The epic poetry of ancient Greece is represented by three great poets: Homer, Hesiod, and Apollonius of Rhodes. Zetros Editions have published the Homeric Iliad and the Homeric Odyssey in the established series Translated Authors of Ancient Greek Literature.

In our effort to complete various literary genres in this series, we are releasing a third volume of epic poetry that includes two great poets, Hesiod and Apollonius of Rhodes.

The Theogony is a poetic manual of cosmology, in which we follow the mythological inspiration of the epic poet who establishes the genealogy of polytheism for the ancient Greek world. Works and Days is a didactic epic with useful advice for the practical life of people.

The Shield of Heracles is, with some analogies, an imitation of the shield of Achilles, as it is presented to us in Rhapsody S (lines 468-617) of the Homeric Iliad. The Argonautica, on the other hand, is a large epic composition that poetically transforms the mythical expedition of the Argonauts from the Thessalian Iolcus to the Colchis of the Euxine Sea.

This volume includes introductions to the two poets, a broad summary of their works, translations, comments, analyses, and educational processing for each work.