The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths
The first anthology to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories—from myths and fairy tales to jokes

Captured centaurs and satyrs, incompetent seers, people who suddenly change sex, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh—these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology—from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable translations, this is the first book to offer a representative selection of the entire range of traditional classical storytelling. Complete with beautiful illustrations, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.

1124607463
The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths
The first anthology to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories—from myths and fairy tales to jokes

Captured centaurs and satyrs, incompetent seers, people who suddenly change sex, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh—these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology—from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable translations, this is the first book to offer a representative selection of the entire range of traditional classical storytelling. Complete with beautiful illustrations, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.

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The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths

The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths

The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths

The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths

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Overview

The first anthology to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories—from myths and fairy tales to jokes

Captured centaurs and satyrs, incompetent seers, people who suddenly change sex, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh—these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology—from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable translations, this is the first book to offer a representative selection of the entire range of traditional classical storytelling. Complete with beautiful illustrations, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691195926
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 10/29/2019
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 584
Sales rank: 451,994
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

William Hansen is professor emeritus of classical studies and folklore at Indiana University, Bloomington, and one of the world's leading authorities on classical folklore. His books include Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature.

Table of 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

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 Nymph103

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 Hyperborean128

31 Aristeas of Prokonnesos 129

32 Hermotimos of Klazomenai 131

33 Epimenides of Crete 132

34 Pherekydes of Syros 133

35 Pythagoras 134

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

60 Miracles of Jesus 157

61 Paul and Barnabas Mistaken for Pagan Gods159

62 The Discovery of the True Cross 160

63 The Last Delphic Oracle 162

64 “You Have Won, Galilean!” 163

65 The Murder of Hypatia 165

Chapter 3 Legends on Various Themes 167

The Bizarre 167

66 Capture of a Satyr 167

67 Capture of a Centaur 168

68 Sightings of Mermen and Mermaids 169

69 The Self-Sustaining Beast 170

70 In Love with a Statue 171

71 Animal Offspring 175

72 The Ugly Man 175

73 Male Parturition 176

74 Sudden Change of Sex 176

75 Periodic Ecstasy 180

76 The Laughing Tirynthians 180

77 The Man Who Loses His Laugh 181

78 A Strange Tomb 182

79 The Lame Man and the Blind Man 183

Irony 184

80 Intaphrenes’s Wife 184

81 A Parent’s Request 185

82 Plato’s Characters 185

83 The Unbreakable Glass Bowl 186

Animals 186

84 The Dolphin Rider 186

85 The Grateful Dolphin 189

86 Androkles and the Lion 189

87 How Ophiteia Gets Its Name 191

88 Xanthippos’s Dog 192

89 The Accidental Killing of a Cat 193

Children 194

90 The Children Play King 194

91 The Children Play Priest 195

92 The Children Play War 197

93 A Child Steals from the Goddess 197

Friends 198

94 Damon and Phintias 198

95 Friends Unknown 200

96 Abauchas’s Choice 201

Rulers and Tyrants 202

97 Plato Teaches a Tyrant about Democracy 202

98 The City of Forbidden Expression 202

99 Ismenias’s Subterfuge 203

100 Queen for a Day 204

101 The Absentminded Emperor 205

Justice 205

102 Zeus’s Ledger 205

103 The Golden Ax 206

104 The Judge of the Ants 207

105 Tarpeia’s Reward 208

106 The Cranes of Ibykos 209

107 The Murder of Mitys of Argos 209

108 An Eye for an Eye 210

109 The Trial of the Courtesan Phryne 211

110 The Problem of Dreamt Sex 212

111 The Disputed Child 214

112 Abusive Son of an Abusive Father 215

Chapter 4 Tricksters and Lovers 216

Trickery and Cleverness 216

113 Trophonios and Agamedes 216

114 The Dishonest Banker 217

115 The Joint Depositors 218

116 The Two Thieves 218

117 Aesop and the Figs 219

118 Never Heard Before 221

119 The Slaves Take Over 222

120 The Milesians Hold a Party 223

121 Saving Lampsakos 225

122 The Suckling Daughter 225

123 A Donkey’s Shadow 226

124 The Hoax 227

Lovers and Seducers 228

125 Zeus and Hera Wrangle over Sexuality 228

126 The Affair of Ares and Aphrodite 229

127 Iphimedeia Desires Poseidon 233

128 Hippolytos and Phaidra 234

129 The Husband’s Untimely Return: 1 235

130 The Husband’s Untimely Return: 2 236

131 The Signal 237

132 The Widow of Ephesos 238

133 Sleeping with a God 240

134 The Pergamene Boy 243

135 Aesop and the Master’s Wife 245

136 The King’s Trusted Friend 247

137 Dream-Lovers 251

138 The Astute Physician 253

139 Hero and Leander 254

140 Xanthos, Who Longs for His Wife 256

141 Ariston and His Friend’s Wife 257

142 Olympians in the Bedroom 259

Chapter 5 Artists and Athletes 260

Artists and the Arts 260

143 Herakles Fooled 260

144 Nature Fooled 260

145 Painter Fooled 261

146 The Sculptor Polykleitos 262

147 Models for Helen of Troy 262

148 Helen’s Chalice 263

149 Archilochos: Lethal Iambics 264

150 Hipponax: More Lethal Iambics 265

151 The Cicada 265

152 A Singer’s Compensation 266

153 Pindar’s Sacrifice 266

154 Pindar’s House 267

155 Phrynichos Fined 267

156 The Chorus of Aeschylus’s Eumenides 268

157 Sophocles on Himself and Euripides 268

158 “I See a Weasel” 269

159 “Mother, I Call to You” 269

160 Saved by Euripides 270

161 How Menander Composes His Plays 272

162 The First Line of Plato’s Republic 272

163 Ovid’s Worst Lines 273

Athletes 274

164 The Origin of the Stadium 274

165 The First Marathon 275

166 The Origin of Nude Athletes 276

167 The Origin of Nude Trainers 278

168 Polymestor the Sprinter 278

169 Ageus the Long-Distance Runner 279

170 Milon the Wrestler 280

171 Eumastas the Strongman 281

172 Theagenes’s Statue 282

173 Poulydamas the Pancratiast 283

174 Kleomedes Runs Amok 284

175 Astylos Angers His Hometown 286

176 Exainetos Pleases His Hometown 286

177 Glaukos the Boxer 286

178 The Reluctant Dueler 287

Chapter 6 Memorable Words, Notable Actions 290

Portents 290

179 The Infant Pindar on Mt Helikon 290

180 The Infant Plato on Mt Hymettos 291

181 Young Demosthenes in Court 291

Characterizations 292

182 A Statue of Homer 292

183 Themistokles and the Man from Seriphos 292

184 Aristeides the Just 292

185 Timon the Misanthrope 293

186 The Arrest of Theramenes 295

187 Socrates’s Hardihood 296

188 Socrates Ponders a Problem 297

189 Demosthenes’s Handicaps 297

190 “Delivery!” 299

191 Only Human 299

192 What Alexander Sleeps Upon 300

193 Cleopatra’s Wager 300

194 The Lamprey Pools 302

195 A Principled Man 303

196 Nero Fiddles 304

197 “Where Would He Be Now?” 306

198 A Slave’s Eye 306

199 The People of Akragas 307

Laconic Spartans 307

200 Too Many Words 307

201 A Spartan Mother 308

202 Discussion at Thermopylae 308

203 Alexander the Great Becomes a God 309

204 On Spartan Adultery 309

Delusion 310

205 Menekrates, Who Calls Himself Zeus 310

206 Menekrates-Zeus Writes to King Philip 311

207 Philip Hosts Menekrates 312

208 Hannon’s Birds 313

209 The Woman Who Holds Up the World with Her Finger 313

210 The House Called Trireme 314

211 The Happy Shipowner 315

212 The Happy Playgoer 315

Memorable Words 316

213 Ars Longa, Vita Brevis 316

214 Which Came First? 316

215 Alter Ego 317

216 “Give Me a Place to Stand, and I’ll Move the World!” 317

217 Life Is Like the Olympic Games 319

218 “The Die Is Cast” 320

219 “Et tu, Brute?” 322

220 In Hoc Signo Vinces 323

Memorable Experiences 325

221 Toxic Honey 325

222 A Narrow Escape 326

223 The Great Fish 327

224 The Discovery of Archimedes’s Tomb 328

Summing Up and Last Words 329

225 Counting One’s Blessings 329

226 Socrates 330

227 Theophrastos’s Lament 331

228 Vespasian’s Last Words 332

Deaths 333

229 Pythagoras 333

230 Aeschylus 334

231 Euripides 335

232 Philemon 336

233 Diogenes the Cynic 337

234 Zenon 338

235 Cleopatra 338

236 Petronius Arbiter 340

237 Archimedes 342

Chapter 7 Sages and Philosophers 344

Truth and Wisdom 344

238 The Seven Sages and the Prize of Wisdom 344

239 Thales on Life and Death 346

240 A Question of Responsibility 346

241 A Problem of Identity 346

242 Secundus the Silent Philosopher 347

Converting to Philosophy 348

243 Plato 348

244 Axiothea 349

245 Epicurus 349

Benefits and Perils of Philosophy 350

246 Aristippos on the Philosopher’s Advantage 350

247 Aristippos on the Benefits of Philosophy 350

248 Antisthenes on the Benefits of Philosophy 350

249 Diogenes on the Benefits of Philosophy 351

250 Krates on the Benefits of Philosophy 351

251 The Most Useful Man in Ephesos 351

252 Protagoras’s Books Burned 352

253 Sinning against Philosophy 352

The Philosophic Life 353

254 Thales in the Well 353

255 Thales and the Olive Presses 354

Wealth vs Wisdom 354

256 Simonides’s View 354

257 Aristippos’s View 355

The Cynics 355

258 Diogenes on Being Laughed At 355

259 Diogenes and the Lantern 356

260 The Meeting of Diogenes and Alexander 356

261 Alexander’s Offer 357

262 Diogenes on Personal Attire 357

263 Diogenes on Temple Theft 358

264 Diogenes on a Public Reading 358

265 Diogenes Visits a Brothel 358

266 Diogenes on the City of Myndos 358

267 “Watch Out!” 359

268 Krates and Hipparchia 359

269 Monimos on Wealth 360

Philosophers Criticize One Another 360

270 Diogenes Criticizes Plato 360

271 Plato Criticizes Diogenes 361

272 Plato Characterizes Diogenes 361

273 Diogenes on Plato’s Theory of Ideas 361

274 Diogenes on a Definition of Plato’s 361

275 Diogenes on the Impossibility of Motion 362

Education and Learning 362

276 A Song before Dying 362

277 The Entrance to Plato’s Classroom 363

278 The Delian Problem 363

279 The Worst Punishment 364

Discoveries and Inventions 364

280 The Invention of Hunting 364

281 The Invention of Board Games 365

282 The Original Language 366

283 Thales Inscribes a Triangle in a Circle 367

284 Thales Measures the Height of the Pyramids 367

285 Thales Predicts an Eclipse 368

286 The Pythagorean Theorem 368

287 “Eureka!” 369

Happiness and Contentment 371

288 The Origin of Human Miseries 371

289 The Rock of Tantalos 373

290 The Sword of Damocles 374

291 King Midas 375

292 Wealth and Happiness 376

293 Water and a Loaf of Bread 378

294 Gold vs Figs 378

295 Untouched by Grief 378

296 The Happy Mute 380

297 Pyrrhos and Kineas 380

On Drinking 382

298 The Third Cup of Wine 382

On Behaving Like Animals 383

299 The Different Stages of Life 383

300 The Different Kinds of People384

301 The Different Kinds of Women 384

Aesopic Fables 385

302 The Fox and the Crane 385

303 The Dog with a Piece of Meat 386

304 The Raven with a Piece of Meat 387

305 The King of the Apes 387

306 The Ape with Important Ancestors 388

307 The Sour Grapes 388

308 The Ant and the Cicada 389

309 The Lion’s Share 390

310 The Race of the Tortoise and the Hare 390

311 The Lion and the Mouse 391

312 The Plump Dog 391

313 The Transformed Weasel 392

314 The Goose That Lays Golden Eggs 392

315 The Tortoise That Wishes to Fly 393

316 The King of the Frogs 393

317 The Astronomer 394

318 The Shepherd Who Cries “Wolf !” 394

319 “Here Is Rhodes!” 395

320 The Belly and the Feet 395

321 The Oak and the Reed 396

Short Fables 397

322 The Mountain in Labor 397

323 The Attentive Donkey 397

Chapter 8 Numskulls and Sybarites 398

Traditional Numskulls 398

324 Margites 398

325 Meletides 399

326 Koroibos 399

327 Morychos 399

328 Akko 399

329 The Foolish Kymaians 400

330 The Foolish Abderites 401

Other Numskulls 402

331 Carrying the Load 402

332 Acquiring Sense 403

333 Seeing the Doctor 404

334 The Trained Donkey 404

335 The Books 405

336 The Slave 405

337 A Call of Nature 405

338 The Twins 405

339 The Funeral 406

340 The Ball in the Well 406

341 The Educated Son 406

342 The Travelers 406

343 The Grateful Father 407

344 A Pair of Twins 407

345 The Fugitives 407

346 The Pillow 408

Wits 408

347 Too Healthy 408

348 What Does It Taste Like? 409

349 All in the Family 409

350 The Strongest Thing 409

351 Caesar’s Soldiers Sing 410

Miscellaneous 410

352 Not at Home 410

353 The Portent 411

354 The Deaf Judge 412

355 The Scythian 413

356 The Cold Reading 413

357 The Covetous Man and the Envious Man 413

The Delicate Sybarites 414

358 Uncomfortable Sleep 415

359 The Suitor 415

360 Noise Policy 416

361 The Affliction of Work 416

362 Excursions to the Country 416

363 Chamber Pots 417

364 Piped Wine 417

365 Policy on Parties 417

366 Dancing Horses 417

Tall Tales 418

367 Topsy-Turvy Land 418

368 Frozen Speech 418

369 Thin Men 418

Appendix Across the Genres: Ancient Terms, Belief, and Relative Numbers 421

Notes on the Tales 433

Glossary 479

Bibliography 483

Ancient Sources 515

List of International Stories 521

Index 527

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Enchanting."—Victoria Rimell, Times Literary Supplement

"An extraordinarily entertaining bedside book."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post

"I cannot recommend it highly enough."—Edith Hall, Literary Review

"William Hansen's marvelous treasury lets us experience for ourselves the timeless tales that made the ancient Greeks and Romans think, shudder, and laugh."—Adrienne Mayor, author of The Amazons

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