Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek poet who flourished in the 7th century B.C. and is best known for his 800-verse poem, Works and Days. He came from Boeotia, a region in central Greece. Little is known about his life.

However, we do know certain things from Hesiod himself:

• His father found living and trading on the coast of Asia Minor unprofitable and moved to Boeotia to farm before Hesiod was born.
• He became a poet on the advice of a Muse he heard whilst tending sheep.
• He once won a tripod in a poetry contest in Chalcis.
• On his father's death his brother, Perses, claimed more of their inheritance than he should have and got away with it by bribery.
• He once met Homer (that one is certainly false).

He died in either Locris or Boeotia. His verse is from the same oral tradition as Homer's but from a later stage in its development.