The book of Greek & Roman folktales, legends, & myths
William F. Hansen (Editor, Translator), Glynnis Fawkes (Illustrator)
The first anthology ever to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories-from myths and fairy tales to jokesCaptured centaurs and satyrs, talking animals, people who suddenly change sex, men who give birth, the temporarily insane and the permanently thick-witted, delicate sensualists, incompetent seers, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh-these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology-from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable translations, this is the first book to offer a representative selection of the entire range of traditional classical storytelling.Set mostly in the world of humans, not gods, these stories focus on figures such as lovers, tricksters, philosophers, merchants, rulers, athletes, artists, and soldiers. The narratives range from the well-known-for example, Cupid and Psyche, Diogenes and his lantern, and the tortoise and the hare-to lesser-known tales that deserve wider attention. Entertaining and fascinating, they offer a unique window into the fantasies, anxieties, humor, and passions of the people who told them.Complete with beautiful illustrations by Glynnis Fawkes, a comprehensive introduction, notes, and more, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore
eBook, English, 2017
Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2017
1 online resource (405 pages) : illustrations (some color), tables
9781400884674, 1400884675
1004356086
Print version:
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
The Kinds of Ancient Story
The Present Book
Chapter 1: Kings and Princesses
1. Cupid and Psyche
2. The Treasury of Rhampsinitos
3. The Pharaoh and the Courtesan
Chapter 2: Gods and Ghosts
Divine Epiphanies
4. The Muses Appear to Hesiod
5. The Muses Appear to Archilochos
6. Thamyris Competes against the Muses
7. Stesichoros's Palinode
8. Asklepios Heals Pandaros
9. Asklepios Reveals Secrets of the Gods
10. Athena Saves the Lindians
11. The Altar of the Vulture God
12. A Fortune in Water
13. The Rescue of Simonides
Lower Mythology
14. Narcissus
15. Rhoikos and the Nymph
16. "The Great God Pan Is Dead!"
17. Bogies
Shape-Changers
18. The Werewolf
19. The Empousa
Ghosts
20. Philinnion
21. The Last Princess at Troy
22. The Grateful Dead Man
23. Murder at the Inn
24. Letter from the Middle of the Earth
25. The Haunted House
26. The Haunted Baths
27. The Haunted Battlefield
28. The Hero of Temesa
29. Periander's Wife
Early Wonder-Workers
30. Abaris the Hyperborean
31. Aristeas of Prokonnesos
32. Hermotimos of Klazomenai
33. Epimenides of Crete
34. Pherekydes of Syros
35. Pythagoras
Transmigration of Souls
36. Pythagoras Remembers an Earlier Life
37. Pythagoras Discerns a Friend's Soul in a Dog
38. Empedokles Recalls His Earlier Lives
39. The Woman Who Remembers Too Much
Magicians and Witches
40. Pases the Magician
41. Attack by Star-Stroke
42. A Woman Dies from Spells
43. The Soul-Drawing Wand
44. Apollonios Cures a Plague
45. The Magician's Apprentice
46. Evil Landladies
Divination and Seers
47. The Language of Birds. 48. The Acquisition of the Sibylline Oracles
49. What the Sibyl Wants
50. Bacchus Forsakes Antony
51. Cato Explains a Portent
52. Cato on Soothsayers
Fate
53. Polykrates's Ring
54. "Zeus, Why Me?"
55. The Last Days of Mykerinos
56. Kleonymos's Near-Death Experience
57. Eurynoos's Near-Death Experience
58. Curma's Near-Death Experience
Jews, Christians, and Pagans
59. The Origin of the Septuagint
60. Miracles of Jesus
61. Paul and Barnabas Mistaken for Pagan Gods
62. The Discovery of the True Cross
63. The Last Delphic Oracle
64. "You Have Won, Galilean!"
65. The Murder of Hypatia
Chapter 3: Legends on Various Themes
The Bizarre
66. Capture of a Satyr
67. Capture of a Centaur
68. Sightings of Mermen and Mermaids
69. The Self-Sustaining Beast
70. In Love with a Statue
71. Animal Offspring
72. The Ugly Man
73. Male Parturition
74. Sudden Change of Sex
75. Periodic Ecstasy
76. The Laughing Tirynthians
77. The Man Who Loses His Laugh
78. A Strange Tomb
79. The Lame Man and the Blind Man
Irony
80. Intaphrenes's Wife
81. A Parent's Request
82. Plato's Characters
83. The Unbreakable Glass Bowl
Animals
84. The Dolphin Rider
85. The Grateful Dolphin
86. Androkles and the Lion
87. How Ophiteia Gets Its Name
88. Xanthippos's Dog
89. The Accidental Killing of a Cat
Children
90. The Children Play King
91. The Children Play Priest
92. The Children Play War
93. A Child Steals from the Goddess
Friends
94. Damon and Phintias
95. Friends Unknown
96. Abauchas's Choice
Rulers and Tyrants
97. Plato Teaches a Tyrant about Democracy
98. The City of Forbidden Expression
99. Ismenias's Subterfuge
100. Queen for a Day
101. The Absentminded Emperor
Justice
102. Zeus's Ledger. 103. The Golden Ax
104. The Judge of the Ants
105. Tarpeia's Reward
106. The Cranes of Ibykos
107. The Murder of Mitys of Argos
108. An Eye for an Eye
109. The Trial of the Courtesan Phryne
110. The Problem of Dreamt Sex
111. The Disputed Child
112. Abusive Son of an Abusive Father
Chapter 4: Tricksters and Lovers
Trickery and Cleverness
113. Trophonios and Agamedes
114. The Dishonest Banker
115. The Joint Depositors
116. The Two Thieves
117. Aesop and the Figs
118. Never Heard Before
119. The Slaves Take Over
120. The Milesians Hold a Party
121. Saving Lampsakos
122. The Suckling Daughter
123. A Donkey's Shadow
124. The Hoax
Lovers and Seducers
125. Zeus and Hera Wrangle over Sexuality
126. The Affair of Ares and Aphrodite
127. Iphimedeia Desires Poseidon
128. Hippolytos and Phaidra
129. The Husband's Untimely Return: 1
130. The Husband's Untimely Return: 2
131. The Signal
132. The Widow of Ephesos
133. Sleeping with a God
134. The Pergamene Boy
135. Aesop and the Master's Wife
136. The King's Trusted Friend
137. Dream-Lovers
138. The Astute Physician
139. Hero and Leander
140. Xanthos, Who Longs for His Wife
141. Ariston and His Friend's Wife
142. Olympians in the Bedroom
Chapter 5: Artists and Athletes
Artists and the Arts
143. Herakles Fooled
144. Nature Fooled
145. Painter Fooled
146. The Sculptor Polykleitos
147. Models for Helen of Troy
148. Helen's Chalice
149. Archilochos: Lethal Iambics
150. Hipponax: More Lethal Iambics
151. The Cicada
152. A Singer's Compensation
153. Pindar's Sacrifice
154. Pindar's House
155. Phrynichos Fined
156. The Chorus of Aeschylus's Eumenides
157. Sophocles on Himself and Euripides
158. "I See a Weasel"
159. "Mother, I Call to You." 160. Saved by Euripides
161. How Menander Composes His Plays
162. The First Line of Plato's Republic
163. Ovid's Worst Lines
Athletes
164. The Origin of the Stadium
165. The First Marathon
166. The Origin of Nude Athletes
167. The Origin of Nude Trainers
168. Polymestor the Sprinter
169. Ageus the Long-Distance Runner
170. Milon the Wrestler
171. Eumastas the Strongman
172. Theagenes's Statue
173. Poulydamas the Pancratiast
174. Kleomedes Runs Amok
175. Astylos Angers His Hometown
176. Exainetos Pleases His Hometown
177. Glaukos the Boxer
178. The Reluctant Dueler
Chapter 6: Memorable Words, Notable Actions
Portents
179. The Infant Pindar on Mt. Helikon
180. The Infant Plato on Mt. Hymettos
181. Young Demosthenes in Court
Characterizations
182. A Statue of Homer
183. Themistokles and the Man from Seriphos
184. Aristeides the Just
185. Timon the Misanthrope
186. The Arrest of Theramenes
187. Socrates's Hardihood
188. Socrates Ponders a Problem
189. Demosthenes's Handicaps
190. "Delivery!"
191. Only Human
192. What Alexander Sleeps Upon
193. Cleopatra's Wager
194. The Lamprey Pools
195. A Principled Man
196. Nero Fiddles
197. "Where Would He Be Now?"
198. A Slave's Eye
199. The People of Akragas
Laconic Spartans
200. Too Many Words
201. A Spartan Mother
202. Discussion at Thermopylae
203. Alexander the Great Becomes a God
204. On Spartan Adultery
Delusion
205. Menekrates, Who Calls Himself Zeus
206. Menekrates-Zeus Writes to King Philip
207. Philip Hosts Menekrates
208. Hannon's Birds
209. The Woman Who Holds Up the World with Her Finger
210. The House Called Trireme
211. The Happy Shipowner
212. The Happy Playgoer
Memorable Words
213. Ars Longa, Vita Brevis. 214. Which Came First?
215. Alter Ego
216. "Give Me a Place to Stand, and I'll Move the World!"
217. Life Is Like the Olympic Games
218. "The Die Is Cast"
219. "Et tu, Brute?"
220. In Hoc Signo Vinces
Memorable Experiences
221. Toxic Honey
222. A Narrow Escape
223. The Great Fish
224. The Discovery of Archimedes's Tomb
Summing Up and Last Words
225. Counting One's Blessings
226. Socrates
227. Theophrastos's Lament
228. Vespasian's Last Words
Deaths
229. Pythagoras
230. Aeschylus
231. Euripides
232. Philemon
233. Diogenes the Cynic
234. Zenon
235. Cleopatra
236. Petronius Arbiter
237. Archimedes
Chapter 7: Sages and Philosophers
Truth and Wisdom
238. The Seven Sages and the Prize of Wisdom
239. Thales on Life and Death
240. A Question of Responsibility
241. A Problem of Identity
242. Secundus the Silent Philosopher
Converting to Philosophy
243. Plato
244. Axiothea
245. Epicurus
Benefits and Perils of Philosophy
246. Aristippos on the Philosopher's Advantage
247. Aristippos on the Benefits of Philosophy
248. Antisthenes on the Benefits of Philosophy
249. Diogenes on the Benefits of Philosophy
250. Krates on the Benefits of Philosophy
251. The Most Useful Man in Ephesos
252. Protagoras's Books Burned
253. Sinning against Philosophy
The Philosophic Life
254. Thales in the Well
255. Thales and the Olive Presses
Wealth vs. Wisdom
256. Simonides's View
257. Aristippos's View
The Cynics
258. Diogenes on Being Laughed At
259. Diogenes and the Lantern
260. The Meeting of Diogenes and Alexander
261. Alexander's Offer
262. Diogenes on Personal Attire
263. Diogenes on Temple Theft
264. Diogenes on a Public Reading
265. Diogenes Visits a Brothel
266. Diogenes on the City of Myndos