Works and Days

The poem’s two parts—the first explaining why Zeus decreed men must work and the second sharing advice for how to succeed at work—portray gods, humans, and the natural world as an interconnected web. In Hesiod’s conception, the gods represent and control forces of the natural world and the human condition. The gods created the five tribes of men and the first woman, meaning, according to Hesiod, that “gods and mortal men have come from the same starting-point” (40). Although they diverge in powers and mortality, gods and humans share an essence.

When Prometheus conspired for men to receive the better ox meat portion, he attempted to subvert Zeus’s primacy. When he returned fire to men after Zeus had taken it from them, Prometheus attempted to subvert Zeus’s will. For these offenses, Zeus punishes both Prometheus and men, demonstrating that his primacy and will are supreme among gods and men alike and can be neither denied nor subverted. Because of this supremacy, men must accept and respect Zeus’s decree that they labor and act accordingly. The fable of the hawk and the nightingale shows that this form of justice applies only to humans.