The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times

Griffins, cyclopes, monsters, and giants-these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? Through careful research and meticulous documentation, Adrienne Mayor convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact-in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were on...