The Best Translation of Theogony/Works and Days
Theogony/Works and Days was written in Ancient Greek. 2 recommended editions, ranked — with Gröblé’s verdict on which to read first.
M.L. West
Oxford University Press · 2008 · 79 pages
West spent his career on Hesiod and it shows. The Oxford translation reads cleanly and the intro on the Near Eastern background is doing real scholarly work, not throat-clearing.
Every recommended edition, compared
Most's Loeb gives you facing-page Greek and the most precise English on the market. The notes on Hesiod's relationship to Babylonian and Hittite myth are why you'd reach for this one.
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Reading Theogony/Works and Days in translation
Theogony/Works and Days was written in Ancient Greek, so unless you read Ancient Greek, the translator decides the book you actually experience — its register, its pace, how it sounds read aloud. Two editions of the same work can feel like different books.
The ranking above is Gröblé’s: one reader’s verdict on which English gets you closest, not a publisher’s blurb. Start with the top pick; reach for the others when you want a different angle on the original.