The a youth and was twice buried (Proclus ; Suidas ;
poet describes himself (Theog.
poet describes himself (Theog.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
Marx's dissertation mentioned above, wittingly, or because she voluntarily followed the
and a review of it (by the writer of the present fortunes of Prima her daughter. In all versions of
article) in the British und Foreign Medical Review, her story, Hersilia acts as mediator—in Livy (L. c. )
vol. xv. , from which two last works the preceding with Romulus, for the people of Antemnae-in
account has been abridged. (W. A. G. ) Dionysius and Plutarch (ib. 19), between the
HEROʻPHILUS, a veterinary surgeon at Rome Romans and Sabincs, in the war arising from the
in the first century B. C. , is said by Valerius Maxi- rape of the women. Her name is probably a later
mus (ix. 15. 1) to have passed himself off as the and a Greck addition to the original story of Rom
grandson of C. Marius, and thus to have raised him- mulus. As Romulus after death became Quirinus,
self to some degree of consequence. (W. A. G. ) 80 those writers who made Hersilia his wife raised
HERO'STRATUS ('Hpootpatos), a merchant her to the digriity of a goddess, Hora or Horta, in
of Naucratis in Egypt, who, in one of his voyages, either case, probably, with reference to boundaries
bought at Paphos a little image of Aphrodite. (ol. of time ("npa) or space (ópos). (Gell. xiii. 22 ;
23, B. c. 688—685. ) On his return to Naucratis Ennius, Ann. i. ; Nonius, s. v. Hora; Augustin. de
a storm ensued, which was stilled by the goddess, Civ. Dei. iv. 16. )
(W. B. D. )
who regarded Naucratis with especial favour, and HERTHA (contains probably the same elements
who, as a sign of her presence with Herostratus as the words earth, erde), the goddess of the earth,
and his crew, caused myrtles to spring forth all in contrast to the god of the regions of the air,
around her. Herostratus, when safely landed, among the ancient Germans. She appears either as
gave an entertainment to his friends, to celebrate a female Hertha, that is, as the wife of Thor, or as
his deliverance, and presented each of his guests a male being Herthus or Nerthus, and a friend of
with a myrtle crown: hence such a chaplet was Thor. According to Tacitus (Gerin. 40) there was
called otepavos Naukpatítns. (Polycharm. ap. a sacred grove in an island of the ocean, containing
Athen. xv. pp. 675, f. 676, a, b; Casaub. ad loc. ; a chariot, which no one but a priest was allowed to
comp. Herod. ii. 135. )
(E. E. ] touch. This priest alone also knew when the god-
HERO'STRATUS ('Hpóotpatos), an Ephesian, dess was present, and such seasons were spent in
set fire to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which great festivities, and people abstained from war,
had been begun by CHERSIPHRON, and completed until the priest declared that the goddess wished
by Demetrius and Paeonius. It was burnt on the to withdraw. Tacitus further calls her the mother
same night that Alexander the Great was born, of the gods. We cannot enter here into an ex-
B. C. 356, whereupon it was remarked by Hegesias amination of this great German divinity, but refer
the Magnesian, that the conflagration was not to the reader to Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie ; J. P.
be wondered at, since the goddess was absent Anchersen, Vallis Herthae deae et Origines Danicae,
from Ephesus, and attending on the delivery of &c. ; Hafniae, 1747, 4to. ; Rabus, Dissertatio de
Olympias: an observation, says Plutarch, frigid dea Hertha, Augsburg, 1842. (L. S. ]
enough to have put out the fire. The stroke of HESI'GONÙS. (HEGESIGONUS. ]
genius in question, however, is ascribed by Cicero, HE'SIODUS ('Holodos), one of the earliest
whose taste it does not seem to have shocked, to Greek poets, respecting whose personal history we
Timaeus of Tauromenium. Herostratus was put possess little more authentic information than re-
to the torture for his deed, and confessed that he specting that of Homer, together with whom he is
had fired the temple to immortalise himself. The frequently mentioned by the ancients. The names of
Ephesians passed a decree condemning his name to these two poets, in fact, form as it were the two
oblivion ; but Theopompus embalmed him in bis poles of the early epic poetry of the Greeks; and
history, like a fly in amber. (Strab. xiv. p. 640; as Homer represents the poetry, or school of poetry,
Plut. Alex. 3; Cic. De Nat. Deor. ü. 27 ; Val. belonging chiefly to Ionia in Asia Minor, 80 Hesiod
Max. viii. 14. Ext. 5; Gell. ii. 6. ) [E. E. ) is the representative of a school of bards, which
HERSE (Epon). 1. The wife of Danaus and was developed somewhat later at the foot of Mount
mother of Hippodice and Adiante. (Apollod. ii. 1. Helicon in Boeotia, and spread over Phocis and
§ 5. )
Euboea. The only points of resemblance between
2. A daughter of Cecrops and sister of Agraulos, the two poets, or their respective schools, consist in
Pandrosos, and Erysichthon. She was the beloved their forms of versification and their dialect, but in
of Hermes, and the mother of Cephalus. (Paus. i. 2. all other respects they move in totally distinct
$ 5; Apollod. iii. 14. Ø 2, &c. ; Ov. Met. ii. 724. ) spheres ; for the Homeric takes for its subjects the
Respecting her story, see AGRAULOS. At Athens restless activity of the heroic age, while the Hesiodic
sacrifices were offered to her, and the maidens who turns its attention to the quiet pursuits of ordinary
carried the vessels containing the libation (pon) life, to the origin of the world, the gods and heroes.
were called éppnpópou. (Paus. i. 27. $ 4; Hesych. The latter thus gave to its productions an ethical
and Moeris, s. v. )
(L. S. ) and religious character ; and this circumstance
HERSI'LIA, the wife of Romulus, according to alone suggests an advance in the intellectual state
Livy (i. Il) and Plutarch (Romul. 14) but, ac- of the ancient Greeks upon that which we have
cording to Dionysius (ii. 45, iii. 1), Macrobius depicted in the Homeric poems, though we do not
PF 4
## p. 440 (#456) ############################################
410
HESIODUS.
HESIODUS.
mean to assert that the elements of the Hesiodic | life of Hesiod, especially those written by Plutarch
poetry are of a later date than the age of Homer, and Cleomenes, for they would undoubtedly have
for they may, on the contrary, be as ancient as the enlightened us upon many points respecting which
Greek nation itself. But we must, at any rate, we are now completely in the dark. We must,
infer that the Hesiodic poetry, such as it has come however, observe that many of the stories related
down to us, is of later growth than the Homeric; about Hesiod refer to his whole school of poetry
an opinion which is confirmed also by the language (but not to the poet personally), and arose from the
and expressions of the two schools, and by a relation in which the Boeotian or Hesiodic school
variety of collateral circumstances, among which stood to the Homeric or lonic school. In this light
we may mention the range of knowledge being we consider, e. g. the traditions that Stesichorus was
much more extensive in the poems which benr the a son of Hesiod, and that Hesiod had a poetical
name of Hesiod than in those attributed to llomer. contest with Homer, which is said to have taken
Herodotus (ii. 53) and others regarded Homer and place at Chalcis during the funeral solemnities of
Hesiod as contemporaries, and some even assigned king Amphidamas, or, according to others, at Aulis
to him an earlier date than Homer (Gell. iii. 11, or Delos. (Proclus, l. c. p. xliii. and ad Op. et Dies,
xvii. 21 ; Suid. 8. v. 'Holodos ; Tzetz. Chil. xii. 163, 648 ; Plut. Cono. Sept. Sap. 10. ) The story of
198, xiii. 650); but the general opinion of the this contest gave rise to a composition still extant
ancients was that Homer was the elder of the two, under the title of 'Agwv 'Ounpou kal 'Holódou, the
a belief which was entertnined by Philochorus, work of a grammarian who lived towards the end
Xenophanes, Eratosthenes, A pollodorus, and many of the first century of our era, in which the two
others.
poets are represented as engaged in the contest and
If we inquire after the exact age of Hesiod, we answering each other in their verses. The work is
are informed by Herodotus (1. c. ) that he lived four printed in Göttling's edition of Hesiod, p. 242—
hundred years before his time, that is, about B. c. 254, and in Westermann's liturum Scriptores
850. Velleius Paterculus (i. 7) considers that be- Graeci, p. 33, &c. Its author knows the whole
tween Homer and Hesiod there was an interval of family history of Hesiod, the names of his father
a hundred and twenty years, and most modern and mother, as well as of his ancestors, and traces
critics assume that Hesiod lived about a century his descent to Orpheus, Linus, and Apollo himself.
later than Homer, which is pretty much in accord- These legends, though they are mere fictions, show
ance with the statement of some ancient writers the connection which the ancients conceived to
who place him about the eleventh Olympiad, i. e. exist between the poetry of Hesiod (especially the
about B. c. 735. Respecting the life of the poet we Theogony) and the ancient schools of priests and
derive some information from one of the poems as- bards, which had their seats in Thrace and Pieria,
cribed to him, viz. the "Epya kal fuépau. We learn and thence spread into Boeotia, where they pro-
from that poem (648, &c. ), that he was born in bably formed the elements out of which the He-
the village of Ascra in Boeotia, whither his father siodic poetry was developed. Some of the fables
had enigrated from the Aeolian Cuma in Asia pretending to be the personal history of Hesiod are
Minor. Ephorus (Fragm. p. 268, ed. Marx) and of euch a nature as to throw considerable doubt upon
Suidas state that both Homer and Hesiod were the personal existence of the poet altogether ; and
natives of Cuma, and even represent them as athough we do not deny that there may have been
kinsinen,-a statement which probably arose from in the Boeotian school a poet of the name of
the belief that Hesiod was born before his father's Hesiod whose eminence caused him to be regarded
emigration to Ascra ; but if this were true, Hesiod as the representative, and a number of works to be
could not have said that he never crossed the sea, attributed to him, still we would, in speaking of
except from Aulis to Euboea. (Op. et Dies, 648. ) | Hesiod, be rather understood to mean the whole
Ascra, moreover, is mentioned as his birthplace school than any particular individual. Thus an
in the epitaph on Hesiod (Paus. ix. 38. Q 9), ancient epigram mentions that Hesiod was twice
and by Proclus in his life of Hesiod.
The a youth and was twice buried (Proclus ; Suidas ;
poet describes himself (Theog. 23) as tending a Proverb. Vat. iv. 3); and there was a tradition
flock on the side of Mount Helicon, and from that, by the command of an oracle, the bones of
this, as well as from the fact of his calling himself Hesiod were removed from Naupactus to Orcho-
an dtiuntos (Op. et Dies, 636), we must infer menos, for the purpose of averting an epidemic
that he belonged to a humble station, and was (Paus. ix. 38. 3. ) These traditions show that
engaged in rural pursuits. But subsequently his Hesiod was looked upon and worshipped in
circumstances seem to have been bettered, and Boeotia (and also in Phocis) as an ancient hero,
after the death of his father, he was involved in a and, like many other heroes, he was said to have
dispute with his brother Perses about his small been unjustly killed in the grove of the Nemean
patrimony, which was decided in favour of Perses. Zeus. (Plut. Convio. Sept. Sup. 19; Certamen
(Op. et Dies, 219, 261, 637. ) He then seems to Hom. et Hes. p. 251, ed. Göttling; comp. Paus.
have emigrated to Orchomenos, where he spent the ix. 31. § 3. ) All that we can say, under these
remainder of his life. (Pind. ap. Proclum, yévos circumstances, is that a poet or hero of the name of
'Hosódov, p. xliv. in Göttling's edit. of Hesiod. ) | Hesiod was regarded by the ancients as the head
At Orchomenos he is also said to have been buried, and representative of that school of poetry which
and his tomb was shown there in later times. This was based on the Thracian or Pierian bards, and
is all that can be said, with any degree of certainty, was developed in Boeotia as distinct from the Ho-
about the life of Hesiod. Proclus, Tzetzes, and meric or Ionic school.
others relate a variety of anecdotes and marvellous The differences between the two schools of poetry
tales about his life and death, but very little value are plain and obvious, and were recognised in
can be attached to them, though they may have ancient times no less than at present, as may be
been derived from comparatively early sources. We seen from the 'Agwv 'Ouñípov kal 'Hoiódov (p. 248,
have to lament the loss of some ancient works on the ed. Göttling). In their mode of delivery the poets
## p. 441 (#457) ############################################
HESIODUS.
441
HESIODUS.
of the two schools likewise differed; for while the tion of winter (504–558). The first two of these
Homeric poems were recited under the accompani- poems are not so much out of keeping with the
ment of the cithara, those of Hesiod were recited whole as the third, which is manifestly the most
without any musical instrument, the reciter holding recent production of all, and most foreign to the
in his hand only a laurel branch or staff (pábbos, spirit of lesiod. That which remains, after the
ornat pov, Hesiod, Theog. 30 ; Paus. ix. 30, x. 7. deduction of these probable interpolations, consists
$2; Pind. Isthin. iii
. 55, with Dissen's note ; Cal. of a collection of maxime, proverbs, and wise say.
limach. Fragm. 138). As Boeotia, Phocis, and ings, containing a considerable amount of practicul
Euboea were the principal parts of Greece where wisdom ; and some of these guwuar or toonnau
the Hesiodic poetry flourished, we cannot be sur- may be as old as the Greek nation itself. (Isocrat.
prised at finding that the Delphic oracle is a great c. Nicod. p. 23, ed. Steph. ; Lucian, Dial. de Hos.
subject of veneration with this school, and that 1, 8. ) Now, admitting that the 'Epya originally
there exists a strong resemblance between the consisted only of such maxims and precepts, it is
hexameter oracles of the Pythia and the verses of difficult to understand how the author could de-
Hesiod ; nay, there is a verse in Hesiod (Op. et rive from his production & reputation like that
Dies, 283), which is also mentioned by Herodotus enjoyed by Hesiod, especially if we remembo that
(vi. 86) as a Pythian oracle, and Hesiod himself is at Thespiae, to which the village of Ascra was sub-
said to have possessed the gift of prophecy, and to ject, agriculture was held degrading to a freeman.
have acquired it in Acarnania. A great many alle (Heraclid. Pont. 42. ) In order to account for this
gorical expressions, such as we frequently find in phenomenon, it must be supposed that Ilesiod was
the oracular language, are common also in the a poet of the people and peasantry rather than
poems of Hesiod. This circumstance, as well as of the ruling nobles, but that afterwards, when the
certain grammatical forins in the language of Hesiod, warlike spirit of the heroic ages subsided, and
constitute another point of difference between the peaceful pursuits began to be held in higher esteein,
Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, although the dialect the poet of the plough also rose from his obscurity,
in which the poems of both schools are composed and was looked upon as a sage ; nay, the very con-
is, on the whole, the same,--that is, the Ionic-epic, trast with the Homeric poetry may have contributed
which had become established as the language of to raise his fame. At all events, the poem, not-
epic poetry through the influence of Homer.
withstanding its want of unity and the incoherence
The ancients attributed to the one poet Hesiod a of its parts, gives to us an attractive picture of the
great variety of works; that is, all those which in simplicity of the early Greek mode of life, of their
form and substance answered to the spirit of the manners and their domestic relations. " (Comp.
Hesiodic school, and thus seemed to be of a common Twesten, Commentat. Critica de Hesiodi Carmine,
origin. We shall subjoin a list of them, beginning | quod inscrib. Opera et Dies, Kiel, 1815, 8vo. ; F. L.
with those which are still extant,
Hug, Hesiodi "Epya méyala, Freiburg, 1835 ;
1. "Epya or "Epya kai nuépai, commonly called Ranke, De Hesiodi Op. et Diebus, 1838, 410;
Opera el Dies. In the time of Pausanias (ix. 31. Lehrs, Quaest. Epic. p. 180, &c. ; G. Hermann,
$ 3, &c. ), this was the only poem which the people in the Jahrbücher für Philol. vol. xxi. 2. p. 117,
about Mount Helicon considered to be a genuine &c. )
production of Hesiod, with the exception of the 2. Ocoyovia. This poem was, as we remarked
first ten lines, which certainly appear to have been above, not considered by Hesiod's countrymen to
prefixed by a later hand. There are also several | be a genuine production of the poet. It presents,
other parts of this poem which seem to be later indeed, great differences from the preceding one:
interpolations ; but, on the whole, it bears the its very subject is apparently foreign to the homely
impress of a genuine production of very high an author of the Epya; but the Alexandrian gran-
tiquity, though in its present form it may consist marians, especially Zenodotus and Aristarchus,
only of disjointed portions of the original. It is appear to have had no doubt about its genuineness
written in the most homely and simple style, with (Schol. Venet. ad l. xviii. 39), though their
scarcely any poetical imagery or ornament, and opinion cannot be taken to mean anything else than
must be looked upon as the most ancient specimen that the poem contained nothing that was opposed
of didactic poetry. It contains' ethical, political, to the character of the Hesiodic school ; and thus
and economical precepts, the last of which constitute much we may therefore take for granted, that the
the greater part of the work, consisting of rules Theogony is not the production of the same poet as
about choosing a wife, the education of children, the "Epya, and that it probably belongs to a later
agriculture, commerce, and navigation. A poem date. In order to understand why the ancients,
on these subjects was not of course held in much nevertheless, regarded the Theogony as an Hesiodic
esteem by the powerful and ruling classes in Greece work, we must recollect the traditions of the poet's
at the time, and made the Spartan Cleomenes con- parentage, and the marvellous events of his life.
temptuously call Hesiod the poet of helots, in con- It was on mount Helicon, the ancient seat of the
trast with Homer, the delight of the warrior. (Plut. Thracian muses, that he was believed to have been
Apophth. Lac. Cleom. 1. ) The conclusion of the born and bred, and his descent was traced to
poem, from v. 750 to 828 is a sort of calendar, and Apollo ; the idea of his having composed a work
was probably appended to it in later tiines, and on the genealogies of the gods and heroes cannot
the addition kal niuepa in the title of the poem therefore bave appeared to the ancients as very
seems to have been added in consequence of this surprising. That the author of the Theogony was
appendage, for the poem is sometimes simply called a Boeotian is evident, from certain peculiarities of
'Epya. It would further seem that three distinct the language. The Theogony gives an account of
poems have been inserted in it; viz. 1. The fable the origin of the world and the birth
the gods,
of Prometheus and Pandora (47—105); 2. On explaining the whole order of nature in a series of
the ages of the world, which are designated by the genealogies, for every part of physical as well as
names of metals (109–201); and, 3. A descrip moral nature there appears personified in the cha-
## p. 442 (#458) ############################################
442
HESIODUS.
HESIODUS.
racter of a distinct being. The whole concludes ursprüngliche Beschaffenheit, Berlin, 1841, 8vo.
with an account of some of the most illustrious The last two works are useless and futile attempts;
heroes, whereby the poem enters into some kind of comp. Th. Kock, De pristina Theogoniae Hesiodeae
connection with the Homeric epics. The whole Forma, pars. i. Vratislav. 1842, 8vo. )
poem may be divided into three parts : 1. The cos- 3. 'Ηοίαι οι ήoίαι μεγάλαι, also called κατά-
mogony, which widely differs from the simple aoyou yuvalkwy. The name thoice was derived,
Homeric notion (N. xiv. 200), and afterwards according to the ancient grammarians, from the
served as the groundwork for the various physical fact that the heroines who, by their connection
speculations of the Greek philosophers, who looked with the immortal gods, had become the mothers
upon the Theogony of Hesiod as containing in an of the most illustrious heroes, were introduced in
allegorical forin all the physical wisdom that they the poem by the expression Hoin. The poem
were able to propound, though Hesiod himself was itself
, which is lost, is said to have consisted of
believed not to have been aware of the profound four books, the last of which was by far the longest,
philosophical and theological wisdom he was utter and was hence called hoial weyanas
, whereas the
ing. The cosmogony extends from v. 116 to 452. titles karádoyou or polar belonged to the whole
2. The theogony, in the strict sense of the word, body of poetry, containing accounts of the women
from 453 to 962; and 3. the last portion, which who had been beloved by the gods, and had thus
is in fact a heroogony, being an account of the become the mothers of the heroes in the various
heroes born by mortal mothers whose charms had parts of Greece, from whom the ruling families
drawn the immortals from Olympus. This part is derived their origin. The two last verses of the
very brief, extending only from v. 963 to 1021, Theogony formed the beginning of the stoian, which,
and forms the transition to the Eoene, of which we from its nature, might justly be regarded as a
shall speak presently. If we ask for the sources continuation of the Theogony, being as a heroogony
from which Hesiod drew his information respecting (ripworovla) the natural sequel to the Theogony.
the origin of the world and the gods, the answer The work, if we may regard it as one poem, thus
cannot be much more than a conjecture, for there contained the genealogies or pedigrees of the most
is no direct information on the point. Herodotus illustrious Greek families. Whether the Eoeae or
asserts that Homer and Hesiod made the theogony Catalogi was the work of one and the same poet
of the Greeks; and, in reference to Hesiod in par was a disputed point among the ancients them-
ticular, this probably means that Hesiod collected selves. From a statenient of the scholiast on
and combined into a system the various local le- A pollonius Rhodius (ii. 181), it appears that it
gends, especially of northern Greece, such as they consisted of several works, which were afterwards
had been handed down by priests and bards. The put together; and while A pollonius Rhodius and
assertion of Herodotus further obliges us to take Crates of Mallus attributed it to Hesiod (Schol.
into consideration the fact, that in the earliest ad Hes. Theog. 142), Aristophanes and Aristarchus
Greek theology the gods do not appear in any de- were doubtful.
(Anonym. Gram. in Göttling's
finite forms, whereas Hesiod strives to anthropo- | ed. of Hes. p. 92 ; Schol. ad Hom. Il. xxiv. 30 ;
morphise all of them, the ancient elementary gods Suid. and Apollon. s. v. waxlooúvn. ) The anony-
as well as the later dynasties of Cronus and Zeus. mous Greek grammarian just referred to states that
Now both the system of the gods and the forms the first fifty-six verses of the Hesiodic poem
under which he conceived them afterwards became 'Artis 'Hpakhéovs (Scutum Herculis) belonged to
firmly established in Greece, and, considered in this the fourth book of the Eoere, and it is generally
war, the assertion of Herodotus is perfectly correct. supposed that this poem, or perhaps fragment of a
Whether the form in which the Theogony has poem, originally belonged to the Eoeae. The 'Aomis
come down to us is the original and genuine one, 'Hpakaéows, which is still extant, consists of three
and whether it is complete or only a fragment, is a distinct parts ; that from v. 1 to 56 was taken
question which has been much discussed in modern from the Eoeae, and is probably the most ancient
times. There can be little doubt but that in the portion ; the second from 57 to 140, which must
course of time the poets of the Hesiodic school and be connected with the verses 317 to 480; and the
the rhapsodists introduced various interpolations, third-from 141 to 317 contains the real description
which produced many of the inequalities both in of the shield of Heracles, which is introduced in the
the substance and form of the poem which we now account of the fight between Heracles and Cycnus.
perceive ; many parts also may have been lost. When therefore Apollonius Rhodius and others
Hermann bas endeavoured to show that there ex- considered the 'Aonis to be a genuine Hesiodic
ist no less than seven different introductions to production, it still remains doubtful whether they
the Theogony, and that consequently there existed meant the whole poem as it now stands, or only
as many different recensions and editions of it. some particular portion of it. The description of
But as our present form itself belongs to a very the shield of Heracles is an imitation of the Ho-
early date, it would be useless to attempt to deter- meric description of the shield of Achilles, but is
mine what part of it formed the original kernel, done with less skill and ability. It should be
and what is to be considered as later addition or remarked, that some modern critics are inclined to
interpolation. (Comp. Creuzer and Hermann, look upon the 'Aonis as an independent poem, and
Briefe über Hoin, und Hes. , Heidelberg, 1817, wholly unconnected with the Evene, though they
8vo. ; F. K. L. Sickler, Cadmus 1. Erklärung der admit that it may contain various interpolations by
Theogonie des Hesiod, Hildburgbausen, 1818, 4to.
and a review of it (by the writer of the present fortunes of Prima her daughter. In all versions of
article) in the British und Foreign Medical Review, her story, Hersilia acts as mediator—in Livy (L. c. )
vol. xv. , from which two last works the preceding with Romulus, for the people of Antemnae-in
account has been abridged. (W. A. G. ) Dionysius and Plutarch (ib. 19), between the
HEROʻPHILUS, a veterinary surgeon at Rome Romans and Sabincs, in the war arising from the
in the first century B. C. , is said by Valerius Maxi- rape of the women. Her name is probably a later
mus (ix. 15. 1) to have passed himself off as the and a Greck addition to the original story of Rom
grandson of C. Marius, and thus to have raised him- mulus. As Romulus after death became Quirinus,
self to some degree of consequence. (W. A. G. ) 80 those writers who made Hersilia his wife raised
HERO'STRATUS ('Hpootpatos), a merchant her to the digriity of a goddess, Hora or Horta, in
of Naucratis in Egypt, who, in one of his voyages, either case, probably, with reference to boundaries
bought at Paphos a little image of Aphrodite. (ol. of time ("npa) or space (ópos). (Gell. xiii. 22 ;
23, B. c. 688—685. ) On his return to Naucratis Ennius, Ann. i. ; Nonius, s. v. Hora; Augustin. de
a storm ensued, which was stilled by the goddess, Civ. Dei. iv. 16. )
(W. B. D. )
who regarded Naucratis with especial favour, and HERTHA (contains probably the same elements
who, as a sign of her presence with Herostratus as the words earth, erde), the goddess of the earth,
and his crew, caused myrtles to spring forth all in contrast to the god of the regions of the air,
around her. Herostratus, when safely landed, among the ancient Germans. She appears either as
gave an entertainment to his friends, to celebrate a female Hertha, that is, as the wife of Thor, or as
his deliverance, and presented each of his guests a male being Herthus or Nerthus, and a friend of
with a myrtle crown: hence such a chaplet was Thor. According to Tacitus (Gerin. 40) there was
called otepavos Naukpatítns. (Polycharm. ap. a sacred grove in an island of the ocean, containing
Athen. xv. pp. 675, f. 676, a, b; Casaub. ad loc. ; a chariot, which no one but a priest was allowed to
comp. Herod. ii. 135. )
(E. E. ] touch. This priest alone also knew when the god-
HERO'STRATUS ('Hpóotpatos), an Ephesian, dess was present, and such seasons were spent in
set fire to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which great festivities, and people abstained from war,
had been begun by CHERSIPHRON, and completed until the priest declared that the goddess wished
by Demetrius and Paeonius. It was burnt on the to withdraw. Tacitus further calls her the mother
same night that Alexander the Great was born, of the gods. We cannot enter here into an ex-
B. C. 356, whereupon it was remarked by Hegesias amination of this great German divinity, but refer
the Magnesian, that the conflagration was not to the reader to Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie ; J. P.
be wondered at, since the goddess was absent Anchersen, Vallis Herthae deae et Origines Danicae,
from Ephesus, and attending on the delivery of &c. ; Hafniae, 1747, 4to. ; Rabus, Dissertatio de
Olympias: an observation, says Plutarch, frigid dea Hertha, Augsburg, 1842. (L. S. ]
enough to have put out the fire. The stroke of HESI'GONÙS. (HEGESIGONUS. ]
genius in question, however, is ascribed by Cicero, HE'SIODUS ('Holodos), one of the earliest
whose taste it does not seem to have shocked, to Greek poets, respecting whose personal history we
Timaeus of Tauromenium. Herostratus was put possess little more authentic information than re-
to the torture for his deed, and confessed that he specting that of Homer, together with whom he is
had fired the temple to immortalise himself. The frequently mentioned by the ancients. The names of
Ephesians passed a decree condemning his name to these two poets, in fact, form as it were the two
oblivion ; but Theopompus embalmed him in bis poles of the early epic poetry of the Greeks; and
history, like a fly in amber. (Strab. xiv. p. 640; as Homer represents the poetry, or school of poetry,
Plut. Alex. 3; Cic. De Nat. Deor. ü. 27 ; Val. belonging chiefly to Ionia in Asia Minor, 80 Hesiod
Max. viii. 14. Ext. 5; Gell. ii. 6. ) [E. E. ) is the representative of a school of bards, which
HERSE (Epon). 1. The wife of Danaus and was developed somewhat later at the foot of Mount
mother of Hippodice and Adiante. (Apollod. ii. 1. Helicon in Boeotia, and spread over Phocis and
§ 5. )
Euboea. The only points of resemblance between
2. A daughter of Cecrops and sister of Agraulos, the two poets, or their respective schools, consist in
Pandrosos, and Erysichthon. She was the beloved their forms of versification and their dialect, but in
of Hermes, and the mother of Cephalus. (Paus. i. 2. all other respects they move in totally distinct
$ 5; Apollod. iii. 14. Ø 2, &c. ; Ov. Met. ii. 724. ) spheres ; for the Homeric takes for its subjects the
Respecting her story, see AGRAULOS. At Athens restless activity of the heroic age, while the Hesiodic
sacrifices were offered to her, and the maidens who turns its attention to the quiet pursuits of ordinary
carried the vessels containing the libation (pon) life, to the origin of the world, the gods and heroes.
were called éppnpópou. (Paus. i. 27. $ 4; Hesych. The latter thus gave to its productions an ethical
and Moeris, s. v. )
(L. S. ) and religious character ; and this circumstance
HERSI'LIA, the wife of Romulus, according to alone suggests an advance in the intellectual state
Livy (i. Il) and Plutarch (Romul. 14) but, ac- of the ancient Greeks upon that which we have
cording to Dionysius (ii. 45, iii. 1), Macrobius depicted in the Homeric poems, though we do not
PF 4
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410
HESIODUS.
HESIODUS.
mean to assert that the elements of the Hesiodic | life of Hesiod, especially those written by Plutarch
poetry are of a later date than the age of Homer, and Cleomenes, for they would undoubtedly have
for they may, on the contrary, be as ancient as the enlightened us upon many points respecting which
Greek nation itself. But we must, at any rate, we are now completely in the dark. We must,
infer that the Hesiodic poetry, such as it has come however, observe that many of the stories related
down to us, is of later growth than the Homeric; about Hesiod refer to his whole school of poetry
an opinion which is confirmed also by the language (but not to the poet personally), and arose from the
and expressions of the two schools, and by a relation in which the Boeotian or Hesiodic school
variety of collateral circumstances, among which stood to the Homeric or lonic school. In this light
we may mention the range of knowledge being we consider, e. g. the traditions that Stesichorus was
much more extensive in the poems which benr the a son of Hesiod, and that Hesiod had a poetical
name of Hesiod than in those attributed to llomer. contest with Homer, which is said to have taken
Herodotus (ii. 53) and others regarded Homer and place at Chalcis during the funeral solemnities of
Hesiod as contemporaries, and some even assigned king Amphidamas, or, according to others, at Aulis
to him an earlier date than Homer (Gell. iii. 11, or Delos. (Proclus, l. c. p. xliii. and ad Op. et Dies,
xvii. 21 ; Suid. 8. v. 'Holodos ; Tzetz. Chil. xii. 163, 648 ; Plut. Cono. Sept. Sap. 10. ) The story of
198, xiii. 650); but the general opinion of the this contest gave rise to a composition still extant
ancients was that Homer was the elder of the two, under the title of 'Agwv 'Ounpou kal 'Holódou, the
a belief which was entertnined by Philochorus, work of a grammarian who lived towards the end
Xenophanes, Eratosthenes, A pollodorus, and many of the first century of our era, in which the two
others.
poets are represented as engaged in the contest and
If we inquire after the exact age of Hesiod, we answering each other in their verses. The work is
are informed by Herodotus (1. c. ) that he lived four printed in Göttling's edition of Hesiod, p. 242—
hundred years before his time, that is, about B. c. 254, and in Westermann's liturum Scriptores
850. Velleius Paterculus (i. 7) considers that be- Graeci, p. 33, &c. Its author knows the whole
tween Homer and Hesiod there was an interval of family history of Hesiod, the names of his father
a hundred and twenty years, and most modern and mother, as well as of his ancestors, and traces
critics assume that Hesiod lived about a century his descent to Orpheus, Linus, and Apollo himself.
later than Homer, which is pretty much in accord- These legends, though they are mere fictions, show
ance with the statement of some ancient writers the connection which the ancients conceived to
who place him about the eleventh Olympiad, i. e. exist between the poetry of Hesiod (especially the
about B. c. 735. Respecting the life of the poet we Theogony) and the ancient schools of priests and
derive some information from one of the poems as- bards, which had their seats in Thrace and Pieria,
cribed to him, viz. the "Epya kal fuépau. We learn and thence spread into Boeotia, where they pro-
from that poem (648, &c. ), that he was born in bably formed the elements out of which the He-
the village of Ascra in Boeotia, whither his father siodic poetry was developed. Some of the fables
had enigrated from the Aeolian Cuma in Asia pretending to be the personal history of Hesiod are
Minor. Ephorus (Fragm. p. 268, ed. Marx) and of euch a nature as to throw considerable doubt upon
Suidas state that both Homer and Hesiod were the personal existence of the poet altogether ; and
natives of Cuma, and even represent them as athough we do not deny that there may have been
kinsinen,-a statement which probably arose from in the Boeotian school a poet of the name of
the belief that Hesiod was born before his father's Hesiod whose eminence caused him to be regarded
emigration to Ascra ; but if this were true, Hesiod as the representative, and a number of works to be
could not have said that he never crossed the sea, attributed to him, still we would, in speaking of
except from Aulis to Euboea. (Op. et Dies, 648. ) | Hesiod, be rather understood to mean the whole
Ascra, moreover, is mentioned as his birthplace school than any particular individual. Thus an
in the epitaph on Hesiod (Paus. ix. 38. Q 9), ancient epigram mentions that Hesiod was twice
and by Proclus in his life of Hesiod.
The a youth and was twice buried (Proclus ; Suidas ;
poet describes himself (Theog. 23) as tending a Proverb. Vat. iv. 3); and there was a tradition
flock on the side of Mount Helicon, and from that, by the command of an oracle, the bones of
this, as well as from the fact of his calling himself Hesiod were removed from Naupactus to Orcho-
an dtiuntos (Op. et Dies, 636), we must infer menos, for the purpose of averting an epidemic
that he belonged to a humble station, and was (Paus. ix. 38. 3. ) These traditions show that
engaged in rural pursuits. But subsequently his Hesiod was looked upon and worshipped in
circumstances seem to have been bettered, and Boeotia (and also in Phocis) as an ancient hero,
after the death of his father, he was involved in a and, like many other heroes, he was said to have
dispute with his brother Perses about his small been unjustly killed in the grove of the Nemean
patrimony, which was decided in favour of Perses. Zeus. (Plut. Convio. Sept. Sup. 19; Certamen
(Op. et Dies, 219, 261, 637. ) He then seems to Hom. et Hes. p. 251, ed. Göttling; comp. Paus.
have emigrated to Orchomenos, where he spent the ix. 31. § 3. ) All that we can say, under these
remainder of his life. (Pind. ap. Proclum, yévos circumstances, is that a poet or hero of the name of
'Hosódov, p. xliv. in Göttling's edit. of Hesiod. ) | Hesiod was regarded by the ancients as the head
At Orchomenos he is also said to have been buried, and representative of that school of poetry which
and his tomb was shown there in later times. This was based on the Thracian or Pierian bards, and
is all that can be said, with any degree of certainty, was developed in Boeotia as distinct from the Ho-
about the life of Hesiod. Proclus, Tzetzes, and meric or Ionic school.
others relate a variety of anecdotes and marvellous The differences between the two schools of poetry
tales about his life and death, but very little value are plain and obvious, and were recognised in
can be attached to them, though they may have ancient times no less than at present, as may be
been derived from comparatively early sources. We seen from the 'Agwv 'Ouñípov kal 'Hoiódov (p. 248,
have to lament the loss of some ancient works on the ed. Göttling). In their mode of delivery the poets
## p. 441 (#457) ############################################
HESIODUS.
441
HESIODUS.
of the two schools likewise differed; for while the tion of winter (504–558). The first two of these
Homeric poems were recited under the accompani- poems are not so much out of keeping with the
ment of the cithara, those of Hesiod were recited whole as the third, which is manifestly the most
without any musical instrument, the reciter holding recent production of all, and most foreign to the
in his hand only a laurel branch or staff (pábbos, spirit of lesiod. That which remains, after the
ornat pov, Hesiod, Theog. 30 ; Paus. ix. 30, x. 7. deduction of these probable interpolations, consists
$2; Pind. Isthin. iii
. 55, with Dissen's note ; Cal. of a collection of maxime, proverbs, and wise say.
limach. Fragm. 138). As Boeotia, Phocis, and ings, containing a considerable amount of practicul
Euboea were the principal parts of Greece where wisdom ; and some of these guwuar or toonnau
the Hesiodic poetry flourished, we cannot be sur- may be as old as the Greek nation itself. (Isocrat.
prised at finding that the Delphic oracle is a great c. Nicod. p. 23, ed. Steph. ; Lucian, Dial. de Hos.
subject of veneration with this school, and that 1, 8. ) Now, admitting that the 'Epya originally
there exists a strong resemblance between the consisted only of such maxims and precepts, it is
hexameter oracles of the Pythia and the verses of difficult to understand how the author could de-
Hesiod ; nay, there is a verse in Hesiod (Op. et rive from his production & reputation like that
Dies, 283), which is also mentioned by Herodotus enjoyed by Hesiod, especially if we remembo that
(vi. 86) as a Pythian oracle, and Hesiod himself is at Thespiae, to which the village of Ascra was sub-
said to have possessed the gift of prophecy, and to ject, agriculture was held degrading to a freeman.
have acquired it in Acarnania. A great many alle (Heraclid. Pont. 42. ) In order to account for this
gorical expressions, such as we frequently find in phenomenon, it must be supposed that Ilesiod was
the oracular language, are common also in the a poet of the people and peasantry rather than
poems of Hesiod. This circumstance, as well as of the ruling nobles, but that afterwards, when the
certain grammatical forins in the language of Hesiod, warlike spirit of the heroic ages subsided, and
constitute another point of difference between the peaceful pursuits began to be held in higher esteein,
Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, although the dialect the poet of the plough also rose from his obscurity,
in which the poems of both schools are composed and was looked upon as a sage ; nay, the very con-
is, on the whole, the same,--that is, the Ionic-epic, trast with the Homeric poetry may have contributed
which had become established as the language of to raise his fame. At all events, the poem, not-
epic poetry through the influence of Homer.
withstanding its want of unity and the incoherence
The ancients attributed to the one poet Hesiod a of its parts, gives to us an attractive picture of the
great variety of works; that is, all those which in simplicity of the early Greek mode of life, of their
form and substance answered to the spirit of the manners and their domestic relations. " (Comp.
Hesiodic school, and thus seemed to be of a common Twesten, Commentat. Critica de Hesiodi Carmine,
origin. We shall subjoin a list of them, beginning | quod inscrib. Opera et Dies, Kiel, 1815, 8vo. ; F. L.
with those which are still extant,
Hug, Hesiodi "Epya méyala, Freiburg, 1835 ;
1. "Epya or "Epya kai nuépai, commonly called Ranke, De Hesiodi Op. et Diebus, 1838, 410;
Opera el Dies. In the time of Pausanias (ix. 31. Lehrs, Quaest. Epic. p. 180, &c. ; G. Hermann,
$ 3, &c. ), this was the only poem which the people in the Jahrbücher für Philol. vol. xxi. 2. p. 117,
about Mount Helicon considered to be a genuine &c. )
production of Hesiod, with the exception of the 2. Ocoyovia. This poem was, as we remarked
first ten lines, which certainly appear to have been above, not considered by Hesiod's countrymen to
prefixed by a later hand. There are also several | be a genuine production of the poet. It presents,
other parts of this poem which seem to be later indeed, great differences from the preceding one:
interpolations ; but, on the whole, it bears the its very subject is apparently foreign to the homely
impress of a genuine production of very high an author of the Epya; but the Alexandrian gran-
tiquity, though in its present form it may consist marians, especially Zenodotus and Aristarchus,
only of disjointed portions of the original. It is appear to have had no doubt about its genuineness
written in the most homely and simple style, with (Schol. Venet. ad l. xviii. 39), though their
scarcely any poetical imagery or ornament, and opinion cannot be taken to mean anything else than
must be looked upon as the most ancient specimen that the poem contained nothing that was opposed
of didactic poetry. It contains' ethical, political, to the character of the Hesiodic school ; and thus
and economical precepts, the last of which constitute much we may therefore take for granted, that the
the greater part of the work, consisting of rules Theogony is not the production of the same poet as
about choosing a wife, the education of children, the "Epya, and that it probably belongs to a later
agriculture, commerce, and navigation. A poem date. In order to understand why the ancients,
on these subjects was not of course held in much nevertheless, regarded the Theogony as an Hesiodic
esteem by the powerful and ruling classes in Greece work, we must recollect the traditions of the poet's
at the time, and made the Spartan Cleomenes con- parentage, and the marvellous events of his life.
temptuously call Hesiod the poet of helots, in con- It was on mount Helicon, the ancient seat of the
trast with Homer, the delight of the warrior. (Plut. Thracian muses, that he was believed to have been
Apophth. Lac. Cleom. 1. ) The conclusion of the born and bred, and his descent was traced to
poem, from v. 750 to 828 is a sort of calendar, and Apollo ; the idea of his having composed a work
was probably appended to it in later tiines, and on the genealogies of the gods and heroes cannot
the addition kal niuepa in the title of the poem therefore bave appeared to the ancients as very
seems to have been added in consequence of this surprising. That the author of the Theogony was
appendage, for the poem is sometimes simply called a Boeotian is evident, from certain peculiarities of
'Epya. It would further seem that three distinct the language. The Theogony gives an account of
poems have been inserted in it; viz. 1. The fable the origin of the world and the birth
the gods,
of Prometheus and Pandora (47—105); 2. On explaining the whole order of nature in a series of
the ages of the world, which are designated by the genealogies, for every part of physical as well as
names of metals (109–201); and, 3. A descrip moral nature there appears personified in the cha-
## p. 442 (#458) ############################################
442
HESIODUS.
HESIODUS.
racter of a distinct being. The whole concludes ursprüngliche Beschaffenheit, Berlin, 1841, 8vo.
with an account of some of the most illustrious The last two works are useless and futile attempts;
heroes, whereby the poem enters into some kind of comp. Th. Kock, De pristina Theogoniae Hesiodeae
connection with the Homeric epics. The whole Forma, pars. i. Vratislav. 1842, 8vo. )
poem may be divided into three parts : 1. The cos- 3. 'Ηοίαι οι ήoίαι μεγάλαι, also called κατά-
mogony, which widely differs from the simple aoyou yuvalkwy. The name thoice was derived,
Homeric notion (N. xiv. 200), and afterwards according to the ancient grammarians, from the
served as the groundwork for the various physical fact that the heroines who, by their connection
speculations of the Greek philosophers, who looked with the immortal gods, had become the mothers
upon the Theogony of Hesiod as containing in an of the most illustrious heroes, were introduced in
allegorical forin all the physical wisdom that they the poem by the expression Hoin. The poem
were able to propound, though Hesiod himself was itself
, which is lost, is said to have consisted of
believed not to have been aware of the profound four books, the last of which was by far the longest,
philosophical and theological wisdom he was utter and was hence called hoial weyanas
, whereas the
ing. The cosmogony extends from v. 116 to 452. titles karádoyou or polar belonged to the whole
2. The theogony, in the strict sense of the word, body of poetry, containing accounts of the women
from 453 to 962; and 3. the last portion, which who had been beloved by the gods, and had thus
is in fact a heroogony, being an account of the become the mothers of the heroes in the various
heroes born by mortal mothers whose charms had parts of Greece, from whom the ruling families
drawn the immortals from Olympus. This part is derived their origin. The two last verses of the
very brief, extending only from v. 963 to 1021, Theogony formed the beginning of the stoian, which,
and forms the transition to the Eoene, of which we from its nature, might justly be regarded as a
shall speak presently. If we ask for the sources continuation of the Theogony, being as a heroogony
from which Hesiod drew his information respecting (ripworovla) the natural sequel to the Theogony.
the origin of the world and the gods, the answer The work, if we may regard it as one poem, thus
cannot be much more than a conjecture, for there contained the genealogies or pedigrees of the most
is no direct information on the point. Herodotus illustrious Greek families. Whether the Eoeae or
asserts that Homer and Hesiod made the theogony Catalogi was the work of one and the same poet
of the Greeks; and, in reference to Hesiod in par was a disputed point among the ancients them-
ticular, this probably means that Hesiod collected selves. From a statenient of the scholiast on
and combined into a system the various local le- A pollonius Rhodius (ii. 181), it appears that it
gends, especially of northern Greece, such as they consisted of several works, which were afterwards
had been handed down by priests and bards. The put together; and while A pollonius Rhodius and
assertion of Herodotus further obliges us to take Crates of Mallus attributed it to Hesiod (Schol.
into consideration the fact, that in the earliest ad Hes. Theog. 142), Aristophanes and Aristarchus
Greek theology the gods do not appear in any de- were doubtful.
(Anonym. Gram. in Göttling's
finite forms, whereas Hesiod strives to anthropo- | ed. of Hes. p. 92 ; Schol. ad Hom. Il. xxiv. 30 ;
morphise all of them, the ancient elementary gods Suid. and Apollon. s. v. waxlooúvn. ) The anony-
as well as the later dynasties of Cronus and Zeus. mous Greek grammarian just referred to states that
Now both the system of the gods and the forms the first fifty-six verses of the Hesiodic poem
under which he conceived them afterwards became 'Artis 'Hpakhéovs (Scutum Herculis) belonged to
firmly established in Greece, and, considered in this the fourth book of the Eoere, and it is generally
war, the assertion of Herodotus is perfectly correct. supposed that this poem, or perhaps fragment of a
Whether the form in which the Theogony has poem, originally belonged to the Eoeae. The 'Aomis
come down to us is the original and genuine one, 'Hpakaéows, which is still extant, consists of three
and whether it is complete or only a fragment, is a distinct parts ; that from v. 1 to 56 was taken
question which has been much discussed in modern from the Eoeae, and is probably the most ancient
times. There can be little doubt but that in the portion ; the second from 57 to 140, which must
course of time the poets of the Hesiodic school and be connected with the verses 317 to 480; and the
the rhapsodists introduced various interpolations, third-from 141 to 317 contains the real description
which produced many of the inequalities both in of the shield of Heracles, which is introduced in the
the substance and form of the poem which we now account of the fight between Heracles and Cycnus.
perceive ; many parts also may have been lost. When therefore Apollonius Rhodius and others
Hermann bas endeavoured to show that there ex- considered the 'Aonis to be a genuine Hesiodic
ist no less than seven different introductions to production, it still remains doubtful whether they
the Theogony, and that consequently there existed meant the whole poem as it now stands, or only
as many different recensions and editions of it. some particular portion of it. The description of
But as our present form itself belongs to a very the shield of Heracles is an imitation of the Ho-
early date, it would be useless to attempt to deter- meric description of the shield of Achilles, but is
mine what part of it formed the original kernel, done with less skill and ability. It should be
and what is to be considered as later addition or remarked, that some modern critics are inclined to
interpolation. (Comp. Creuzer and Hermann, look upon the 'Aonis as an independent poem, and
Briefe über Hoin, und Hes. , Heidelberg, 1817, wholly unconnected with the Evene, though they
8vo. ; F. K. L. Sickler, Cadmus 1. Erklärung der admit that it may contain various interpolations by
Theogonie des Hesiod, Hildburgbausen, 1818, 4to.
