What is the purpose of *Works and Days*?

*Works and Days* serves as a practical guide to agriculture, offering advice on farming techniques, labor management, and seasonal work cycles. Hesiod’s instructions are rooted in his firsthand experience as a farmer.

Who was the intended audience for the poem?

The poem was written for Hesiod’s brother, Perses, and likely other farmers or agricultural workers. Its didactic nature suggests it was meant to educate rather than entertain.

How does *Works and Days* differ from other ancient Greek works?

Unlike epic poems like *The Iliad* or *The Odyssey*, *Works and Days* focuses on practical, everyday knowledge rather than mythological narratives. It stands out as one of the earliest surviving works of agricultural literature.

What techniques does Hesiod use in the poem?

Hesiod employs dactylic hexameter, a rhythmic meter common in epic poetry, to convey his agricultural advice. The poem’s structure reflects Hesiod’s expertise, blending technical details with moral lessons.

Works and Days

didactic poem in 828 lines of dactylic hexameter by Hesiod in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in agriculture

VisualArtwork literary_work Q667285

Facts

15 properties

Instance of: literary work
Inception: 800 BC^[6]
Author: Hesiod^[2]
Genre: didactic poetry, poetry^[3]^[4]
Language of work or name: Homeric Greek^[5]
Addressee: Perses^[26]
Characters: Prometheus, Pandora, Hesiod, Zeus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Epimetheus^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]
Entry in abbreviations table: Hes. WD^[31]
First line: μοῦσαι πιερίηθεν, ἀοιδῇσιν κλείουσαι^[27]
Form of creative work: poem^[30]
Has edition or translation: Les Travaux et les Jours, Hezyoda "Roboty i dnie", Работы и дни, Hesiod Theogony and Works and Days, Works and Days, Hesiodi opera et dies, Q132183151, Wikidata item^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]
Main subject: agriculture, superstition, Ages of Man^[22]^[23]^[24]
Narrative motif: tabu: looking into box (Pandora)^[29]
Title: Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι^[25]
Used metre: dactylic hexameter^[28]

🏷️ Also known as

en Hes. WD en Works and Days ar الأعمال والأيام cs Práce a dni da Værker og dage de Werke und Tage el Έργα και Ημέραι es Trabajos y días es Trabajos y dias fa کارها و روزها fi Työt ja päivät fr Les Travaux et les Jours he מעשים וימים hu Munkák és napok id Erga kai Hemerai it Le opere e i giorni ja 仕事と日々 ja エルガ・カイ・ヘーメライ ja 仕事と日 ja 労働と日々

🔖 Identifiers · 28

VIAF cluster ID: 3552165628839.7B (185.7M–3552165628839.7B, n=4)
Library of Congress authority ID: n83196743
GND ID: 4131168-1
BIBSYS ID: 90066764
Bibliothèque nationale de France ID: 12258920v
Canadiana Name Authority ID: ncf11296412
Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID: topic/Works-and-Days
Freebase ID: /m/07sbg7
IdRef ID: 02798172X, 03135856X
Larousse ID: oeuvre/les_Travaux_et_les_Jours/147329
Latvian National Encyclopedia Online ID: 185313
Libraries Australia ID: 35148494

Show all 28 identifiers +16

MANTO ID: 9882812
Mythoskop ID: q9
National Library of Brazil ID: 000631537
National Library of Israel J9U ID: 987007427677005171
National Library of Poland MMS ID: 9810690860105606
National Library of Spain SpMaBN ID (BNE v1.0): XX2055465
Open Library ID: OL602616W
PACTOLS thesaurus ID: pcrtXSMdFpL5To
Pinakes work ID: 10928
Quora topic ID: Works-and-Days-poem
ToposText person ID: 17711
ToposText work ID: 5
University of Barcelona authority ID: 981058510723906706
Vatican Library VcBA ID: 492/2491
Wellcome Collection concept ID: r2w7fje5
World History Encyclopedia ID: Works_and_Days

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🔗 Connections

Characters 7

Zeus, Hesiod, Hermes, Prometheus, Hephaestus, Pandora, Epimetheus

Main subject 3

agriculture, superstition, Ages of Man

Genre 2

poetry, didactic poetry

Author 1

Hesiod

Created notable works 1

Hesiod

Form of creative work 1

poem

Instance of 1

literary work

Language of work or name 1

Homeric Greek

Used metre 1

dactylic hexameter

← Described by source 1

golden age

← Present in work 1

Eris

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Summary

Works and Days is a literary work^[1].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

[2] ↑ Works and Days — author (P50): Hesiod. wikidata.org.
[3] ↑ Works and Days — genre (P136): didactic poetry. wikidata.org.
[4] ↑ Works and Days — genre (P136): poetry. wikidata.org.
[5] ↑ Works and Days — language of work or name (P407): Homeric Greek. Hesiod Theogony and Works and Days. wikidata.org.
[6] ↑ Works and Days — inception (P571): 800 BC. wikidata.org.
[7] ↑ Works and Days — characters (P674): Prometheus. wikidata.org.
[8] ↑ Works and Days — characters (P674): Pandora. wikidata.org.
[9] ↑ Works and Days — characters (P674): Hesiod. wikidata.org.
[10] ↑ Works and Days — characters (P674): Zeus. wikidata.org.
[11] ↑ Works and Days — characters (P674): Hephaestus. wikidata.org.
[12] ↑ Works and Days — characters (P674): Hermes. wikidata.org.
[13] ↑ Works and Days — characters (P674): Epimetheus. wikidata.org.
[14] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Les Travaux et les Jours. wikidata.org.
[15] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Hezyoda "Roboty i dnie". wikidata.org.
[16] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Работы и дни. wikidata.org.
[17] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Hesiod Theogony and Works and Days. wikidata.org.
[18] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Works and Days. wikidata.org.
[19] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Hesiodi opera et dies. Croatian Biographical Lexicon. hbl.lzmk.hr. Provenance: wikidata.org.
[20] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Q132183151. wikidata.org.
[21] ↑ Works and Days — has edition or translation (P747): Q141156041. wikidata.org.
[22] ↑ Works and Days — main subject (P921): agriculture. wikidata.org.
[23] ↑ Works and Days — main subject (P921): superstition. wikidata.org.
[24] ↑ Works and Days — main subject (P921): Ages of Man. wikidata.org.
[25] ↑ Works and Days — title (P1476): Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι. wikidata.org.
[26] ↑ Works and Days — addressee (P1817): Perses. wikidata.org.
[27] ↑ Works and Days — first line (P1922): μοῦσαι πιερίηθεν, ἀοιδῇσιν κλείουσαι. wikidata.org.
[28] ↑ Works and Days — used metre (P2551): dactylic hexameter. wikidata.org.
[29] ↑ Works and Days — narrative motif (P6962): tabu: looking into box (Pandora). Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. Retrieved 2022-12-24. sites.ualberta.ca. Provenance: wikidata.org.
[30] ↑ Works and Days — form of creative work (P7937): poem. wikidata.org.
[31] ↑ Works and Days — entry in abbreviations table (P8703): Hes. WD. perseus.tufts.edu. perseus.tufts.edu. Provenance: wikidata.org.

Class ancestry

[1] ↑ Works and Days is an instance of literary work (Q7725634) [P31, primary]. Wikidata. wikidata.org.

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APA

4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Works and Days. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/works-and-days

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BibTeX

@misc{4ortxyz_works-and-days_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Works and Days}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/works-and-days}, note = {Accessed: 2026-11-02}}

LLM prompt

According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Works and Days — https://4ort.xyz/entity/works-and-days (retrieved 2026-11-02)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/works-and-days · Last refreshed: November 2, 2026

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

10w ago · SZC 03 · 2026-08-23 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Has edition or translation → Les Travaux et les Jours, Hezyoda "Roboty i dnie", Работы и дни +5

"/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Has edition or translation: Wikidata item"
25w ago · KaleemBot bot · 2026-05-11 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Local thumb → —

"/* wbeditentity-update-languages-and-other-short:0||ur */"
26w ago · JBradyK · 2026-05-07 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Instance of → literary work

MANTO ID → 9882812

Genre → didactic poetry, poetry

Inception → -0800-00-00T00:00:00Z

+ 14 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)

"/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ MANTO ID: 9882812, #quickstatements; #temporary_batch_1778162092118"

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