Caption: The Pseudo-Seneca is an ancient Roman bronze sculpure (late 1st century BCE) at the Naples National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy. The bust was originally thought to be of Seneca (c. 4 BCE--65 CE). But nowadays it is considered to be possibly an imaginative portrait of Hesiod (circa late 8th century BCE) or Aristophanes (c. 446--c. 386 BCE).

Hesiod is the poet author of the long poems Theogony and Works and Days. Or maybe just one of the two---the other being written by another ancient Greek of the same name.

Hesiod as revealed in Works and Days---which may NOT be by Hesiod, but by another ancient Greek of the same name---is a rather gloomy, pessimistic farmer-poet---maybe a lot like Robert Frost (1874--1963)---the ancient Greek artist (or ancient Roman artist) may have been trying to capture that character.

Seneca (c.4 BCE--65 CE), on the other hand, was an ancient Roman stoic philospher, writer, and statesman.

Hesiod, among other ancient lore, knew of the heliacal rising of Sirius.

In historical times, the heliacal rising of Sirius in constellation Canis Major (which has the highest apparent brightness of all fixed stars) set the Dog Days of summer---the caniculares dies---the hottest time of the year (see Heliacal Rising & Setting of Sirius: 800 B.C. - 2000 A.D. by Peter J. Clark).

Why Dog Days? Constellation Canis Major is the Big Dog.

From Hesiod:

O when thistle bursts and cicada,
hid in his tree, shrill and timeless,
sings his song---timeless,
then summer swoons and goat is fat
and wine is good, and maids are riggish,
but burnt are streams and men---burnt dry
by Sirius teaming with the Sun---but I
in the Dog Days think a shady rock
godlike with Biblos from the vine.


---Hesiod (circa late 8th century BCE) in Works and Days, free variation by yours truly based on the public domain translation of Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1874--1924) (see Translation Works and Days) starting from line 582. The Evelyn-White translation and that of Dorothea S. Wender (1935--2003) ( Dorothea S. Wender, 1976, Hesiod and Theognis) were compared to elucidate the literal meanings of the terms and phrases. The expression "shady rock" is a quotation from the Evelyn-White translation. Wender uses "shady rock" too. See the video review Fiction Book Review: Hesiod and Theognis (Penguin Classics) with odd pronunciations---maybe He-side for Hesiod is legitimate, but NOT mandatory, but I can't believe Dorothea pronounced her surname Wendire.

In the time of Hesiod (circa late 8th century BCE), it was in about mid-July at the latitude of ancient Greece. In our day, it's more like mid-August (Heliacal Rising & Setting of Sirius: 800 B.C. - 2000 A.D. by Peter J. Clark):

Poet Robert Frost (1874--1963) (who's sort of a reincarnation of Hesiod) was also keen on Canis Major: see Canis Major.

Credit/Permission: © Massimo Finizio (AKA User:Finizio), 2005 / Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0.
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