Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities

by Adrienne Mayor

Overview

A treasury of astonishing mythic marvels—and the surprising truths behind them

Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from ancient, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries.

The book explores such subjects as how mirages inspired legends of cities in the sky; the true identity of winged serpents in ancient Egypt; how ghost ships led to the discovery of the Gulf Stream; and the beauty secrets of ancient Amazons. Other pieces examine Arthur Conan Doyle’s sea serpent and Geronimo’s dragon; Flaubert’s obsession with ancient Carthage; ancient tattooing practices; and the strange relationship between wine goblets and women’s breasts since the times of Helen of Troy and Marie Antoinette. And there’s much, much more.

Showcasing Mayor’s trademark passion not to demythologize myths, but to uncover the fascinating truths buried beneath them, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a wonder cabinet of delightful curiosities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691211183
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/26/2022
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	617,680
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Adrienne Mayor’s books include The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology, and The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World (all Princeton). She is a research scholar in classics and the history of science at Stanford University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction. The Borderlands of Myth, History, and Science 1

Animals: Fabulous, Real, and Extinct

1 The Flying Snakes of Arabia 13

2 Sea Monsters and Mer-People of the Mediterranean 26

3 The Golden Fleece 37

4 Griffin Claws and a Unicorn Horn 41

5 Dolphin Tales 50

6 The Musical Racing Turtles of Greece 59

7 A Little Bird with Poison Poop 68

8 The Roman Army's Vulture Mascots: The First Banded Birds 75

9 Pet Birds through the Ages 78

10 Your New Puppy in Ancient Times 88

11 Weasels in Classical Myth and History 92

12 Living the Modern Ferret Lifestyle 101

13 Colossal Fossils of Greece 112

14 Hunting Griffins: An Imaginary Letter to a Paleontologist 117

15 Siegfried and the Dragon 140

16 Tracking the Lucky Rhino in China 143

17 Fake Fossils 147

18 Cuvier and the Mammoth Foot 154

19 Geronimo's Dragon 162

20 Enslaved Africans Were First to Identify Mammoth Fossils in America 166

Formidable Women

21 Beauty Secrets of the Ancient Amazons: Cabbage, Cannabis, and Frankincense 173

22 Arab Warrior Queens 180

23 Chiomara, Courageous Celtic Woman 183

24 Camilla: Why Is There an Amazon in the Aeneid? 187

25 Plato and the Amazons 194

26 The Brave Women of Argos 198

27 Cleopatra and Antony Go Fishing 201

28 The Poetess and the Queen of Amazons 204

29 Proving the Existence of Amazons in 1685 209

30 Wine Goblets and Women's Breasts 213

Curious History and Science

31 Ghost Ships 225

32 Mirages at Sea 236

33 Winds in Ancient Myth and History 250

34 Death by Bronze "Frisbee" 261

35 Could Aristotle Guess Your Personality from Your Face? 264

36 The First Anti-Vaxxers 267

37 Poison Honey 272

38 Who Was the First Foot Fetishist? 282

39 "Giants" in Ancient Warfare 286

40 Sweating Truth in Ancient Carthage: A New Appreciation of Flaubert's Punic Fever Dream 306

Travelers, Tattoos, and Tyrants

41 Tourists in Classical Antiquity 323

42 Grand Tourists in Greece, from Lord Byron to Sigmund Freud 337

43 Who Were the First Recreational Mountain Climbers? 349

44 Ancient Tattoos 354

45 Tattoos in Ancient China 363

46 Caligula: Let Them Hate, So Long as They Fear 369

47 A Mountain of a Man: Maximinus Thrax 375

48 King Midas: Gold and Bull's Blood 378

49 Home in a Body Bag: Classical Parallels for a Persian Gulf Urban Legend 382

50 Perfumes of Power: The Scent of Leaders 386

Notes 391

Credits 395

Index 397

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Read this immediately! Whether you are a lover of lore, an armchair academic, or simply a curious soul, you will find inspiration in the pages of Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws. It is an excellent starting place if you’re new to Adrienne Mayor’s work and an excellent compendium if you’re already a fan. Her books have been a must-read for me since she began writing. She is a treasure.”—Melissa Marr, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Hidden Knife

“Adrienne Mayor reminds us in full Technicolor HD why we need to break the academic form to let in the light of brilliant, hypercurious scholars and laypersons from all walks outside it, eventually making terms like ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ irrelevant. Mayor’s gifts are many, but my favorite is that her writing is immediate, three-dimensional, and inviting. Ancient history is not a black-and-white, linear timeline in her work. Her excitement in her subjects fills me with the same riveted fascination, and I feel like I belong to it as much as any scholar.”—Neko Case, musician

“Adrienne Mayor is one of our most brilliantly engaging writers on the ancient world, and Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a delightful cabinet of curiosities. Her inspired detective work reveals the natural-historical and paleontological phenomena that lurk behind the iconic imagery of classical myth, folklore, and history—and much else besides.”—Daniel Ogden, author of The Werewolf in the Ancient World

“Part miscellany and part detective work, this delightful compendium of folklore combines the spirit of Herodotus and the skepticism of the modern historian. Adrienne Mayor bounds through history dispelling myths and harvesting fascinating insights.”—Candida Moss, author of The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom

“Griffins! Dragons! Ghost ships! In her delightful new collection of essays, Adrienne Mayor traces the origin stories of a bevy of irresistible curiosities, from talking mynah birds and musical racing turtles to giants and mermaids. Her impressive scholarship is matched only by her infectious good humor as she plunges into the history behind tattoos and foot fetishes, sifting expertly between mythology and classical sources in pursuit of evidence. A treat to read from cover to cover.”—Nancy Goldstone, author of In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters

“This eclectic and fascinating essay collection is Mayor’s Wunderkammer—the stories from a lifetime of meticulously turning myths into bones.”—Susanna Forrest, author of The Age of the Horse: An Equine Journey through Human History

“To read Adrienne Mayor’s richly researched pageant of fantastical creatures, warrior queens, and curious travelers is to be reminded that the past is stranger than we imagine and to discover that the line between myth and history is more porous than we had previously believed.”—Ryan Ruby, author of Zero and the One: A Novel

“For decades, Adrienne Mayor’s brilliant writing has occupied an important intersection of mythology, classical folklore, and ancient history of science. For readers keen to explore the curiosities, mysteries, and oddities of the ancient world, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a powerful, personal collection of essays on these themes—a must-read.”—Lydia Pyne, author of Genuine Fakes: How Phony Things Teach Us about Real Stuff

“Like fondant and filling, ancient mysteries and modern knowledge come together in fifty delectable stories from veteran classicist Adrienne Mayor. Dip into Herodotus on biological warfare and tour antiquity through its ample array of women warriors. Ponder the shape-shifting fancies of long ago as marvelous creatures like flying snakes turn out to be, perhaps, bats. This is a delicious treat of a book.”—Mary Ellen Hannibal, author of Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction

Editorial Reviews

"This delightful collection of 50 mini-essays by Stanford University research scholar Adrienne Mayor answers some of the most fascinating questions readers wouldn’t otherwise have thought to ask themselves about classical folklore and the history of science. . . . Mayor’s inquisitive spirit animates the answers she provides."

Christian Century

"This is an eminently informative book, for readers of all ages. . . . Mayor is able to give a sense of wonder to her inquiries and, without losing rigor, she brings it back to the academic world. In this sense, the book more than fulfils its objectives: we have found pleasure in reading it."

Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews

04/01/2022

Mayor (Gods and Robots) examines myths and classical oddities and offers both theoretical and accepted explanations for curiosities in the past. A unicorn horn from a king's treasury may be a narwhal tusk, and digging further, she gives examples of how they might have found a tusk so far from an ocean. In the absence of physical evidence, such as the story of the flying snakes, Mayor offers many potential explanations of creatures that could have been mistaken for flying serpents. Covering much more than just myths and monsters, this book also contains information about ancient science and mirages, and everything from tourism to tattoos. Maps and images give further context. Copious notes at the end of the book give plenty of further reading to those wanting to dig deeper. The first chapter gets off to a rocky start by throwing out a lot of ancient names and places that might give readers whiplash, but soon eases into a steady pace that will keep readers entertained and amused. The wide range of topics covered ensure this book has a little something for everyone, though it will likely appeal most to lovers of mythology and historical trivia. VERDICT A solid purchase for a public library's nonfiction section.—Amanda Toth

Library Journal

"An interesting gallimaufry of 50 short essays that seek to extract nuggets of truth from mythology, legends, and folklore."

Choice Reviews

"Mayor’s cabinet of curiosities conveys admirably her sense of the wonder, complexity, and engrossing strangeness of the ancient Greco-Roman world, as well as the richness and diversity of the many ages that followed."—-James Romm, Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

"[Mayor’s] work. . . is both informative and vastly entertaining."

History Today