The collection and interpretation of the Hesiodic fragments in the modern era began during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, primarily with the editions of and . The earliest collections simply presented ancient quotations organized by the quoting author, and it was not until the work of , and that attempts at a proper reconstruction began. Marckscheffel was the first to recognize that the early portions of the poem treated the descendants of Deucalion in a systematic fashion, but he regarded what were called the ""Catalogue of Women"" and ""Ehoiai"" as two initially separate works that had been joined: the former was genealogically structured, while the latter, in Marckscheffel's view, simply recounted myths involving notable Thessalian and Boeotian heroines, with each introduced by the "ē' hoiē"-formula. Since the Ehoie of Alcmene was attested for book 4, Marckscheffel proposed that books 1–3 were the ""Catalogue"", and books 4 and 5 were the ""Ehoiai"".