A Ploughman’s Sense of the Past

The article discusses the concept of the past in Hesiod’s Works & Days. I argue that, contrary to traditional belief, Hesiod’s second poem does not focus on myths, but on the social reality he knew from experience, about which he makes pessimistic remarks. Hesiod strengthens his argument by recounting a particularly striking story about the five generations of humanity, from the best to the worst. This story serves the poet as an illustration and confirmation of his gloomy observations about the moral condition of his fellow Greeks. However, I also argue that despite having only oral accounts of the past (myths) at his disposal, Hesiod – the performer of public songs – was aware of the existence of categories of the past and of past events, regardless of how oral reports had rearranged them. I cite his distinction between truth and falsehood when reporting past events as evidence for this; such a distinction appears in ‘a confession’ of the Muses (Theog. 27–28).