本书主要关注的是柏拉图的诸多对话与赫西俄德的相互关系，我们的目标不仅仅是为了研究柏拉图哲学中的某些核心思想，同时也是为了促进我们去理解，在这些核心思想成型的古风时代与对其发微的希腊化时代之间，人们对赫西俄德作品的接受。
本书通过研究柏拉图作品中涉及赫西俄德的地方，帮助读者在柏拉图与古希腊诗歌传统的关系上开拓视野。尽管荷马在智术师们的教学法中占有主导地位，但是，赫西俄德则是作为柏拉图教学传统之滥觞中的一个更为明显的部分，因而，我们在阅读柏拉图的作品时一定要参考赫西俄德的诗作。

It hardly needs repeating that Plato defined philosophy partly by contrast with the work of the poets. What is extraordinary is how little systematic exploration there has been of his relationship with specific poets other than Homer. This neglect extends even to Hesiod, though Hesiod is of central importance for the didactic tradition quite generally, and is a major source of imagery at crucial moments of Plato's thought. This volume, which presents fifteen articles by specialists on the area, will be the first ever book-length study dedicated to the subject. It covers a wide variety of thematic angles, brings new and sometimes surprising light to a large range of Platonic dialogues, and represents a major contribution to the study of the reception of archaic poetry in Athens.