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Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans

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Classical Mythology offers both newcomers and long-time enthusiasts new ways to navigate the world of Greek and Roman myths and legends, beginning by explaining what classical mythology is, how it came into being, and how we know about it today. Although classical myths and legends are often encountered separately, they actually make up a coherent, self-contained system—a corpus of narratives with geography, history, and interrelationships as well as narrative rules and conventions. The present book explores the individual stories and the cosmic realms in which they are situated, and introduces the principal characters—gods, nymphs, satyrs, centaurs, monsters, and humans—along with their relationships to one another: how they are similar, how they differ, and why deities and humans need each other. It describes the physical worlds in which the mythic action takes place:
terrestrial landscapes and waters, the lofty abode of the Olympian gods, the lowly realm of the dead, and Tartaros, cosmic prison for defeated supernatural beings.

The main part of the book gives a detailed narration of the principal events of classical mythology in chronological sequence from the beginning of the cosmos to the end of the heroic age, showing the relationship of individual narratives to the whole. This chronological narration is complemented by a mythological dictionary of the most important characters and themes. In addition, the dictionary discusses key concepts that are crucial for understanding how classical mythology functions.

Richly illustrated with more than one hundred images drawn from ancient art, the second edition of this unparalleled guide includes a thoroughly revised introduction, augmented lexical entries, an updated further-reading section, and enlarged discussions about the reception of classical mythology and the impact of cognitive science on the study of myth.

Whether you wish only to explore the narratives or do research on a specific aspect of the whole, this handbook is the best available guide to an extraordinary cast of characters, to the fascinating world in which they play out their fates, and to current work on classical mythology.

ISBN-13: 9780197506646

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Publication Date: 07-01-2020

Pages: 432

Product Dimensions: 9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.20(d)

William Hansen is Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies & Folklore at Indiana University, Bloomington. Along with the present work, his books include Phlegon of Tralles' Book of Marvels (1996), Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature (1998), Ariadne's Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature (2002), and The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths (2017).

Table of Contents

Picture Credits xiii

Preface to the Second Edition xv

Preface to the First Edition xvii

1 Introduction 1

Basic Concepts 2

How Classical Mythology Came into Being 6

A Mix of Traditions 6

The Archaic Period 7

The Classical Period 8

The Hellenistic and Imperial Periods 10

Interpretatio Romano 11

After Antiquity 13

How Do We Know about Classical Mythology Today? 13

The Mythological World: Places 15

Earth 16

Sky 20

Death Realm 22

Tartaros 25

Physical Cosmos versus Biological Cosmos 25

The Mythological World: Characters 27

The Principal Gods 27

The Nature of Gods and Humans 32

Nature Spirits 40

The Relationship of Gods and Humans 42

Peculiarities of Mythological Narrative 46

The Pervasiveness of the Divine 46

Personification and Reification 47

Binatural Beings versus Composite Beings 49

Reversible and Irreversible Changes 50

2 What Happens in Classical Mythology 52

Divine Time and Human Time 52

What Happens in Classical Mythology 54

From Chaos to Cosmos 55

Two Cosmic Families 55

The Cosmic House 57

The Succession of World Rulers 57

The First Humans 60

The Division of Meat 61

The Theft of Fire 62

The Loss of Paradise 62

The Great Deluge 64

The Origin of Nations 64

The Establishment of Divine Cults 65

The Mating of Gods and Humans 68

The Heroic Age 70

A Family of the Heroic Age: The Pelopids 70

Antecedents to the Trojan War 73

The Trojan War 76

The Returns 81

The End of the Heroic Age 83

What Does Classical Mythology Say? 84

The Nature of the Physical World 84

The Nature of the Gods 84

The Nature of Humans 85

The Heroes, or Demigods 86

Behavior Options 86

3 Lexicon Of Characters, Themes, and Concepts 88

Absent Deity 88

Adamant 89

Aeolus (Greek Aiolos) 89

Aetiology (also Etiology) 90

Aineias (Latinized Form Aeneas) 92

Aloads (Greek Aloadai or Aloeidai) 94

Ambrosia 95

Anthropogony (Greek Anthropogonia) 96

Aphrodite (Roman Venus) 99

Apollon (Latinized Form Apollo) 103

Ares (Roman Mars) 107

Argonauts (Greek Argonautai) 110

Artemis (Roman Diana) 112

Asklepios (Latinized Form Aesculapius) 115

Athena (also Athene and Athenaia) (Roman Minerva) 117

Atlas 121

Attribute 123

Bellerophon (also Belletophontes) 126

Biographical Pattern 128

Catasterism (Greek Katasterismos) 129

Centaurs and Hippocentanrs (Greek Kentauroi and Hippokentauroi) 131

Charon 136

Combat Myth and Legend 137

Cosmogony (Greek Kosmogonia) 138

Culture Hero 141

Cyclopes (Greek Kyklopes) 143

Demeter (Roman Ceres) 144

Dionysos (Roman Bacchus and Liber Pater) 148

Divine Guilds 151

Divine Prerogative (Greek Time) 161

Eileithyia (Latinized Form Ilithyia) 163

Eiysion Field (Latinized Form Elysium) and Isles of the Blessed 163

Epithet 165

Eponymy 166

Erebos (Larinized Form Erebus) 167

Fabulous Peoples and Places 169

Flood Myth and Flood Legend 175

Folk Etymology 178

Genealogy 178

Giants (Greek Gigantes) 182

Hades (also Aidoneus) (Roman Dis and Orcus) 184

Hephaistos (Roman Vulcan) 188

Hera (Roman Juno) 191

Herakles (Latinized Form Hercules) 195

Hermes (Roman Mercury) 202

Hero (Greek Heros) 205

Hestia (also Histia) (Roman Vesta) 207

Hubris 208

Hunters 211

Ichor 215

Iris 216

Jason (Greek Iason) 217

Kadmos (Latinized Form Cadmus) 219

Ker(or Keres) 220

Kouretes (Latinized Form Curetes) 221

Kronos (Roman Saturn) 222

Labyrinth (Greek Labyrinthos) 223

Luminaries 224

Maenads (Greek Mainades) 229

Meleager (Greek Meleagros) 231

Midas 232

Monsters 233

Mountains 240

Myth of the Ages 242

Nectar (Greek Nektar) 244

Nymphs (Greek Nymphai) 245

Odysseus (Latinized Form Ulixes) 250

Oedipus (Greek Oidipous) 254

Olympians (Greek Olympioi) 256

Oracles 257

Orpheus 259

Pan (Roman Faunus) 261

Pandora 264

Persephone (Latinized Form Proserpina; also Kore) 265

Perseus 268

Personified Abstractions 271

Poseidon (Roman Neptune) 273

Promotion and Demotion 277

Romantic Narratives 283

Satyrs (Greek Satyroi) and Silens (Greek Silenoi) 286

Seers 289

Sex-Changers 291

Sexual Narratives 294

Special Rules and Properties 299

Succession Myth 301

Tartaros (Latinized Form Tartarus) 303

Tasks 304

Theban Wars 306

Theseus 308

Titans (Greek Titanes) 311

Transformation 312

Translation 314

Triads 316

Trickster 319

Trojan War 324

Waters 325

Winds 331

Wondrous Animals 333

Wondrous Objects 336

Zeus (Roman Jupiter, also Jove) 340

4 Annotated Resources 346

Ancient Written Sources 346

Ancient Visual Sources 350

Reference Works 352

Studies on Particular Subjects 353

The Reception of Classical Mythology 356

Notes 359

Glossary 367

Selected Reference List 373

Index 381