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Why do scholars doubt that the ending of Works and Days was written by Hesiod?
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Hesiod
Hesiod, detail of a mosaic by Monnus, 3rd century; in the Rhenish State Museum, Trier, Germany.
Scholars doubt that the final sections of Works and Days were written by Hesiod because of their content and nature. The poem concludes with a series of primitive taboos and superstitions, followed by a calendar-based guide detailing which days of the month are considered auspicious for specific agricultural tasksāsuch as sowing, threshing, and shearingāas well as for the begetting of children.12
Due to the stylistic and thematic departure from the rest of the work, it is considered difficult to believe that these specific sections were composed by the poet himself.12