A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

442 HESIODUS. HESIODUS.
raster of a distinct being. The whole concludes ursgpringliche Beschafeenheit, Berlin, 1841, 8voi
with an account of some of the most illustrious The last two works are useless and futile attempts;
heroes, whereby the poem enters into some kind of comp. Th. Kock, De pristina T/heogoniae Hesiodeae
connection with the Homeric epics. The whole Forma, pars. i. Vratislav. 1842, 8vo.)
poem may be divided into three parts: 1. The cos- 3.'HoeaL or ]0?aL.ueyde'Aa, also called Kardmogony, which widely differs from the simple AolyoL yvvalK:cv. The name ]o1al was derived,
Homeric notion (/. xiv. 200), and afterwards according to the ancient grammarians, from the
served as the groundwork for the various physical fact that the heroines who, by their connection
speculations of the Greek philosophers, who looked with the immortal gods, had become the mothers
upon the Theogony of Hesiod as containing in an of the most illustrious heroes, were introduced in
allegorical form all the physical wisdom that they the poem by the expression I o07. The poem
were able to propound, though Hesiod himself was itself, which is lost, is said to have consisted of
believed not to have been aware of the profound four books, the last of which was by far the longest,
philosophical and theological wisdom he was utter- and was hence called o10?aL!zeya'dAa, whereas the
ing. The cosmogony extends from v. 116 to 452. titles Kaa'rAoyoe or *7oeaL belonged to the whole
2. The theogony, in the strict sense of the word, body of poetry, containing accounts of the women
from 453 to 962; and 3. the last portion, which who had been beloved by the gods, and had thus
is in fact a heroogony,- being an account of the become the mothers of the heroes in the various
heroes born by mortal mothers whose charms had parts of Greece, from whom the ruling families
drawn the immortals from Olympus. This part is derived their origin. The two last verses of the
very brief, extending only from v. 963 to 1021, Theogony formed the beginning of the oalc, which,
and forms the transition to the Eoeae, of which we from its nature, might justly be regarded as a
shall speak presently. If we ask for the sources continuation of the Theogony, being as a heroogony
from which Hesiod drew his information respecting ( ipwooyeovia) the natural sequel to the Theogony..
the origin of the world and the gods, the answer The work, if we may regard it as one poem, thus
cannot be much more than a conjecture, for there contained the genealogies or pedigrees of the most
is no direct information on the point. Herodotus illustrious Greek families. Whether the Eoeae or
asserts that Homer and Hesiod made the theogony Catalogi was the work of one and the same poet
of the Greeks; and, in reference to Hesiod in par- was a disputed point among the ancients' themticular, this probably means that Hesiod collected selves. From. a statement of the scholiast on
and combined into a system the various local le- Apollonius Rhodius (ii. 181), it appears that it
gends, especially of northern Greece, such as they consisted'of several works, which were afterwards
had been handed down by priests and bards. The put together; and while Apollonius Rhodius and
assertion of Herodotus further obliges us to take Crates of Mallus attributed it to Hesiod (Schol.
into consideration the fact, that in the earliest ad Hes. Theog. 142), Aristophanes and Aristarchus
Greek theology the gods do not appear in any de- were doubtful. (Anonym. Gram. in Giittling's
finite forms, whereas Hesiod strives to anthropo- ed. of Hes. p. 92; Schol. ad Homrn. I. xxiv. 30;
morphise all of them, the ancient elementary gods Suid. and Apollon. s.. uaXAoaV'v.) The anonyas well as the later dynasties of Cronus and Zeus. mous Greek grammarian just referred to states that
Now both the system of the gods and the forms the first fifty-six verses of the Hesiodic poem
under which he conceived them afterwards became'Ae7rls'HpaKAeovs (Scutum Herculis) belonged to
firmly established in Greece, and, considered in this the fourth book of the Eoeae, and it is generally
way, the assertion of Herodotus is perfectly correct. supposed that this poem, or perhaps fragment of a.
-Whether the form in which the Theogony has poem, originally belonged to the Eoeae. The'Asrlr
come down to us is the original and genuine one,'Hpalc'eovs, which is still extant, consists of three
and whether it is complete or only a fragment, is a distinct parts; that from v. 1 to 56 was taken
question which has been much discussed in modern from the Eoeae, and is probably the most ancient
times. There can be little doubt but that in the portion; the second from 57 to 140, which must
course of time the poets of the Hesiodic school and be connected with the verses 317 to 480; and the
the rhapsodists introduced various interpolations, third from 141 to 317 contains the real description
which produced many of the inequalities both in of the' shield of Heracles, which is introduced in the
the substance and form of the poem which we now account of the fight between Heracles and Cycnus.
perceive; many parts also may have been lost. When therefore Apollonius Rhodius and others
Hermann has endeavoured to show that there ex- considered the'Aerls to be a genuine Hesiodic
ist no less than seven different introductions to production, it still remains doubtful whether they
the Theogony, and that consequently there existed meant the whole poem as it now stands, or only.
as many different recensions and editions of it. some particular portion of it. The description of
But as our present form itself belongs to a very the shield of Heracles is an imitation of the Hoearly date, it would be useless to attempt to deter- meric description of the shield of Achilles, but is
mine what part of it formed the original kernel, done with less skill and ability. It should be
and what is to be considered as later addition or remarked, that some modern critics are inclined to
interpolation. (Comp. Creuzer and Hermann, look upon the'Ae7rrs as an independent poem, and
Briefe iiber Horn. und Hes., Heidelberg, 1817, wholly unconnected with the Eoeae, though they
8vo.; F. K. L. Sickler, Cadmus I. ErMiidrang der admit that'it may contain various interpolations by
T/ieogonie des Hesiod, Hildburghausen, 1818, 4to.; later hands. The fragments of the Eoeae are
J. D. Guigniant, De la Tleogonie d'Hesiod, Paris, collected in Lehmann, De Hesiodi Carninibus per1835, 8vo.; J. C. Miitzell, De Emendatione Theo- ditis, pars i. Berlin, 1828, in Ghttling's edition of
goniae Hesiodi, Lips. 1833, 8vo.; A. Soetbeer, Hesiod, p. 209, &c., and in Hermann's Opuscula,
Versauc die Urform der Hesiod. Theogonie nach- vi. 1, p. 255, &c. We possess the titles of several
zuweisen, Berlin, 1837, 8vo.; O.F. Gruppe, Ueber Hesiodic poems, viz. KViiKOS Pydhot, qo-eews elS
die T7heog. des Hesiod, ihr Verderbniss und dire "A&8v KcteaoLs, and'ErcaAzAcuos flv(j'ws Ic