ASTRONOMER, GEOGRAPHER, AGRICULTURALIST

Life
Son of Dios and Pycimede, Hesiod was a native of Cumae, in Asia Minor. The first Greek writer name himself in his works, he is cited by Athenaeus, Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Ephorus, Pausanias, Pliny, Plutarch, Praxiphanes, Suidas, Stobaeus, Strabo.


Work
His works are:

"Theogony"

"Catalogue of Women": Continuation of the "Theogony".

"Works and Days": Considered the first treatise on agriculture. Contains descriptions of the farm tools of his day, most notably the plough that still bears his name ("Hesiod's plough"). Discusses the therapeutic properties of plants (mallow, asphodel) and the preparation of antidotes to poisons. The influence on Virgil's "Georgics" is evident. Also treats of navigation.

"Shield of Heracles": Poem in 480 lines, describing the shield of Heracles.

"Major works"

"Astronomy": Catalogue of stars. Only the fragment on the Pleiades has survived. (Athenaeus).

"Precepts of Chiron"

"Fingers of Ida"

"Ornithomanteia"

"Wedding of the gull"

"Ges periodos": Fragments on the Ethiopians and the Scythians survive (Eratosthenes, Ephorus, Strabo).

Papyri with fragments of Hesiod's writings were recently found and increase the number of extant fragments.