The book of Greek & Roman folktales, legends, & myths

580 Pages·2017·5.171 MB·English

by  Fawkes, Glynnis;Hansen, William F

THE BOOK OF
GREEK & ROMAN
FOLKTALES,
LEGENDS,
& MYTHS

THE BOOK OF
GREEK & ROMAN
FOLKTALES,
LEGENDS,
& MY THS
Edited, translated,
and introduced by
William Hansen
With illustrations by
Glynnis Fawkes
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2017 by William Hansen
Illustrations © 2017 by Glynnis Fawkes
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work
should be sent to Permissions, Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR
press.princeton.edu
Jacket illustration by Glynnis Fawkes
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hansen, William F., 1941– editor, translator.
Title: The book of Greek and Roman folktales, legends, and
myths / edited, translated, and introduced by William Hansen;
with illustrations by Glynnis Fawkes.
Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016019001 | ISBN 9780691170152
(hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Mythology, Greek. | Mythology, Roman.
Classification: LCC BL312 .B66 2017 | DDC 398.20938—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019001
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Garamond Premier Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
for Jude, Julene, and Jim

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations and Tables xxiii
Preface xxv
Abbreviations xxvii
Introduction 1
The Kinds of Ancient Story 7
The Present Book 37
Chapter 1
Kings and Princesses 47
1. Cupid and Psyche ..........................................47
2. The Treasury of Rhampsinitos ............................... 83
3. The Pharaoh and the Courtesan .............................86
Chapter 2
Gods and Ghosts 88
Divine Epiphanies 88
4. The Muses Appear to Hesiod ................................88
5. The Muses Appear to Archilochos ...........................89
6. Thamyris Competes against the Muses .......................90
7. Stesichoros’s Palinode ....................................... 91
8. Asklepios Heals Pandaros ...................................92
9. Asklepios Reveals Secrets of the Gods ........................93
10. Athena Saves the Lindians ...................................97
viii Contents
11. The Altar of the Vulture God ................................98
12. A Fortune in Water .........................................99
13. The Rescue of Simonides ...................................100
Lower Mythology 101
14. Narcissus ................................................. 101
15. Rhoikos and the Nymph ................................... 103
16. “The Great God Pan Is Dead!” ..............................104
17. Bogies .................................................... 105
Shape- Changers 108
18. The Werewolf .............................................108
19. The Empousa ............................................. 110
Ghosts 112
20. Philinnion ................................................ 113
21. The Last Princess at Troy ................................... 117
22. The Grateful Dead Man .................................... 118
23. Murder at the Inn ......................................... 119
24. Letter from the Middle of the Earth .........................120
25. The Haunted House ....................................... 121
26. The Haunted Baths ........................................ 123
27. The Haunted Battlefield ...................................124
28. The Hero of Temesa ....................................... 125
29. Periander’s Wife ...........................................127
Early Wonder- Workers 128
30. Abaris the Hyperborean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
31. Aristeas of Prokonnesos ....................................129
32. Hermotimos of Klazomenai ................................ 131
33. Epimenides of Crete ....................................... 132
34. Pherekydes of Syros ........................................ 133
35. Pythagoras ................................................134
Contents ix
Transmigration of Souls 135
36. Pythagoras Remembers an Earlier Life ...................... 135
37. Pythagoras Discerns a Friend’s Soul in a Dog ................. 136
38. Empedokles Recalls His Earlier Lives ........................ 137
39. The Woman Who Remembers Too Much ................... 137
Magicians and Witches 138
40. Pases the Magician ........................................ 138
41. Attack by Star- Stroke ...................................... 139
42. A Woman Dies from Spells .................................140
43. The Soul- Drawing Wand ...................................140
44. Apollonios Cures a Plague .................................141
45. The Magician’s Apprentice .................................143
46. Evil Landladies ............................................144
Divination and Seers 145
47. The Language of Birds .....................................145
48. The Acquisition of the Sibylline Oracles .....................146
49. What the Sibyl Wants ......................................148
50. Bacchus Forsakes Antony ..................................148
51. Cato Explains a Portent ....................................149
52. Cato on Soothsayers ....................................... 150
Fate 150
53. Polykrates’s Ring .......................................... 150
54. “Zeus, Why Me?” ......................................... 152
55. The Last Days of Mykerinos ................................ 152
56. Kleonymos’s Near- Death Experience .........................153
57. Eurynoos’s Near- Death Experience ...........................155
58. Curma’s Near- Death Experience .............................155
Jews, Christians, and Pagans 156
59. The Origin of the Septuagint ............................... 156