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long traditions established the nearly unbreakable connection between worship, personal conduct, and the politics of the state. The Greeks had their public and private rituals, and they were important, but no Greek ruler ever tried to elevate himself to pharaoh or introduce a single deity, as Akhenaten had done in Egypt. Nor were the Greek gods believed to be in complete control of the universe or human destiny. As historian Charles Freeman noted about the Greeks, “They never pretended that their gods were always benevolent or omnipotent in human affairs, and so bad fortune could be rationalized as a natural element of existence.”

And the concept of a “natural element” would soon be viewed by many Greeks as far more important—and interesting. Judging from their extraordinary achievements across the many disciplines—literature, art, science, mathematics, philosophy—these ancient Greeks clearly came to prize a way of life that stressed the importance of the individual, encouraged creative thought, and elevated the power of observation. Greek thinkers laid the foundations of science and philosophy by seeking logical explanations for what happened in the natural world. They could see that the eclipse of the moon wasn’t the capricious act of a god, but the shadow of the earth, and from that they discerned that earth was round. And although the classical Greeks had Homer and Hesiod and the great works of the tragedians, it is also important to note that they had no Bible and no Enuma Elish to dictate their lives and behavior, no strict concepts like the Egyptian maat or the Mesopotamian me rigidly ordering their existence. To them, the gods were not the source of truth, justice, and laws. Quite to the contrary, writes Barry Powell, “The Greeks invented ethics, a way to tell right from wrong without divine authority, and secular law, which together make up humanism.”

MYTHIC VOICES

Rhea, surrendering to Kronos, bore resplendent children…. The others great Kronos swallowed, as each of them reached their mother’s knees from her holy womb. His purpose was that none but he of the Lordly Celestials should have the royal station among the immortals. For he learned from earth and starry Heaven that it was fated for him to be defeated by his own child, powerful though he was, through the designs of great Zeus. So he kept no blind man’s watch, but observed and swallowed his own children. Rhea suffered terrible grief.

—HESIOD, Theogony

A man fashions ill for himself who fashions ill for another, and the ill design is most ill for the designer.

God and men disapprove of that man who lives without working…. You should embrace work-tasks in their dueorder, so that your granaries may be full of substance in its season.

If your spirit in your breast yearns for riches, do as follows, and work, work upon work.

—HESIOD, Works and Days

Who kept the “family tree” of the gods in ancient Greece?

Homer gets most of the glory, but Hesiod did the heavy lifting. When it comes to understanding the origin and genealogies of the gods, and some of the most familiar stories in Greek myth, we have a Greek shepherd to thank. Hesiod’s books haven’t been optioned by Hollywood like Homer’s, but they are among the best sources for many of the ancient tales of the Greek gods.

Much of what is known about the Greek myths is derived from two principal sources: Homer’s two epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey, and two far less famous books of poetry called Theogony (from theo, the Greek word for “god”) and Works and Days. These last two were supposedly inspired by the mythical Muses, who appeared to a shepherd named Hesiod, a farmer from a region northwest of Athens called Boeotia. The Muses “breathed a sacred voice” into Hesiod’s mouth, and he began to describe the creation of the world, and the succession of heavenly rulers who made up the complex genealogy of the Greek gods.

Though he probably lived around 700 BCE, shortly after or around the same time as Homer, Hesiod is far less famous and accomplished a poet than Homer is. But we do