Hesiod

4 November 2023

Hesiod

“Because this is the Iron Age

Not a day goes by

A man doesn’t have some kind of trouble.

Nights too, just wearing him down.  I mean

The gods send us terrible pain and vexation.”

(Hesiod, Works and Days and Theogony, translated by Stanley Lombardo, Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1993, page 28, ISBN: 9780872201798)

I’ve been reading Hesiod because I want to deepen my understanding of how the Greeks viewed the Gods.  Hesiod was hugely influential in the development of Greek religion.  Here are a few thoughts:

1.  The world Hesiod depicts is fraught with difficulties for human beings.  I think it is a realistic depiction.  But Hesiod doesn’t know a way out other than to worship the Gods and give them their due honor.  However, this strikes me as doubtful because Hesiod depicts the Gods as fickle, jealous, and prone to violence.  For example:

“They . . . could not bring themselves

To serve the Immortals, nor sacrifice at their altars

The way men ought to, wherever and whenever.  So Zeus,

Kronos’ son, got angry and did away with them

Because they weren’t giving the Blessed Gods their honors.”

(Ibid, page 27)

2.  Notice the use of the word ‘Immortals’ in the above quote.  I think Hesiod uses the word ‘immortal’ to mean something like ‘long-lived’ or ‘living for a very long time’ rather than ‘deathless.’  Aristotle makes this point in his Metaphysics where he offers a brief analysis of the tradition.  Aristotle writes that according to this tradition the Gods live on nectar.  Aristotle responds that if someone is dependent on food, no matter how sublime, then they are not immortal.  This is a sophisticated causal analysis.

3.  I’m not aware of other analyses of Hesiod and the tradition that is based on his writings.  I don’t recall Plotinus mentioning Hesiod.  Plato seems to speak of this tradition negatively when he argues for a more exalted view of the Gods than the one presented in the standard literature.  But I’m not sure if this is a specific critique of Hesiod.  My reading of the Platonic tradition is not thoroughgoing and perhaps there are references to Hesiod in Maximus of Tyre or Plutarch that I have not, as yet, accessed.

4.  From the depiction of the Gods in Hesiod, and the way the Gods are presented in Greek literature like the tragedies, it does not seem that the Gods can assist us if our focus is on the transcendental.  The Gods appear to be creatures who are trapped by highly emotional inclinations which seem to be beyond their control such as anger, jealousy, revenge, and things like that. 

5.  But the world Hesiod depicts is accurate in the sense that life in genesis/samsara is filled with difficulties and sorrows.  If you are inclined to view the Gods as personifications of abstract forces, then the force that is personified is primarily strife.  I’m not an advocate of viewing the Gods as personifications, but I think people in modernity would find that approach more accessible than viewing the Gods as individual realities with personalities.

6.  I believe that the discussion about strife found in Heraclitus and Empedocles depicts the same reality of this realm that Hesiod does, but they use a more philosophical and abstract approach to reach the same conclusion.

7.  How is it possible to get out of this ongoing strife?  This is where philosophy comes in.  The basic insight of philosophy is that to break free from constant strife we need to separate ourselves, which is to say our soul, from the body.  It is the body that is the source of strife, as Socrates notes in Phaedo when he says that it is the body and its desires that are the source of war.  (As an aside, the Gods are war Gods, they are not pro-peace.  They are enthusiastic participants in war.)

And the method for separating the soul from the body, to the degree it is possible while living in this material realm, is asceticism as spoken about in Phaedo.  The Gods have not done this; I mean that they have not separated their souls from their bodies and because of this they are a primary source of strife, or the embodiment of strife, depending on how you look at it.  In order for the Gods to break free of their compulsive adherence to strife they would need to follow the instructions of Socrates, ‘step by step’, and of the philosophical tradition in general, adopt basic ascetic practices of purification, so that they can receive a more auspicious rebirth, a rebirth that would give them the opportunity for a philosophical life.