The first anthology ever to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories—from myths and fairy tales to jokes
Captured centaurs and satyrs, talking animals, people who suddenly change sex, men who give birth, the temporarily insane and the permanently thick-witted, delicate sensualists, incompetent seers, 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.
Set mostly in the world of humans, not gods, these stories focus on figures such as lovers, tricksters, philosophers, merchants, rulers, athletes, artists, and soldiers. The narratives range from the well-known—for example, Cupid and Psyche, Diogenes and his lantern, and the tortoise and the hare—to lesser-known tales that deserve wider attention. Entertaining and fascinating, they offer a unique window into the fantasies, anxieties, humor, and passions of the people who told them.
Complete with beautiful illustrations by Glynnis Fawkes, a comprehensive introduction, notes, and more, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.
The first anthology ever to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories—from myths and fairy tales to jokes
Captured centaurs and satyrs, talking animals, people who suddenly change sex, men who give birth, the temporarily insane and the permanently thick-witted, delicate sensualists, incompetent seers, 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.
Set mostly in the world of humans, not gods, these stories focus on figures such as lovers, tricksters, philosophers, merchants, rulers, athletes, artists, and soldiers. The narratives range from the well-known—for example, Cupid and Psyche, Diogenes and his lantern, and the tortoise and the hare—to lesser-known tales that deserve wider attention. Entertaining and fascinating, they offer a unique window into the fantasies, anxieties, humor, and passions of the people who told them.
Complete with beautiful illustrations by Glynnis Fawkes, a comprehensive introduction, notes, and more, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.
The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths
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Overview
The first anthology ever to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories—from myths and fairy tales to jokes
Captured centaurs and satyrs, talking animals, people who suddenly change sex, men who give birth, the temporarily insane and the permanently thick-witted, delicate sensualists, incompetent seers, 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.
Set mostly in the world of humans, not gods, these stories focus on figures such as lovers, tricksters, philosophers, merchants, rulers, athletes, artists, and soldiers. The narratives range from the well-known—for example, Cupid and Psyche, Diogenes and his lantern, and the tortoise and the hare—to lesser-known tales that deserve wider attention. Entertaining and fascinating, they offer a unique window into the fantasies, anxieties, humor, and passions of the people who told them.
Complete with beautiful illustrations by Glynnis Fawkes, a comprehensive introduction, notes, and more, this one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781400884674 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 02/14/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 584 |
| Sales rank: | 702,761 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Book of Greek & Roman Folktales, Legends, & Myths
By William Hansen, Glynnis Fawkes
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 2017 William HansenAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4008-8467-4
CHAPTER 1
KINGS AND PRINCESSES
We begin with the famous tale of Cupid and Psyche, the earliest recorded fairytale in Western literature, and continue with two shorter stories set in the world of royalty and palaces.
1. CUPID AND PSYCHE
In a certain city there were a king and queen who had three beautiful daughters. Although the elder two were of pleasant enough appearance and it was thought that human praise could do them justice, the beauty of the youngest girl was so extraordinary and remarkable that human language was too poor to express or even adequately praise it. Indeed, many citizens and foreigners, brought together in eager crowds by word of so exceptional a sight and then stunned at her unequaled beauty, put their right thumb and fingertip upon their lips and offered the girl outright religious adoration as being the goddess Venus herself. Rumor had now spread through nearby cities and neighboring regions that the goddess to whom the deep blue sea had given birth and whom the foamy waves had brought forth was freely granting the grace of her godhead by mingling with mortals; or at least that, newly fertilized by drops from heaven, the earth rather than the sea had produced a second Venus in the flower of her maidenhood.
This belief increased enormously day by day. As her fame spread, it reached the nearby islands, much of the mainland, and most of the provinces. Many persons, making long journeys and voyaging over the deep sea, flocked to observe this marvel of the age. No one sailed to Paphos or Knidos or even Kythera to view the goddess Venus herself any more. Her worship was forsaken, her temples disfigured, her couches threadbare, and her rites neglected. Her statues lacked garlands, her altars were bereft of offerings and shamefully cold. It was now the girl to whom people addressed their prayers, and it was in a human shape that the power of the great goddess was placated. At the maiden's morning appearance she was propitiated with sacrifices and banquets in the name of Venus, who in actuality was elsewhere. And as the girl strolled upon the streets, people crowded around and adored her with garlands and flowers.
This outrageous transference of divine veneration and honors to a mortal girl kindled anger in the real Venus, who, unable to contain her indignation, tossed her head and muttered loudly to herself, "Here I am, the ancient mother of nature, primordial origin of the elements, Venus the nurturer of the whole world! But I have to share my honor with a mortal girl, and my name, founded in heaven, is profaned with foul earth. It seems I myself must put up with shared adoration and vicarious worship, while a mortal girl walks around with my image. It was in vain, then, that that shepherd to whom great Jupiter gave his approval for fairness and impartiality preferred me for my unrivaled beauty to those other great goddesses! But this girl, whoever she is, will feel no joy in usurping my honors. I'll see to it that she regrets this beauty of hers to which she has no right!"
Without delay Venus summoned that winged and reckless son of hers, who, armed with torch and arrows and wickedly scorning public morals, runs through the houses of others at night ruining everyone's marriages, behaving disgracefully with impunity, and never doing any good. Although he was already irresponsible by nature, she goaded him on even more. Taking him to the city in question, she showed him Psyche — for this was the girl's name — in person and, fuming and muttering in indignation, laid before him the whole tale of her rival in beauty. "By the bonds of a mother's love," she said, "I implore you to avenge your mother fully by the sweet wounds of your arrows and the honeyed burns of your torch. Punish that insolent beauty without mercy, and do this one thing for me willingly in return for all else. Let the maiden be seized with a burning passion for the lowest sort of man, someone whose status, inheritance, and very self Fortune has cursed, a person so lowly that in the entire world he has no equal in wretchedness!"
So she spoke, and after pressing long, avid, and sensuous kisses upon her son, she made her way to the shore of the sea. She trod with her rosy feet upon the surface of the quavering waves and, lo, sat down upon the bright surface of the deep sea. As soon as she wished for it, as if she had issued orders in advance, her marine attendants promptly appeared. There came Nereids singing in chorus, shaggy Portunus with his sea-blue beard, Salacia with an armful of fish, and little Palaemon the dolphin rider. And on all sides troops of Tritons leapt about, one softly blowing his conch-shell trumpet, another blocking the heat of the hostile sun with a silken covering, and a third holding a mirror before his mistress's eyes, while still others, yoked in pairs, swam beneath her chariot. Such was the host that escorted Venus as she traveled to Ocean.
Meanwhile, for all her conspicuous beauty, Psyche reaped no enjoyment from her loveliness. She was gazed upon by everyone, she was praised by everyone, but no one, king or prince or even commoner, came as a suitor desiring her in marriage. To be sure, they marveled at her divine beauty, but only in the way that everyone marvels at a skillfully worked statue. Her two elder sisters, whose moderate good looks no one had much talked about, had long ago gotten engaged to royal suitors and were now happily wed, but Psyche remained at home as an unmarried maiden and wept at her solitary loneliness, suffering in body and hurt in mind, and hating that beauty of hers that so pleased the entire world.
The wretched father of the unfortunate girl suspected she was the object of heavenly hatred, and feeling anxious about divine anger, he consulted the ancient oracle of Apollon at Miletos. With prayers and sacrifices he asked the great deity for a marriage and husband for the slighted girl. Apollon, though he is Greek and Ionian, kindly gave his oracular response in Latin for this present author of a Milesian tale. King, place the girl, dressed for a funereal wedding, On the cliff of a lofty mountain.
Expect not a son-in-law of mortal stock,
But a cruel, wild, and viperous calamity
That flies in the air with wings and torments every
creature,
Disabling them all with fire and iron,
A being before whom Jove himself trembles, the other
gods are
terrified,
And the dark waters of the Styx shudder.
After hearing the utterance of the sacred prophecy, the king who once was happy made his way home reluctantly and downcast, and explained the instructions of the inauspicious oracle to his wife. There followed several days of mourning, weeping, and wailing. But eventually the horrid fulfillmcent of the fearful oracle was at hand. Preparations were made for the poor girl's funeral-like wedding, the flame of the torch died down with ashes of black soot, the sound of the wedding pipes changed into the plaintive Lydian mode, the joyful wedding song ended in doleful wailing, and the bride wiped away her tears with her own bridal veil. The whole city joined in lamenting the sorrowful fate of the afflicted household, and in sympathy with the general mourning a suspension of public business was forthwith decreed.
But the divine command had to be obeyed, and so poor Psyche proceeded to the punishment ordained for her. After the ceremony of the funereal wedding had been performed with great sorrow, and with the entire populace as escorts, Psyche was led forth, a living corpse, the tearful girl joining in the procession, not of her wedding, but of her funeral. When her parents, dejected by the calamity, were slow to execute the abominable deed, their own daughter urged them on, saying, "Why torture your unhappy old age by prolonging your weeping? Why exhaust your spirit — mine, really — with so much wailing? Why disfigure with useless tears your faces that I revere? Why harm my eyes by harming yours? Why pull out your gray hair? Why beat your chest, your holy breasts? This is your fine reward for my extraordinary beauty. Only now do you understand that you've been struck with a fatal blow of impious envy. When the nations and peoples were celebrating me with divine honors, when they united in calling me a new Venus, it was then you should have grieved and wept, then you should have mourned me as one already dead. Now I perceive and understand that I perish only from the name Venus. So lead me to the cliff to which fate has assigned me, and station me there. I hurry on to this happy marriage of mine, to see this noble husband of mine. Why should I put off meeting him who was born for the ruin of the whole world?"
Saying this, the maiden fell silent and with a vigorous step joined the procession of people escorting her. They went to the prescribed cliff of the lofty mountain, on the topmost summit of which they all placed the girl, and leaving behind the wedding torches by which they had lit their way and which were now extinguished by their tears, they returned home with bowed heads. Her wretched parents, worn out by the disaster, hid themselves in the darkness of their shuttered home, giving themselves over to unbroken night.
As Psyche stood terrified, trembling, and weeping on the summit of the cliff, she was slowly wafted up by the mild breeze of a gently blowingZephyr that made the edges of her clothing flutter here and there and caused its folds to billow, and was conveyed by its tranquil breath little by little down the slope of the high rock. Upon her descent she was gently laid down in the lap of blossoming sod in the valley below.
In this place of soft grass Psyche lay on a bed of dewy turf, her distressed mind calmed down, and fell sweetly asleep. Refreshed from her rest, she arose with her mind at ease. She saw a wood planted with immense trees and a glistening spring of glassy water, and in the middle of the wood beside the course of the spring there stood a palace built not by human hands but by divine art. As soon as you entered it, you would know you were gazing upon the splendid and delightful residence of some god. The paneled ceiling was fashioned from citrus wood and ivory, and columns of gold stood beneath it. The walls were all covered with silver reliefs of wild and tame animals that were on their way to meet the entrant at the door. It was a truly amazing man, or rather demigod or more likely god, who had worked all that silver with such art! The floor was divided up into different pictures in the form of mosaics made of precious stones. Twice blessed and more are those who tread on gems and jewels! The other parts of the house, precious beyond price and extending far and wide, and all the walls, which were solid blocks of gold, gleamed by their own luster so that the house created its own daylight whether the sun wished it or not. So shiny were the rooms, the portico, and the baths. The rest of the opulence answered in the same way to the magnificence of the house so that it seemed to be a heavenly palace built for great Jove to dwell among humans.
Enticed by the delights of the place, Psyche approached and, now a bit bolder, crossed the threshold. Soon her eagerness for the beautiful sight drew her on so that she examined everything in detail. On the other side of the palace she saw storehouses finished with sublime craftsmanship and filled with great treasures. There was nothing that was not there. Beyond even the marvel of such riches, what especially amazed her was that this treasure-house of the whole world was protected by no chains or locks or guards.
As she was looking at these things with the greatest pleasure, a disembodied voice manifested itself, saying, "Mistress, why are you amazed at this great wealth? It's all yours. So go to your bedroom, soothe your weariness in bed, and proceed to your bath when you wish. We whose voices you hear will diligently attend upon you as your maidservants, and a royal banquet will quickly appear for you after you have tended to your body." Psyche recognized that her felicity was owed to divine providence. In obedience to the instructions of the bodiless voice, she first dispelled her weariness with sleep and then a bath, whereupon instantly there appeared next to her a seat in the form of a half circle. From the dining utensils she understood that it was for her comfort, and gladly reclined. Abundant courses of nectar-like wine and different foods were placed before her, handled not by a servant but by a sort of breeze. She saw no one, only hearing words being uttered and so having only voices as servants. After the rich feast an invisible being entered and sang, while another played the lyre, which likewise was not visible. Then voices in concert reached her ears so that clearly a chorus was present, although no body appeared.
When these pleasures ended, Psyche went to her bedroom at the urging of the evening. Night was well along when there came a soft sound to her ears. Fearing for her virginity in so solitary a place, she trembled in terror, afraid of the unfamiliar more than of any particular danger. Then her unknown husband entered, joined Psyche in bed, made her his wife, and left quickly before sunrise. The voices attending her in the room took care of the new bride and her lost virginity. Things continued this way for a long time, and, as is natural, the strangeness of the situation turned into pleasure as Psyche became accustomed to it, and the sound of the unseen voices comforted her in her solitude.
Meanwhile, Psyche's parents were wasting away from tireless sorrow and grief, and, as news of the event spread, her older sisters learned everything, left their homes in sadness and mourning, and went eagerly to see and talk with their parents. That night Psyche's husband spoke to her as follows (for she had full contact with him in terms of touch and sound, but not sight), "Sweetest Psyche, my dear wife, cruel Fortune is threatening you with deadly danger, which I think you must pay attention to with special caution. Your sisters, upset and believing you are dead, are following in your steps and will soon reach the cliff. If you should hear their wailing, don't answer them or even look at them, for if you do, you will bring great grief on me and sheer ruin on yourself." Nodding her assent, she promised she would do as her husband wished. But after he and the night had both disappeared, the poor girl spent the whole day crying and beating her breast, saying again and again that she had now truly come to nothing, confined as she was in her opulent prison, deprived of human company, and unable to comfort her sisters in their grief or even to see them at all. After declining her bath and food and all other refreshment, and crying copiously, she fell asleep.
Presently, and sooner than usual, her husband came to bed, put his arms around his weeping wife, and remonstrated with her, asking, "Is this what you promised me, my Psyche? What am I, your husband, now to expect or hope from you? All day and all night long you keep tormenting yourself, even in your husband's embrace. Do then as you wish, and obey the ruinous urging of your heart. Only keep in mind my grave warning when you begin, too late, to be sorry." With prayers and threats of suicide, she forced her husband to accede to her wish, which was to see her sisters, soothe their grief, and speak with them. He yielded to the entreaties of his new bride and even permitted her to present them with gold or jewels, as she might wish. But he warned her repeatedly, sometimes frightening her, not to let herself be persuaded by the baleful advice of her sisters to seek to learn what her husband looked like and not to cast herself down from Fortune's heights because of impious curiosity, and so no longer partake of his embraces.
She thanked her husband and, her spirits now lifted, said, "I'd prefer to die a hundred times over than to lose my delightful marriage with you, for whoever you are, I love and adore you desperately, as I do my own soul. I wouldn't compare Cupid himself with you. But I beg you to grant me this wish as well. Order your good servant Zephyr to bring my sisters to me here just as he brought me." Planting persuasive kisses on him, plying him with soothing words, and entwining him with her arms, she added these words to her caresses: "My darling, my husband, sweet soul of your Psyche." Her husband unwillingly succumbed to the force and power of her amorous whisperings, and promised to do all she asked. Since daylight was approaching, he vanished from his wife's hands.
The sisters inquired about the location of the cliff where Psyche had been abandoned, quickly made their way there, and cried their eyes out and beat their breasts until the rocky cliffs re-echoed with sounds like their continuous wailing. Next they began calling their poor sister by name, until the penetrating sound of their howling went down the mountainside, and Psyche, out of her mind with alarm, ran out of her house and said, "Why are you tormenting yourselves for no reason with misery and lamentation? I, whom you're mourning, am here. Cease your sad cries and dry your cheeks that are drenched from your prolonged weeping, for you can now embrace the one you've been mourning." Then she summoned Zephyr, reminding him of her husband's order. Without delay he obeyed the command and straightway, with a very gentle breeze, carried them down safely.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Book of Greek & Roman Folktales, Legends, & Myths by William Hansen, Glynnis Fawkes. Copyright © 2017 William Hansen. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables xxiiiPreface 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
"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