The Works and Days

The Works and Days is a didactic poem by ancient Greek poet Hesiod, composed around 700 BC, consisting of 828 lines written in dactylic hexameter. Central to the work is a farmer's almanac where Hesiod imparts agricultural wisdom to his brother, Perses, amidst an agrarian crisis in mainland Greece. In addition to practical advice, the poem offers moral guidance and features mythological tales explaining the hardships of human existence, notably through the stories of Prometheus and Pandora, and the Myth of Five Ages.