Hesiod,
an 8th-century BCE Greek contemporary of Homer, left for posterity several
tidbits of personal information about his own life, which he wove into his
timeless poetic works. Therefore, we know that Hesiod’s father originally came
from the Aeolian city of Cyme, but that he sailed across the Aegean to settle
in the town of Ascra, just to the east of Mount Helicon in Boeotia, Greece.
Ascra was likely where Hesiod was born, and he grew up on a farm that his
father built there. Hesiod spent much of his early life tending to his family’s
farm, which was seemingly devoted to raising sheep on the mountainside. Therefore,
Hesiod spent his youthful years shepherding his father’s livestock. The future
poet had a brother named Perses, who ideally could have shared the duties of
the day, but Hesiod described this sibling as a foolish and troublesome
individual with a poor work ethic. All in all, life in Ascra was apparently a
bittersweet experience for Hesiod. On a positive note, he found ample beauty
and inspiration on the slopes of Mount Helicon. Yet, in his poem, Works and
Days, he vented about his “miserable village, Ascra,” which he
unflatteringly described as “bad in weather, foul in summer, good at no time”
(line 640).
Despite
Hesiod’s struggle to appreciate his hometown of Ascra, he had no lack of
admiration towards Mount Helicon. While spending time on the mountainside with
his lambs, Hesiod could feel close to the gods, particularly to Zeus, to whom
an altar was built on the mountain, and to the Muses, who apparently saw Mount
Helicon as an alternative home when they needed a break from the other gods on Mount
Olympus. The Muses, claimed Hesiod,
could often be found there bathing in the mountain’s streams, or singing and
dancing on the slopes. With both devout Hesiod and the generous Muses sharing
the same mountain space, it was inevitable that a divine encounter would occur,
one that would greatly influence Greek religion and literature.
As
Hesiod tells it, he was nothing but a simple shepherd, with no talent in
oratory, poetry or writing until he had a fateful encounter on Mount Helicon. One
day, claimed Hesiod, nine Muses named Clio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene,
Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania and Calliope appeared before him and
offered Hesiod the gift of poetry. On this alleged encounter, Hesiod wrote,
“they breathed into me wondrous voice, so that I should celebrate things of the
future and things that were aforetime. And they told me to sing of the family
of blessed ones who are for ever, and first and last always to sing of
themselves” (Theogony, line 31). In addition to giving the poet honeyed
words, a silver tongue, and a penchant for verse, the Muses also taught Hesiod
about the gods—starting, of course, with themselves—and as a graduation present
for his successful crash course on everything divine, they also gave the
fledgling poet a staff, which he wielded proudly.
Such
was the way Hesiod claimed to have become a poet. Of course, readers interpret
it in different ways. Skeptics might say he learned indirectly from the muses,
studying from poets who passed through Boeotia, and then reflected on and
improved upon these lyrical innovations while shepherding on the slopes of the
inspiring Mount Helicon. Those who are religiously inclined, however, may infer
that Hesiod truly had some sort of spiritual epiphany while he was out in the
wilderness and that it inspired his poetry. Whatever the case, it makes a good
and entertaining story, which, in the end, was one of Hesiod’s goals.
Written
by C. Keith Hansley
Picture
Attribution: (Hesiod and the Muse painted by Gustave Moreau (1826–1898), [Public Domain] via Creative
Commons).
Sources:
- Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod, translated by M. L. West. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, 1999, 2008.
- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+30&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130
- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+WD+632&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0132
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hesiod
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