Theogony

Hesiod’s poems were composed during the Greek Archaic Period, which scholars generally date between the years of 825 and 480 BCE. Immediately following the chaotic Iron Age (1150-825 BCE), in which warfare and natural disasters caused a marked decrease in population, government, and economy in Greece, the Archaic Period saw the rise of many important Greek cultural institutions. Colonization revitalized the languishing sea trade network. The economy was bolstered by the introduction of coinage in the sixth century BCE, providing a fixed, state-guaranteed material for trade. The Archaic Period also introduced Greece’s distinctive military technology, hoplite warfare, and its earliest forms of philosophy (the Pre-Socratics). Monumental architecture and naturalism in art also emerged during this period.

The most transformative of these Archaic innovations, though, was the development of the polis, or Greek city-state (Athens and Sparta were both poleis). A polis consisted of an independent urban settlement and its surrounding territories. In Hesiod’s time, they were ruled by kings. Each polis was politically autonomous (or self-ruled) and socially homogenous; they were populated, by and large, by locals from the area.

The formation of these city centers gave rise to systems of law and concepts of civil rights. Most importantly, the Greek notion of justice becomes directly tied to the polis. For the Greeks, the only place where justice can exist is the polis, a designated place for supporting (and policing) the community. One can only live a good life by taking active part in the polis and behaving justly, as each individual’s behavior affects the entire community. This powerful sense of egalitarianism and mutual obligation represents a marked departure from the more individualistic worldview of the Bronze and Iron Ages (and literary works set in these earlier periods, like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey). While old heroes like Achilles prized the pursuit of honor, even at the expense of their community, new heroes prioritized the success of the polis, even at great personal expense.

Hesiod’s works reflect these developments by questioning the age-old concept of “might makes right.” As he tells his brother Perses in Works and Days,

But you, Perses, you listen to Justice

And don’t cultivate Violence. […] There’s a better road around the other way

Leading to what’s right. When it comes down to it

Justice beats out Violence. A fool learns this the hard way (Works and Days, Lines 244-47).

In the Theogony, a few “fools,” Ouranos and Kronos, are forced to take this important lesson to heart. They are replaced by Zeus, an ideal leader of the polis who rules with equanimity and wisdom. The violence of the primitive Greek world—the world of Achilles—is supplanted with order and civilization.

As a time capsule of this transitional period in Greek culture, Hesiod’s works represent an important steppingstone to one of ancient Greece’s most important philosophical questions: Should one prioritize the needs of the individual or the polis? From here on out, the answer is clear: One ought to subject himself to the needs of his community.