The Theogony was authored by which poet?

• A. Hesiod
• B. Homer
• C. Virgil
• D. Ovid

Answer: (A)

Authorship of classic myths is tied to a specific ancient poet, and this work is attributed to Hesiod, an early Greek poet known for didactic poetry. The Theogony lays out the origins and genealogy of the gods, from Chaos to Gaia to Uranus, the Titans, and finally Zeus, and it’s generally accepted as Hesiod’s most famous mythological production alongside Works and Days. Hesiod’s voice and method—explaining the world and divine order in a straightforward, instructional style—fit Theogony precisely.

Homer, by contrast, is famed for the epic adventures of The Iliad and The Odyssey, centered on human heroes and the Trojan War rather than the cosmos’s origins. Virgil wrote the Aeneid in Latin, a Roman epic about Aeneas, while Ovid wrote Metamorphoses and other works in Latin. Their topics, languages, and periods don’t align with Theogony, making Hesiod the correct author.