An image of a 1539 edition.
Working and Days (in Old Greek Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι / Erga Kaí Hēmérai, sometimes referred to as the Latin name Opera et Dies, as in Oxford Classical Texts) is an advisory work of about 800 verses written by the Ancient Greek poet Hesiodos around 700 BC. Works and Days was originally intended as a peasant almanac, in which Hesiodos teaches to his brother Perses about the agricultural arts. In addition, scholars have placed their book against a background of an agricultural crisis in the Greek mainland, inspiring a wave of Greek settlers to seek new land. In the poem, Hesiodos also gives extensive moral advice to his brother about how to lead his life. Working and Days is perhaps best known for his two mythological etiologies of the wailing and pain that defines human existence: the story of Prometheus and Pandora and the so-called Human Periods.
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