Essay in Structural Analysis,” Myth and Thought among the Greeks. London, 1983. Pp. 3-32. (Trans. of the 1965 article.) A famous article, much used as exemplification of structural analysis of myth. Cf. further G. S. Kirk, Myth: Its Meaning and Function in ancient and other cultures (1970).

Walcot 1961. P. Walcot, “The Composition of the Works and Days,” REG 72 (1961) 4-7. Cf. Carl W. Querbach, “Hesiod’s Myth of the Four Races,” CJ 81 (1985): 1-12, which further revises Walcot’s compositional approach.

5. Byways

Burkert 2004. Walter Burkett, Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis: Eastern Contexts of Greek Culture. Cambridge, Mass.

West 1983. M. L. West, The Orphic Poems. Oxford.

Hesiod Bibliography – 5

1. The Perses Theme

Edwards 2004. Chapter 6. See #3.

Gagarin 1974. M. Gagarin, “Hesiod’s Dispute with Perses,” TAPA 104: 103-111.

Marsilio 2000. Chapter 1. See #3.

2. The Hawk and the Nightingale

Hubbard 1995. T. Hubbard, “Hesiod’s Fable of the Hawk and the Nightingale Reconsidered,” GRBS 36: 161-171.

Nelson 1997. S. Nelson, “The Justice of Zeus in Hesiod’s Fable of the Hawk and the Nightingale,” CJ 92/3: 235-347.

Older bibliography can be picked up from these recent articles.

3. Farming and Sailing

Detienne 1963. Marcel Detienne, Crise agraire et attitude religieuse chez Hésiode [Collection Latomus 68]. A classic treatment.

Edwards 2004. Anthony T. Edwards. Hesiod’s Ascra. Berkeley. A reevaluation of the town of Askra and its relation to Thespiai, as part of an attempt to reset the historical context for W&D.

Howe 1959. Thalia Phillips Howe. “Linear B and Hesiod’s Breadwinners,” TAPA 89: 45-65. Read this article in preparation for Ruth Palmer’s visit.

Marsilio 2000. M. Marsilio, Farming and Poetry in Hesiod’s Works and Days. Lanham, MD.

Murray 1980. Oswyn Murray, Early Greece. Chapters 3 & 4. General background to the subject.

Nelson 1998. S. Nelson, God and the Land: the Metaphysics of Farming in Hesiod and Vergil. Oxford. Less on farming, and more on “metaphysics,” which boils down to principles of composition and important thematic strands.

Rosen 1990. Ralph Rosen, “Poetry and Sailing in Hesiod’s Works and Days,” ClAnt 9: 99-113.

Sussman 1978. We’ve seen this much-cited article in the context of Pandora.

Tandy 1997. David W. Tandy. Warriors into Traders: The Power of the Market in Early Greece. Berkeley.

Tandy and Neale 1996. David W. Tandy and Walter C. Neale. Hesiod’s Works and Days: A Translation and Commentary for the Social Sciences. Berkeley. The commentary is much more approachable that Tandy 1997.

Again, older bibliography can be easily picked up from the recent work of Edwards and Marsilio and Nelson.

Hesiod Bibliography – 6

1. More on Hesiod’s society

Burford 1993. Alison Burford, Land and Labor in the Greek World.  Johns Hopkins 1993.

Millet 1984. Paul Millet, “Hesiod and his world,” PCPS 210 (n.s. 30): 84-115.

Richardson 1982. N. J. Richardson and S. Piggott, “Hesiod’s Wagon: Text and Technology,” JHS 102: 225-29.

Walcot 1970. Peter Walcot, Greek Peasants, Ancient and Modern: A comparison of social and moral values. Manchester.

2. More on Hesiod’s poetry

Havelock 1966. Erik A. Havelock, “Thoughtful Hesiod,” Yale Classical Studies 20: 59-72. The strong case for Hesiod’s lack of compositional organization.

Heath 1985. “Hesiod’s Didactic Poetry,” CQ 35: 245-63.

Martin 1992. Richard Martin, “Hesiod’s metanastic poetics,” Ramus 21: 11-13.

Nagler 1992. Michael N. Nagler, “Discourse and Conflict in Hesiod: Eris and the Erides,” Ramus 21: 79-96. Cf. Gagarin 1990 (#3, below).

3. Gagarin on Hesiod

Gagarin, M.  1973.  “Dike in the Works and Days,”  CP 48/2: 81-94.

Gagarin, M.  1974.  “Hesiod's Dispute with Perses.” TAPA 104: 103-111.

Gagarin, M.  1990.  “The Ambiguity of Eris in the Works and Days.”  in Cabinet of the Muses, M. Griffith and D. Mastronarde, edd, 173-183.

Gagarin, M.  1992.  “The Poetry of Justice: Hesiod and the Origins of Greek Law.”  Ramus 21.1: 61-78.

See also Gagarin’s Early Greek Law (1989).

Hesiod Bibliography – 7

1. Catalogue of Women: Fundamentals

Hirschberger 2004. Martina Hirschberger, Gynaikôn Katalogos und Megalai Êhoiai: Ein Kommentar zu den Fragmenten zweier hesiodeischer Epen. Leipzig. A large-scale commentary. Includes an expansive and up-to-date bibliography.

Merkelbach & West 1967. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West, Fragmenta Hesiodea. Oxford. The editio maior, now outdated but still useful for most principal fragments.

Most 2007. Glenn W. Most, Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments. Harvard. Particularly helpful for setting the genealogical context for each fragment.

*West 1985. M. L. West, The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women. Oxford. An essential overview of what we can infer about the whole from the parts. On reserve.

2. Dating and authenticity of the Catalogue

Arrighetti 1998. G. Arrighetti. Esiodo. Opere. Turin. Review of arguments against authenticity.

Casanova 1979. A. Casanova, La famiglia di Pandora. Florence. Argues that both plan and fundamental structure of the work are Hesiodic.

Dräger 1997. P. Dräger, Untersuchungen zu den Frauenkatalogen Hesiods. Stuttgart. Defends Hesiodic authorship for end of Theogony and Catalogue.

Fowler 1998. R. L. Fowler, "Geneaological thinking, Hesiod's Catalogue, and the creation of the Hellenes," PCPS 44: 1-19. Dates to c. 580.

Janko 1982. R. Janko, Homer, Hesiod, and the Hymns Diachronic Deveopment in the Epic Diction. Cambridge. On linguistic criteria, dates the Catalogue slightly earlier than Theogony (which he places c. 680). Cf. Clay in Hunter 2005, 25: "[Janko's dating] raises the intriguing possibility that the Theogony and the Works and Days were composed as complements to the Catalogue, rather than vice versa."

Schwartz 1960. J. Schwartz, Pseudo-Hesiodeia. Recherches sur la composition, la diffusion et la disparition ancienne d'oeuvres attribuées à Hésiode. Leiden. Dates poem's completion between 506 and 476 (!).

West 1985. Chapter 3, "The Origins of the Catalogue," esp. pp. 127-136. Detailed arguments against authenticity of end of Theogony and Catalogue; dates Catalogue to the c. 580-520.

3. Essays and interpretations

Hunter 2005. R. L. Hunter, The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women. Cambridge. A collection of essays by contributors, some of which are outstanding. Extensive bibliography.

Rutherford 2000. Ian Rutherford, "Catalogues of Women: Formulas, Voice and Death in Ehoie-Poetry, the Hesiodic Gunaikon Katalogos and the Odysseian Nekuia", in Matrices of Genre, ed. M. Depew and D. Obbink, Cambridge Mass. On the genre and development of catalogue poetry.

4. Papyri

Where the fragments derive from papyri, the original edition is usually well worth consultation. For resolution of abbreviations for papyrological editions, see the Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets at : http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist.html