Chapter 3: Olympos, the Underworld, and Minor Divinities
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♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (The Catalogue of Women) fr 204 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, pp. 99-103, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ Hesiod, Works and Days 141
they are called blessed spirits of the underworld by men Greek text
♠ Hesiod, Works and Days 156-73
But when earth had covered this generation also, Zeus the son of Cronos made yet another, the fourth, upon the fruitful earth, which was nobler and more righteous, a god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods, the race before our own, throughout the boundless earth. Grim war and dread battle destroyed a part of them, some in the land of Cadmus at seven-gated Thebes when they fought for the flocks of Oedipus, and some, when it had brought them in ships over the great sea gulf to Troy for rich-haired Helen’s sake: there death’s end enshrouded a part of them. But to the others father Zeus the son of Cronos gave a living and an abode apart from men, and made them dwell at the ends of earth. And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands of the blessed along the shore of deep-swirling Ocean, happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them; for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds. And these last equally have honor and glory. Greek Text
♠ Pindar, Olympian 2.56-83
that the reckless souls of those who have died on earth immediately pay the penalty—and for the crimes committed in this realm of Zeus there is a judge below the earth; with hateful compulsion he passes his sentence. But having the sun always in equal nights and equal days, the good receive a life free from toil, not scraping with the strength of their arms the earth, nor the water of the sea, for the sake of a poor sustenance. But in the presence of the honored gods, those who gladly kept their oaths enjoy a life without tears, while the others undergo a toil that is unbearable to look at. Those who have persevered three times, on either side, to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus’ road to the end, to the tower of Cronus, where ocean breezes blow around the island of the blessed, and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while water nurtures others. With these wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their hands according to the righteous counsels of Rhadamanthys, whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others, keeps close beside him as his partner. Peleus and Cadmus are counted among them, and Achilles who was brought there by his mother, when she had persuaded the heart of Zeus with her prayers— Achilles, who laid low Hector, the irresistible, unswerving pillar of Troy, and who consigned to death Memnon the Ethiopian, son of the Dawn. Greek Text
♠ Pindar fr 129 SM – Pindarus 2, pp. 109-10, ed. B. Snell and H. Maehler. Leipzig 1975.
♠ Pindar, Nemean 10.7
And once the golden-haired, gray-eyed goddess made Diomedes an immortal god. Greek Text
♠ Hellanikos 4F19 – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, pp. 110-11, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ 894 PMG – Poetae Melici Graeci, p. 475 ed. D. L. Page. Oxford 1962.
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, March 2021
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