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The Library of Greek Mythology PDF

340 Pages·1998·37.655 MB·English
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OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS Apollodorus The Library of Greek Mythology A newtranslation bvRobin Hard Library Boston Piilillc OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS THE LIBRARY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Apollodorus is the name traditionally ascribed to the author of theLibrary. AlthoughhewasformerlyidentifiedasApollodorusof Athens, a distinguished Alexandrian scholar ofthe second century bc,itisnowrecognizedthattheLibrarymusthavebeenwrittenata laterperiod,probablythefirstorsecondcenturyad.Itisnotknown whether Apollodorus was the author's true name; in any case we know nothing about him. Essentially an editor rather than an original writer, he compiled this briefbut comprehensive guide to Greek mythology by selecting and summarizing material from the worksofearlierwriters. Based inthemainongoodearlysources,it isaninvaluablereferencework. RobinHardstudied GreekatAberystwythandReading,writinga doctoral thesis on Plato's Symposium, and is currently combining writing and translating with the part-time teaching of ancient philosophyandGreek. OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS ForalmostiooyearsOxfordWorld'sClassicshavebrought readersclosertotheworld'sgreatliterature.Nowwithoverjoo — titles fromthe4,000-year-oldm—ythsofMesopotamiatothe twentiethcentury'sgreatestnovels theseriesmakesavailable lesser-knownaswellascelebratedwriting. Thepocket-sizedhardbacksoftheearlyyearscontained introductionsby Virginia Woolf T.S. Eliot, GrahamGreene, andotherliteraryfigureswhichenrichedtheexperienceofreading. Todaytheseriesisrecognizedforitsfinescholarshipand reliabilityintextsthatspanworldliterature,dramaandpoetry, religion,philosophyandpolitics.Eacheditionincludesperceptive commentaryandessentialbackgroundinformationtomeetthe changingneedsofreaders. OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS APOLLODORUS The Library of Greek Mythology TranslatedwithanIntroduction andNotesby ROBIN HARD Oxford NewYork OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS _ OxfordUniversityPress, GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford0x26dp Oxford Nem York ttkem Auckland Bangkok Bogota BuenosAires Calcutta Cape Town Chcnnai baresSalaam Delhi Florence HongKong Istanbul Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Mumbai Nairobi Pans SaoPaulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw andassociatedcompaniesin Berlin Ibadan OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress ©RobinHardigqj Firstpublishedasa World'sClassicspaperbackiggj ReissuedasanOxfordWorld'sClassicspaperbackiggS Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress. WithintheUK,exceptionsareallowedinrespectofanyfairdealingforthe purposeofresearchorprivatestudy,orcriticismorreview,aspermitted undertheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct, iqHH,orinthecaseof reprographicreproductioninaccordancewiththetermsofthelicences issuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency.Enquiriesconcerning reproductionoutsidethesetermsandinothercountriesshouldbe senttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress, attheaddressabove Thisbookissoldsubjecttotheconditionthatitshallnot,byway oftradeorotherwise,belent,re-sold,hiredoutorotherwisecirculated withoutthepublisher'spriorconsentinanyformofbindingorcover otherthanthatinwhichitispublishedandwithoutasimilarcondition includingthisconditionbeingimposedonthesubsequentpurchaser BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Apollodorus. [Bibliotheea.English] ThelibraryofGreekmythology/Apollodorus;translatedbyRobinHard. (Oxfordworld'sclassics) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes. 1.Mythology, Greek. I.Hard,Robin. II. Title. III.Series. PA38JO.A73 iggj 2g.i't—dc20 gb-34135 ISBN0-1^28^24-1(pbk.) 1 3 579 10 8642 PrintedinGreatBritainby Cox(5W'yman,Reading,Berkshire CONTENTS Introduction vii Note on the Text and Translation xxviii Select Bibliography xxxi THE LIBRARY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY i Contents 3 Genealogical Tables 9 Map 10 The Library 27 Appendix: Some Interpolations and an Unreliable Passagefrom the Epitome 171 Explanatory Notes 177 The Twelve Gods 262 References to Animals and Transformations 267 Index ofNames 271 BR BR PA3870 .A73 1998x INTRODUCTION The LibraryofApollodorusisaconcisebutcomprehensiveguide to Greek mythology. It covers the full span ofmythical history from the origins ofthe universe and the gods to the Trojan War and its aftermath, and between these limits it tells the story of each ofthe great families ofheroic mythology, and ofthe vari- ous adventures associated with the main heroes and heroines. This is the only work of its kind to survive from classical antiquity. Although the Greeks developed an extensive and var- ied mythographical literature in Hellenistic and Roman times, the few handbooks which have been preserved are mostly spe- cialist anthologies, recording myths of the constellations, for instance, or tales oftransformation, and manyofthe storiescon- tained inthemarerelativelyobscureandoflateorigin. Theauthor ofthe Library, by contrast, wanted to provide his readers with a general handbook which would offer them an account ofthe most important myths as related in the earlier tradition (with only the occasional late or recondite variant). Otherwise we pos- sessonlytwoworkswhichareatallcomparable. ThereisaLatin compendium, the Myths (Fabulae) ofHyginus, probably dating to the second century ad, which was based on a Greek pre- decessor, but conveys its contents in a very imperfect form; it presents summaries of myths and various catalogues in many separate chapters. Although it is a valuable source for myths or versions ofmyths which would otherwise have been lost, it is disorganized and sadly unreliable, and has to be approached with caution. Secondly, when Diodorus ofSicily was compiling his historical compendium in the first century bc, he departed from the more austere practices of many fellow historians and included a section on the mythical history (or pre-history) of Greece. Although it contains a useful biography ofHeracles and other interesting material, Diodorus' account ofGreek myth is not nearly as complete as that in the Library, and much ofit is based on inferior Hellenistic sources. It may seem surprising that this unpretentious handbook should have survived when the most important works of the vii Introduction ancient mythographers have been lost. Fortune, ofcourse, plays a large part in such matters; all surviving manuscripts of the Library derive from a single archetype. But ifit is unpretentious to a fault, the Library encloses a mass ofreliable information in a short space, and it is clear that the scholars oflater antiquity found it exceptionally useful for that reason. It is often cited in the scholia (explanatory comments on the works of the clas- sical authors) and similar sources, and in the twelfth century the Byzantine scholarJohn Tzetzes made extensive use ofit. This suggests that the preservation of this particular handbook was not simply a freak offortune, and that the writers ofthis later period thoughtthatithad itsvirtues, atleastfromapurelyprac- tical point of view. As it happens, we know directly what one of the finest Byzantine scholars thought of the Library, for Photius, patriarch ofConstantinople in the ninth century, reg- istered his opinion in a briefreview. While travelling abroad on a diplomatic mission, Photius kept a record of his reading for his brother, and in this record, after summarizing the contents ofanother mythical work, he noted: In the same volume, I read a small work by the scholar Apollodorus; it is entitled the Library. It contained the most ancient stories ofthe Greeks:allthattimehasgiventhemtobelieveaboutthegodsandheroes, and about the rivers, and lands, and peoples, and towns, and thence everythingthat goes back to theearliesttimes. And it goes downas far as the Trojan War, and covers the battles that certain of the heroes fought with one another, and their exploits, and certain of the wan- derings ofthe heroes returning from Troy, notably those ofOdysseus, with whom this history ofancient times concludes. All in all, it is a general summary which is by no means lacking in usefulness to those who attach some value to the memory ofthe ancient stories. Ifthe Library had been lost, like so many ofthe works reviewed by Photius, we might feel some regret on reading these words; asitis,wecanrefertotheoriginalandjudgeforourselveswhether forthemodern readertooitfulfils theclaims thatPhotiusmakes for it. These claims are by no means extravagant. It is indeed a useful synopsis of the mythical history of Greece; and, it may be added, it is based for the most part on good early sources, and theauthorwascontenttosummarizethemashefound them

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