Hesiod (Hesiodos) is one of the earliest Greek poets, often called the 'father of Greek didactic poetry.' Two of his complete epics have survived, the Theogony, relating the myths of the gods, and the Works and Days, describing peasant life.

Not a great deal is known about his life, he was born in Boeotia in central Greece and may at first have been a rhapsodist (a professional reciter of poetry), learning the technique and vocabulary of the epic by memorizing and reciting heroic songs.

One of the earliest Greek epic poets, Hesiod's works serve in conscious opposition to the more glorious ideals of the heroic epic of Homer. Hesiod has an essentially serious outlook on life and is an artist who deals with the gloomier side of existence, relating, in his Theogony, the bloody power struggle among the divine dynasts Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus, while his Works and Days affirms Hesiod's unshakable belief in the power of justice and recounts the necessity for honest, hard work in man's wretched life as the only way to prosperity and distinction.

• http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=41142