The greek myths : stories of the Greek gods and heroes vividly retold

305 Pages·2012·10.84 MB·English

by  Waterfield

THE GREEK MYTHS
THE GREEK MYTHS
STORIES OF THE GREEK GODS AND HEROES VIVIDLY
RETOLD
ROBIN WATERFIELD AND KATHRYN WATERFIELD
New York • London
© 2012 by Robin Waterfield
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ISBN 978-1-62365214-2
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For Julian, Kathy, James, and Alexis
CONTENTS
Introduction
The Ancient Greek Landscape
1 HOPE FOR HUMANKIND
The Population of the Earth
2 THE ASCENT OF THE OLYMPIAN GODS
In the Beginning
War against the Titans
War against the Giants
Zeus and His Brothers
3 THE GODS OF OLYMPUS
Zeus the King
Hera
Hestia
Demeter
Aphrodite
Ares
Hephaestus
Athena
Apollo
Artemis
Hermes
Dionysus
4 THE AGE OF HEROES
The Flood
The Line of Deucalion
The Argonauts and the Golden Fleece
The Calydonian Boar Hunt
Io and the Danaids
Perseus and the Gorgon
Bellerophon
5 THEBES IN THE AGE OF HEROES
Cadmus, Europa, and the Foundation of Thebes
Oedipus
The Seven against Thebes
6 MYCENAE IN THE AGE OF HEROES
The Curse of the House of Atreus
Atreus and Thyestes
The End of the Atreid Curse
7 ATHENS IN THE AGE OF HEROES
The First Athenian Kings
The Labors of Theseus
Theseus and the Minotaur
King Theseus
8 HERACLES
The Birth of Heracles
The Twelve Labors of Heracles
Heracles the King-Maker
Heracles Becomes a God
9 THE TROJAN WAR
The Marriage of Peleus and Thetis
The Judgment of Paris
The Abduction of Helen
The Greeks Prepare for War
The Greek Landing
Achilles Withdraws
Agamemnon’s Dream
Menelaus and Paris
Diomedes’ Day of Glory
Hector Triumphant
Envoys and Spies
The Assault on the Ships
The Deception of Zeus
The Death of Patroclus
The Return of Achilles
The Death of Hector
Two Funerals
The Death of Achilles
The Wooden Horse
The Fall of Troy
10 ODYSSEUS’ RETURN
Trouble on Ithaca
Telemachus’ Journey
Odysseus on Scheria
The Cyclops Polyphemus
Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, and Circe
The Underworld
Dangers at Sea
The Cattle of the Sun
Odysseus Reaches Ithaca
At the Swineherd’s Hut
In the Palace
Penelope Meets the Beggar
Vengeance
Reunion
11 THE END OF HOPE
Pandora
Select Bibliography
Picture References
INTRODUCTION
The book you hold in your hands contains a retelling of the traditional Greek
myths and legends. You will meet all the famous and familiar stories (and
hopefully some new ones), but you may also find some unfamiliar details.
Retelling the Greek myths is not a simple matter, above all because very few, if
any, of the myths exist in a single version. Often, in fact, there are downright
contradictions between extant versions of a tale. There is no such thing, then, as
the definitive version of any myth; in fact, the more famous a story became, the
more versions there were of it.
This variability is essential to the Greek myths. They did not exist in single,
monolithic, or “authentic” versions. Consider the work of the great tragedians of
Athens in the fifth century BCE—Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. They
took the traditional tales and tweaked them for their own reasons—often to make
a political or ethical point relevant to their immediate audience. As long as the
heart of the story remained unchanged, or was intact in the background, writers
were free to add and subtract as they chose.
This is how the stories retain their vitality. By the same token, Ovid’s often
fanciful retellings in the early years of the first century CE; or Ariosto’s
adaptation of the Perseus myth in Orlando furioso (early sixteenth century); or
the 1967 Star Trek episode “Who Mourns for Adonis”; or Wolfgang Petersen’s
2004 movie Troy; or Rick Riordan’s series of Percy Jackson books for children;
or the thousands of other examples that could be given—all serve to perpetuate
in their own ways and for their own purposes the vitality of the ancient Greek
tales of war and adventure, magic and miracles, love, jealousy, murder, rape, and
revenge.
The ancient Greeks loved stories—so much that they illustrated their walls,
temples, high-end tableware, ceremonial armor, and even their furniture with
artwork that was intended to tell tales. But for them the stories served additional
purposes, over and above entertainment. When they told the myths to their
children, they expected them to be educational as well as exciting: to teach about
children, they expected them to be educational as well as exciting: to teach about
the nature of the gods and goddesses, and about their awesome powers; to
illustrate right behavior for mortal men; to see that, though the gods are
relatively omnipotent, and Fate is unavoidable, it is still a mortal’s willful
activity that brings disaster down on his or her head. Other myths served more
straightforwardly to give emotional power to the foundation of a community, to
make a religious ritual more meaningful, or to speculate about the origin of the
universe.
No myths endure unless they give a community an underlying layer of
meaningfulness. Nevertheless, the ancient Greek myths and legends have proved
to have the astonishing ability to transcend their origins, the particular cultural
contexts in which they arose, and be relevant within our societies today, as if
they tapped into some deep layer of the human mind. For us, it has been a
pleasure and a privilege to enter the stream of classical myth, to allow it to flow
through us and, we hope, to excite and engage further generations of readers.
ROBIN AND KATHRYN WATERFIELD