Mythology (Fandex Family Field Guides)

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MYTHOLOGY

Bringing the world of Mythology to your fingertips, Fandex presents a field guide to the legendary figures of ancient Greece and Rome. Which 12 gods and goddesses ruled from Mount Olympus'? Who are the Fates, the Graces, the Muses? How did Theseus slay the monstrous Minotaur and escape from its labyrinth? What was the one thing to remain inside Pandora's vase? Each entry is illustrated with a rich selection of images drawn from statuary, painting, pottery, frescoes and mosaics, and includes the subject's lineage, personality and symbol.

- 50 individually die-cute cards

- Full color throughout

- Knowledge at your fingertips

- For the whole family

Editorial Reviews

Children's Literature

Achilles mother dipped him into the River Styx, hoping to make him immortal, but he was vulnerable at the ankle where she held him. Ares, also known as Mars, arrived in battle in a chariot driven by four horses named Terror, Fire, Flame, and Trouble. He was detested by other gods and feared by mortals. In contrast, Hestia was cherished for her sweet temper and the fact that she tended the home fires. Eros, also called Cupid, enjoyed playing pranks, making people fall in love with inappropriate choices, proving that love is indeed blind. Cycnus, Phaethon's friend, mourns his death to this day in the sad lament of the swans. In the touching tale of Daedalus and Icarus children are reminded to obey their parents. These are but a few of the fifty myths included in this fascinating collection which is written as a field guide on individual die-cut cards. Educators and students will delight in the unique format of knowledge at their fingertips. Both sides of the cards contain text that is illustrated richly with images of mosaics, frescoes, pottery, reliefs, paintings, and statues, making this a source difficult to resist.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780761112075
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date: 10/1/1998
Pages: 50
Sales rank: 255,141
Age range: 10 - 14 Years
Lexile: IG1100L (what's this?)
Series: Fandex Family Field Guides
Product dimensions: 4.15 (w) x 10.68 (h) x 0.84 (d)

Meet the Author

Kathryn and Ross Petras, are great curators of quotes and the authors of several books, including The Stupidest Things Ever Said Book of All-Time Stupidest Top Ten Lists; Dance First, Think Later; Don’t Forget to Sing in the Lifeboats, The Lexicon of Stupidity, and Age Doesn’t Matter Unless You’re a Cheese. The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said calendar has over 3 million copies in print.

Ross and Kathryn Petras, brother and sister, are the authors of Age Doesn’t Matter Unless You’re a Cheese (with 160,000 copies in print); The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said and The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said calendar (over 3 million copies in print); and the Fabulous Broads calendar. Ross Petras lives with his family in New Jersey, Kathryn Petras with her husband in Manhattan.

Read an Excerpt

Apollo

- God of light and purity, music, poetry, prophesy

- One of the twelve Olympians

- Patron to Healers, archers, musicians

To many Greeks, Apollo the Bright One, the Lord of the Silver Bow, was the most admirable of the gods. Apollo personified knowledge, beauty, and perfection. He was perpetually young, perpetually handsome, and wise without being dull. He advised humans to be moderate in all things, even though he himself sometimes got carried away in passionate love affairs. In fact, once his twin sister, Artemis, confronted him about this: "You're always talking about moderation," she said, "yet you're always falling passionately in love."

With a laugh, Apollo replied: "I teach moderation in all things - including moderation."

Apollo had many homes, but many say he loved Delos and Delphi best. Delos is a desolate, rocky sea-swept island in the middle of the Aegean Sea, and it was here that Apollo was born, fed on nectar and ambrosia by his mother, Leto. When he was only four days old, he traveled to Delphi on the Greek mainland and there killed a terrible snake called Python with his bow and arrow. Afterwards, he decided to take over a future-telling oracle there (some say he stole it from Grandmother Earth).

Apollo's oracle was located in a spectacular setting in rocky Delphi. Almost two thousand feet up in the mountains, between two high crags reaching even higher, there is a deep crack in the rock which the Greeks thought was the very center, the navel, of the earth, Here Apollo selected a priestess, call the Pythia, and predicted the future only through her. The Pythia sat on a tripod over the fissure in the rock. Hearing a question, she would wait in a strange trance before answering, Her responses to Apollo's questions would usually be in the form of riddles, but there was the wisdom of Apollo in them and many people clamored to ask questions of the Pythia.

Apollo was also famous for his love of music. He enjoyed competing against humans in musical contests, pitting his lyre against another's flute, although here he didn't behave very moderately. He whipped one competing flute player to death, and he cursed King Midas by giving him donkey ears simply for judging another's musical skill superior to his own.

The god of light was easy to admire, but sometimes difficult to be near.

Personality: wise, cheerful, sometimes jealous

Children: Asclepius, the god of healing; Aristaios, the inventor of beekeeping; Linnus; Eleuther, Ion, and Philemon

Parents: Zeus and Leto

Symbols: mouse, sun disk, lyre, laurel

(From Aphrodite/Venus)

—Goddess of Love and Beauty

—One of the Twelve Olympian Gods of the Pantheon

—Patroness of Lovers, Beauty, Sometimes of Marriage; Sailors; Considered a War Goddess by the Spartans

Said to have sprung from the foam of the sea near the Greek island of Cythera, the goddess of love and beauty was given the name Aphrodite-the foam-risen. Flowers bloomed where she walked; singing birds circled above her. Hephaestus, the lame god of the forge and the only ugly god on Mount Olympus, won her hand.

But he did not win her heart. Aphrodite fell passionately in love with Ares, the dashing god of war, and publicly flaunted her affection. She also had affairs with a number of mortals-and bore many children, including Eros (Cupid), the archer of love. Yet between her passionate affairs, she always returned to the forgiving Hephaestus.

Naturally, the goddess of love helped others in love. It was Aphrodite who turned the statue of Galatea into a living woman for Pygmalion and helped Hippomene win the fair Atalanta.

It was also Aphrodite who led Paris to Helen. When Hera and Athena challenged her status as the most beautiful goddess, Zeus sent all three of them to Paris, the prince of Troy, who would settle the issue once and for all.

"If you choose me," said Hera when they confronted the prince on Mount Ida, "I will make you Lord of Europe and Asia."

"I will have you lead your Trojans to victory in war against Greeks," said Athena, "and you will see Greece in smoking ruins."

Aphrodite just smiled and pulled Paris aside. "I cannot offer you power or great victories," she whispered in his ear. "But I will promise you something far greater-a woman as beautiful as myself."

And so Paris chose Aphrodite and was rewarded with Helen, whom he abducted from the Greeks. So began the Trojan War, when the Greeks tried to get her back. And so, ultimately, fell the great city of Troy.

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donsdaughter

Posted March 16, 2009

great for going deeper

my daughter is very into the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan and it opened up the world of the greek mythology to her. The fandex has been a great tool for her and is entertaining too! The artwork from museums worldwide is colorful and gives a glimpse of how artists interpret stories in a visual manner. Lightweight and easy to use - ours is very dog-earred now after 3 years of use.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Mythology (Fandex Family Field Guides)

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great for going deeper