Theogony Summary

Hesiod begins this poem by claiming that he has learned the song from the Muses, who gave him a divine voice to sing of the gods and celebrate the race of gods who were begotten of Heaven and Earth. Hesiod praises Zeus as the father of gods and men. He relates the tale of the Muses' conception: Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory) sleep together for nine nights and she conceives and bares nine daughters who sing on Mount Olympus. Zeus overthrows his father, Cronos, and distributes power among the immortals. Calliope is the most important of the Muses because she feeds dew to heaven-chosen princes to give them sweet tongues to settle disputes. Singers on earth are a gift of Apollo and the Muses to mankind to enable them to forget their sorrows while singers chant about the deeds of men of old and...