Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Hesiod closes *Works and Days* with a calendar of the month’s days, which he says come from Zeus. He marks which days are sacred, lucky for certain works, or harsh. The thirteenth of the waxing month is bad for sowing but good for setting plants; the sixth is harsh for plants and bad for a boy’s birth but kindly for a girl; the fifth is dread because of Erinyes attending Horcus (Oath), whom Eris bore as a bane to perjurers. The seventh is holy as Apollo’s birthday; the eighth and ninth of the waxing month are excellent for mortal works; the eleventh and twelfth are good for shearing and for reaping; the mid-month twentieth and kindred days get further advice for marriage, ship-timber, and wine jars. Hesiod insists one must praise the days that come from Zeus and tell servants which is which; few know that a day can be a stepmother or a mother. The section embeds divine agents—Zeus as source of the days, Apollo’s seventh, the Erinyes and Horcus on the fifth—inside practical counsel. Catalogue it as the Hesiodic sacred-days theology, distinct from the Ages myth, the Justice city, and the seafaring star-calendar.