The Megalai Ehoiai (Ancient Greek: Μεγάλαι Ἠοῖαι, Ancient: [meɡálai ɛːhói.ai]), or Great Ehoiai,^[1] is a fragmentary Greek epic poem that was popularly, though not universally, attributed to Hesiod during antiquity.^[2] Like the more widely read Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, the Megalai Ehoiai was a genealogical poem structured around the exposition of heroic family trees among which myths concerning many of their members were narrated.^[3] At least seventeen fragments of the poem are transmitted by quotations in other ancient authors and two second-century CE papyri,^[4] but given the similarities between the Megalai Ehoiai and Catalogue of Women it is possible that some fragments attributed to the Catalogue actually derive from the less popular Hesiodic work.^[5] Indeed, most of the scholarly attention devoted to the poem has been concerned with its relation to the Catalogue and whether or not the title "Megalai Ehoiai" in fact referred to a single, independent epic.

Select editions and translations

Critical editions

• Rzach, A. (1908), Hesiodi Carmina (2nd rev. ed.), Leipzig((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
• Merkelbach, R.; West, M.L. (1967), Fragmenta Hesiodea, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-814171-8((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
• Merkelbach, R.; West, M.L. (1990), "Fragmenta selecta", in F. Solmsen (ed.), Hesiodi Theogonia, Opera et Dies, Scutum (3rd rev. ed.), Oxford, ISBN 0-19-814071-1((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
• Hirschberger, M. (2004), Gynaikōn Katalogos und Megalai Ēhoiai: Ein Kommentar zu den Fragmenten zweier hesiodeischer Epen, Munich & Leipzig, ISBN 3-598-77810-4((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).

Translations

• Evelyn-White, H.G. (1936), Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, Loeb Classical Library, vol. no. 57 (3rd rev. ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts, ISBN 978-0-674-99063-0((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). (The link is to the 1st edition of 1914.) English translation with facing Greek text of all the fragments in Merkelbach & West (1967) except for frr. 251(a) and 259(a).
• Most, G.W. (2006), Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Loeb Classical Library, vol. no. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, ISBN 978-0-674-99622-9((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
• Most, G.W. (2007), Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue, Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library, vol. no. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, ISBN 978-0-674-99623-6((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).