Abstract
The two fully preserved works attributed to Hesiod have different objectives. The Theogony recounts the genealogical birth of the world and the gods, right up to the firm establishment of Zeus' sovereignty. The point of view adopted is a panoramic, overhanging view of Zeus' order and the stabilization of the cosmos. Works and Days deploys a more human point of view that applies to a small farming community that must ensure its survival through labor informed by the divine quality of " Days " for its " Works " to be successful. Such success is contingent on the exercise of justice, which enables them to profit from this labor. Among the three tales that support the poet's initial statement on the human condition, the " myth of the races ", more properly known as the " tale of the five human species ", depicts the daimones as " guardians of mortal humans " and " purveyors of wealth " (122-126, cf. 253-255). Indeed, the humans of the Golden Age differ from the gods only in their mortality. Then, by the will of Zeus, they acquire immortal status in the form of daimones " guardians ".
TheIliad offers, with the daimōn, the image of divine power in action, while theOdyssey also attests to the potential crystallization of divine agents sent by the gods. Compared to these works, Works and Days offers no plot, but a lesson in justice and an exhortation to work, both of which place Zeus in a dominant position : he is master of justice and provider of prosperity, and it is to his action in the world that the daimones of the Golden Age relate. From Homer to Hesiod, we see the emergence of a notion of daimōn that serves to express the subjective " felt " of a divine action, while potentially assuming the profile of an objectified entity that participates in the divinity that sends it.
