What do you think?
Rate this book
The Library of Apollodorus
Traditionally attributed to Apollodorus of Athens, ‘The Library’ is a first or second century encyclopaedia of Greek mythology and heroic legends, written in a concise and unembellished style, closely following Greek literary sources. The extant text provides an important record of Greek accounts of the origin and early history of the world, preserving many otherwise lost mythological tales. Delphi’s Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Greek texts. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete extant ‘Library’, with dual Greek and English text, relevant illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Apollodorus’ life and works* Features the complete extant text of ‘The Library’, in both English translation and the original Greek* Concise introduction to the great work* Features J. G. Frazer’s translation and footnotes, previously appearing in Loeb Classical Library edition of Apollodorus* Images of famous paintings inspired by ‘The Library’* Excellent formatting of the texts* Easily locate the sections you want to read with individual contents tables* Includes Frazer’s rare ‘Epitome’, first time in digital print* Provides a special dual English and Greek text, allowing readers to compare the sections paragraph by paragraph – ideal for students* Features a bonus biography – discover the ancient world of ‘The Library’* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genresPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to explore our range of Ancient Classics titles or buy the entire series as a Super TranslationTHE LIBRARYThe Greek TextCONTENTS OF THE GREEK TEXTThe Dual TextDUAL GREEK AND ENGLISH TEXTThe BiographyINTRODUCTION TO APOLLODORUS by Sir James George FrazerPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles
829 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 200
485 people are currently reading
9230 people want to read
About the author
Apollodorus of Athens
62 books42 followersGreek: Απολλόδωρος
Apollodorus of Athens (Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, Apollodoros ho Athenaios; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC), son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, under whom he appears to have studied together with his contemporary Dionysius Thrax. He left (perhaps fled) Alexandria around 146 BC, most likely for Pergamon, and eventually settled in Athens.
Apollodorus of Athens (Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, Apollodoros ho Athenaios; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC), son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, under whom he appears to have studied together with his contemporary Dionysius Thrax. He left (perhaps fled) Alexandria around 146 BC, most likely for Pergamon, and eventually settled in Athens.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
December 4, 2016
All the Greek myths we know and love - and then some
19 July 2014
This manuscript was a pretty good find, or at least the sections that we did find to complete the manuscript that was handed down to us, because it gives us all of those Greek stories that we know and love, from this:
to this:
and finishes of with this:
but unfortunately it does not contain this:
The book is actually only a brief overview of each of the legends and is divided into a number of sections which outline various Greek families, or tribes, so the book is not strictly chronological. What the library does is that it gives us a brief rundown of the legends that make up the mythology of the Ancient Greeks as it existed at the time of Apollodorus. In fact, it is the earliest complete outline of Greek mythology that we possess (though it is not necessarily complete because sections of the manuscript were lost, however a fortuitous discovery in the Vatican library allowed us to reconstruct most of it). This is not the only complete source that we have because we also have Ovid's Metamorphoses, however the difference between Apollodorus and Ovid is that Ovid writes from Roman point of view, so is a lot more sympathetic towards the Trojans. Ovid is also wrote the Metamorphoses as an epic poem (which excludes the genealogies) as opposed to an outline, which is how Apollodorus wrote the library.
The library is full of genealogies, which outlines the parentage of many of the Greek heroes and demigods, and it also divides them into a number of tribes, being the Deucalionids (from which comes Jason and the Argonauts), the Argives (from which comes Heracles), the Anegorid, the Inachids, the Asopids, and the Pelopids. Each of these tribes (the members all have a common ancestry) come from different parts of Greece, which suggests that the myths that come out of the tribes originated from this part of Greece (and Ancient Greece was not a unified country, but rather a loose collection of city states that shared a common language and culture, and even then the various city states would war against each over because of an accent or a disagreement that originated in mythology – which is what still seems to be happening today, except on a much larger scale).
There is an interesting distinction between history and myth that comes out in Herodotus. The common understanding of myth is that it is a story that suggests an origin, and it does not necessarily mean that the story is not true. Herodotus takes a different position in that history is written down, where as myth is passed down by word of mouth. As such the writings that create history are written down while still within living memory, while myth comes about after generations of passing the story down, which suggests that the story may have been true, however it has become corrupted as it has been passed down from generation to generation.
Take for instance the story of Achilles. In the Illiad there is no mention of his invulnerability due to being dipped into a river. This is not even the story that occurs in the library as the story that occurs here is that Achilles' mother would bury him in fire at night and rub him with ambrosia during the day. The story about Achilles being dipped into the River Styx did not appear until the 1st Century AD, in a book (now lost) known as the Achilleid . As you can see, as time passes, the stories become more and more corrupted (and that occurs even with an original story having been written down).
This book gives me a lot of opportunities to speculate on the truth behind many of these tales, though we also have earlier sources which we can also refer to, being the tragic plays and the epic poems, however these sources tend to focus mainly on the Trojan War, with the other stories only touched upon (and I believe that the Library is the earliest source for the story of Perseus, though he does receive a mention in Herodotus, but there we are only told that he married Andromeda and that he because the ancestor of the Persians).
19 July 2014
This manuscript was a pretty good find, or at least the sections that we did find to complete the manuscript that was handed down to us, because it gives us all of those Greek stories that we know and love, from this:
to this:
and finishes of with this:
but unfortunately it does not contain this:
The book is actually only a brief overview of each of the legends and is divided into a number of sections which outline various Greek families, or tribes, so the book is not strictly chronological. What the library does is that it gives us a brief rundown of the legends that make up the mythology of the Ancient Greeks as it existed at the time of Apollodorus. In fact, it is the earliest complete outline of Greek mythology that we possess (though it is not necessarily complete because sections of the manuscript were lost, however a fortuitous discovery in the Vatican library allowed us to reconstruct most of it). This is not the only complete source that we have because we also have Ovid's Metamorphoses, however the difference between Apollodorus and Ovid is that Ovid writes from Roman point of view, so is a lot more sympathetic towards the Trojans. Ovid is also wrote the Metamorphoses as an epic poem (which excludes the genealogies) as opposed to an outline, which is how Apollodorus wrote the library.
The library is full of genealogies, which outlines the parentage of many of the Greek heroes and demigods, and it also divides them into a number of tribes, being the Deucalionids (from which comes Jason and the Argonauts), the Argives (from which comes Heracles), the Anegorid, the Inachids, the Asopids, and the Pelopids. Each of these tribes (the members all have a common ancestry) come from different parts of Greece, which suggests that the myths that come out of the tribes originated from this part of Greece (and Ancient Greece was not a unified country, but rather a loose collection of city states that shared a common language and culture, and even then the various city states would war against each over because of an accent or a disagreement that originated in mythology – which is what still seems to be happening today, except on a much larger scale).
There is an interesting distinction between history and myth that comes out in Herodotus. The common understanding of myth is that it is a story that suggests an origin, and it does not necessarily mean that the story is not true. Herodotus takes a different position in that history is written down, where as myth is passed down by word of mouth. As such the writings that create history are written down while still within living memory, while myth comes about after generations of passing the story down, which suggests that the story may have been true, however it has become corrupted as it has been passed down from generation to generation.
Take for instance the story of Achilles. In the Illiad there is no mention of his invulnerability due to being dipped into a river. This is not even the story that occurs in the library as the story that occurs here is that Achilles' mother would bury him in fire at night and rub him with ambrosia during the day. The story about Achilles being dipped into the River Styx did not appear until the 1st Century AD, in a book (now lost) known as the Achilleid . As you can see, as time passes, the stories become more and more corrupted (and that occurs even with an original story having been written down).
This book gives me a lot of opportunities to speculate on the truth behind many of these tales, though we also have earlier sources which we can also refer to, being the tragic plays and the epic poems, however these sources tend to focus mainly on the Trojan War, with the other stories only touched upon (and I believe that the Library is the earliest source for the story of Perseus, though he does receive a mention in Herodotus, but there we are only told that he married Andromeda and that he because the ancestor of the Persians).
November 23, 2015
Introduction
Note on the Text and Translation
Select Bibliography
Contents
Genealogical Tables
Map
--The Library
Appendix: Some Interpolations and an Unreliable Passage from the Epitome
Explanatory Notes
The Twelve Gods
References to Animals and Transformations
Index of Names
Note on the Text and Translation
Select Bibliography
Contents
Genealogical Tables
Map
--The Library
Appendix: Some Interpolations and an Unreliable Passage from the Epitome
Explanatory Notes
The Twelve Gods
References to Animals and Transformations
Index of Names
August 29, 2022
3.5***
There were just so many names to keep up with, even with the genealogical tables!
This was packed full of all the myths and the retelling of the odyssey was fantastic. It is definitely a book I’ll have to reread in future in order to clarify some of the myths/names.
There were just so many names to keep up with, even with the genealogical tables!
This was packed full of all the myths and the retelling of the odyssey was fantastic. It is definitely a book I’ll have to reread in future in order to clarify some of the myths/names.
January 31, 2018
finished this yall 😎😎😎 so 💪ima 💯 just 👅 flex 😩 for 😤 a 💪 sec 🙌 cuz 😍 we 😈 always 😜 grinding 💁
anyways lmao this was Really like dumb dry for the first quarter/third and then all of the heroes and gods started doin nasty shit so it got Interesting, i particularly liked (reading about mostly Not Them As A Person) heracles, hera, zeus, theseus, odysseus and athene (off the top of my head (💪) but i probs forgot some) because they were crazy lmao and interesting to read, zeus didn't really have any interesting like Long Passages like theseus heracles and odysseus but he was like Scattered Around but he was good to read about, i liked his kids (lmfao @@@@@hera) better than poseidons kids from what i remember of them they were Boring and Annoying. poseidon was wild sometimes tho lmao when he killin ppl bc it was always dramatic at this point
i really liked theseus because he was like heracles chapters except he had no personality Only To The Point which i liked bc he wasn't off raping ppl and Ensnaring Women heracles was good until he kept doing that shit he was also Too Dramatic, but theseus was killin like the Right Shit when he went down that road thingo that was a Action Pack'd section
also the Deeply Entrenched Entangled Every 1 Sentence Misogyny was Extremely wearing and tearing on my Soul not everyone need to rape ppl and women don't need to be Prizes and Passed Around i'msickofit
pasiphae was good when she had some time too but her and minos were just Toxic basically like if u get to the point where u need ur man to nut snakes and millipedes, maybe stop seein ur man?:) minos was a Beast tho lmao like when he made the architect man create the Labyrinth for the minotaur and then stuck him in it later like:) savage and all the smol kiddos to Feed It but minos lookin after his kid at least so:))))))
also,, ✋Stop✋ the incest and bESTIALITY for Goodness Sakes
also everyone Don't eat pomegranates you will be Stuck in hades, Left Is An Ill-Omen and So Are Screech Owls
anyways lmao this was Really like dumb dry for the first quarter/third and then all of the heroes and gods started doin nasty shit so it got Interesting, i particularly liked (reading about mostly Not Them As A Person) heracles, hera, zeus, theseus, odysseus and athene (off the top of my head (💪) but i probs forgot some) because they were crazy lmao and interesting to read, zeus didn't really have any interesting like Long Passages like theseus heracles and odysseus but he was like Scattered Around but he was good to read about, i liked his kids (lmfao @@@@@hera) better than poseidons kids from what i remember of them they were Boring and Annoying. poseidon was wild sometimes tho lmao when he killin ppl bc it was always dramatic at this point
i really liked theseus because he was like heracles chapters except he had no personality Only To The Point which i liked bc he wasn't off raping ppl and Ensnaring Women heracles was good until he kept doing that shit he was also Too Dramatic, but theseus was killin like the Right Shit when he went down that road thingo that was a Action Pack'd section
also the Deeply Entrenched Entangled Every 1 Sentence Misogyny was Extremely wearing and tearing on my Soul not everyone need to rape ppl and women don't need to be Prizes and Passed Around i'msickofit
pasiphae was good when she had some time too but her and minos were just Toxic basically like if u get to the point where u need ur man to nut snakes and millipedes, maybe stop seein ur man?:) minos was a Beast tho lmao like when he made the architect man create the Labyrinth for the minotaur and then stuck him in it later like:) savage and all the smol kiddos to Feed It but minos lookin after his kid at least so:))))))
also,, ✋Stop✋ the incest and bESTIALITY for Goodness Sakes
also everyone Don't eat pomegranates you will be Stuck in hades, Left Is An Ill-Omen and So Are Screech Owls
April 8, 2021
Excelente compendio de los principales mitos griegos, que sirve como enciclopedia básica y útil para cualquiera que quiera introducirse en la materia. Se hace patente que ya en la Antigüedad se vieron necesitados de resumir y ordenar los complejos relatos de la mitología helénica, y de ahí surgió esta Biblioteca, que cumple magníficamente con su cometido.
January 4, 2018
whoop! whoop! I'm done and I really enjoyed this but now it's time to move into Norse Mythology.
November 12, 2019
Brutal. Dense. Informative. Essential.
July 5, 2022
Apollodorus' 'Library' is frustrating to read; even for an ardent lover of Greek Mythology. It is written in a very perfunctory style, devoid of anything resembling standard literary prose. This is, of course, understandable given the time in which it was written, but nevertheless, it's a bit tedious and very heavy on the genealogy - which starts to make you feel dizzy after a while. I take my hat off to anyone who can accurately recount even a third of the characters listed. By their very nature, the Greek myths necessitate being retold with colour and vivacity. However, Apollodorus writes with little flair or flamboyance; so, if you are expecting something akin to Ovid, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. I will give it 3-stars due to the fact that some of the stories contained are undeniably brilliant. I would recommend ‘Library’ mainly for academic/reference purposes.
November 27, 2015
A pretty straightforward "who's who", not as artful as Ovid or Homer but hey, it was still fun to read.
I try not to think about all those lost works I will never get to read, I still have hope that we will some day find some more hidden somewhere...
I try not to think about all those lost works I will never get to read, I still have hope that we will some day find some more hidden somewhere...
November 3, 2020
Quest'opera è perfetta per chi vuole studiare il mito. La scrittura di Apollodoro è molto didascalica e procede spesso per elenchi come se fosse l'unione di più fonti antiche, rimaneggiate per formare un testo unico: di certo non è leggero e la sua lettura non è adatta a tutto, ma la completezza e la ricchezza di informazioni sul tema si trova solo in poche altre opere.
August 14, 2017
Actual rating 2.5/5 stars!
June 16, 2017
La biblioteca mitológica es muy fácil a leer aunque es relativamente amplia. Lo mejor que tiene es la capacidad de ordenar toda la mitología desde un punto de vista no sólo cronológico sino también espacial, con las principales "familias" de dioses y héroes establecidas en cada lugar de Grecia y el mundo. Es una obra obligatoria para todos los que nos encanta la mitología griega. Si alguna vez te preguntaste qué pasaba con algún personaje como Aquiles, Edipo y qué pasaba con sus hijos, éste es el libro que mejor puede responder a cuanta interrogante te surja.
February 14, 2021
Ingenuo de mi cuando pensé que esto iba a ser lectura ligera.😅
Si no se te ocurren nombres griegos para poner a tus hijos, agárrate porque en este libro tienes para rato.
En la segunda parte se vuelve más denso. En vez de terminar con un mito, mete otro entre medias porque aparece tal héroe, dios o monstruo y tiene que explicarte su procedencia. Es un poco caótico para mi gusto.
En fin, si te interesa la mitología griega igual este es un buen punto de partida para empezar a saber algo más.🤷🏻♂️
Si no se te ocurren nombres griegos para poner a tus hijos, agárrate porque en este libro tienes para rato.
En la segunda parte se vuelve más denso. En vez de terminar con un mito, mete otro entre medias porque aparece tal héroe, dios o monstruo y tiene que explicarte su procedencia. Es un poco caótico para mi gusto.
En fin, si te interesa la mitología griega igual este es un buen punto de partida para empezar a saber algo más.🤷🏻♂️
May 12, 2018
Apollodorus' Library of Greek Mythology is a very informative overview of who's who in Greek mythology and the legends surrounding the various different gods, demigods, and heroes. It is in no way written to be as enthralling as, let's say, Homer's epics but still very fun to read nonetheless. Would highly recommend to those who are Greek mythology fans like me, or to those who would simply like to read an abridged version of the myths.
November 9, 2022
i'll admit i thought this one would have been a lot denser to read than what it actually was. that said, i'm not a classist, i've said that before, but all that to say that i just read these for fun (and to see what versions were told when this book was written. it is all very fun actually, i had fun)
January 4, 2023
lots of words brain explosion purr
HOWEVER HE CONFIRMED ACHILLES AND PATROCLUS WERE LOVERS WOOOO
HOWEVER HE CONFIRMED ACHILLES AND PATROCLUS WERE LOVERS WOOOO
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2024
A booktuber I used to subscribe to recommended this, saying it was "a collection of short stories." It is not. They are summaries of Greek myths with many passages of catalogs and genealogies (think Book II of The Iliad). I would have been more irritated about having been duped had it not been for the Introduction written by Robin Hard because lol, THE SHADE IS REAL.🔥🔥🔥 Here are some murderous excerpts.
[After explaining that this Apollodorus could not have been the Apollodorus of Athens] ... we must ask whether the Library is in any case a book which we could reasonably accept as the work of a scholar of Apollodorus's stature and period. In truth, it is not at all what we would expect from a learned Alexandrian scholar. ... Apollodorus was a fairly common name, and it is conceivable that the Library was compiled by an author of that name who was later confused with the famous scholar of an earlier period; but it is more likely that our book is sailing under a flag of convenience. [italics mine]
[On whether scholars of antiquity would have studied the Library] It may be suspected ... that readers of much education would have preferred more solid fare, and scholars at that period would surely have found little use for an elementary work of this kind when they could refer to more scholarly and comprehensive handbooks by the Hellenistic mythographers.
In such a short work, the author devotes a surprising amount of space to these catalogues, which sometimes take up more than a page. [read: He's trying.] In certain cases such catalogues could be of practical interest ... But generally this is gratuitous information. [italics mine]
The value of such a work will not derive from any originality or serious scholarship on the author's part. He is simply an editor. Nor should we expect such a work to have any literary merit (beyond a tolerably clear presentation of the mythical narrative, which is generally the case with the Library). If Apollodorus' main sources had survived, the Library would be no more than a historical curiosity, and the work as a whole would possess no greater value than the summary of the Iliad on p.153. [italics mine]
Naturally we would prefer to have the works of Pherecydes and Acousilaos (and the early epics too), but we should be grateful ... .
October 27, 2020
We don't actually know when the author of the Bibliotheca lived. The earliest source is ninth century, but most agree to Greek origins of an earlier date, possibly in the late first or early second centuries. We don't know who the author was either. The attribution to Apollodorus, while old, is mistaken, so purists assign the text to an unknown Pseudo-Apollodorus.
This is more an encyclopediac geneology than just a literary collection of stories. Consequently, it's not an easy or very pleasant read. I skimmed it more than read it myself, using it as a resource for other works.
My particular edition was done in 1975 and includes a great deal of critical apparatus.
This is more an encyclopediac geneology than just a literary collection of stories. Consequently, it's not an easy or very pleasant read. I skimmed it more than read it myself, using it as a resource for other works.
My particular edition was done in 1975 and includes a great deal of critical apparatus.
July 22, 2022
More like an ancient Wikipedia than a book, this book is a collection of epics and poems that make up most of Greek mythology. The work is readable and at times fascinating but ultimately it is rather boring. I think a modern reader would be better served by reading the Wikipedia entries on the same topics.
September 25, 2021
Como digo en comentarios anteriores, este libro es más como un árbol genealógico.
Te dice los hijos de los dioses en hilera y hace que te confundas un montón, luego te cuenta por encima resúmenes de sus mitos... No era lo que esperaba sinceramente.
Pdt: No tengo exactamente esta edición, es otra pero dice mismo autor y título así que creo que está bien.
Te dice los hijos de los dioses en hilera y hace que te confundas un montón, luego te cuenta por encima resúmenes de sus mitos... No era lo que esperaba sinceramente.
Pdt: No tengo exactamente esta edición, es otra pero dice mismo autor y título así que creo que está bien.
March 2, 2022
This book was informative, accurate, and detailed. I think going into it I expected something more like a short story format, but it was incredibly academic…a little bit too much for me and my brain. There are so many names to keep track of! But I still really enjoyed it, and I think as I read more Greek mythology retelling novels having read this will come in handy.
October 22, 2022
Who knew 2nd century Greeks had Sparknotes, too?
January 10, 2021
Um enorme resumo, que nos introduz aos mitos gregos, às histórias que estão por detrás das tragédias, das comédias e dos poemas épicos que nos chegaram aos dias de hoje. Ler esta Biblioteca é ler um catálogo seco de personagens míticas e das suas principais histórias. Falta a poesia, o langor de contos milenares, mas permite mergulhar no longo historial destes antigos mitos. Cujo fascínio de terem sido tão duradouros, de um imaginário criado por homens que viveram há milénios e que ainda hoje nos intriga, é uma sensação extraordinária.
March 8, 2025
Questo livello di dettaglio era ciò che desideravo (perché sono molto nerd).
Grazie Apollodoro, ho preso degli ottimi appunti.
Grazie Apollodoro, ho preso degli ottimi appunti.
August 14, 2011
Not the most entertaining of reads as it is just a recitation of the bare bones of most of the myths.
But very informative, good notes too. Ties most of the myths together into some semblance of order, puts them in context...and the notes point out the clashes and inconsistencies.
However the tedious and passionless use of the phrase "had intercourse with" started to grate after a while...these are deities being talked about, surely a more poetic, or even earthy, phrase could have been used.
Things I learned:
1) Don't stand too close to anyone throwing a discus...if you know or are related to the thrower you will be killed.
2) Zeus will hump (best I can do at the minute) anything or anyone...
3)...and Hera will be very disappointed and angry with the humpee and any resultant offspring.
4) Atalanta was nails...and probably hot too.
But very informative, good notes too. Ties most of the myths together into some semblance of order, puts them in context...and the notes point out the clashes and inconsistencies.
However the tedious and passionless use of the phrase "had intercourse with" started to grate after a while...these are deities being talked about, surely a more poetic, or even earthy, phrase could have been used.
Things I learned:
1) Don't stand too close to anyone throwing a discus...if you know or are related to the thrower you will be killed.
2) Zeus will hump (best I can do at the minute) anything or anyone...
3)...and Hera will be very disappointed and angry with the humpee and any resultant offspring.
4) Atalanta was nails...and probably hot too.
September 3, 2023
يتحدث عن الاساطير الاغريقيه بشكل منمق وجميل
رالاساطير الاغريقيه هي اقدم القصص. في التاريخ التي مازالت متداوله حتي اليوم
الياذه والادوسه
حرب طرواده
كيوبيد
اريوس
شكرا افلاطون ارسطو سقراط هيرودوت هوموريس.
رالاساطير الاغريقيه هي اقدم القصص. في التاريخ التي مازالت متداوله حتي اليوم
الياذه والادوسه
حرب طرواده
كيوبيد
اريوس
شكرا افلاطون ارسطو سقراط هيرودوت هوموريس.
April 13, 2017
I started reading this when I was about 100 pages from the end of Ovid's Metamorphoses. For me, the best part were the notes with their quirky asides and tangents.
June 27, 2020
Useful but not particularly enjoyable.
October 16, 2019
Photius I of Constantinople summarized this work well:
“It has the following not ungraceful epigram [introducing it at it’s beginning]: 'Draw your knowledge of the past from me and read the ancient tales of learned lore...Seek not the vaunted verse of the cycle; but look in me and you will find in me all that the world contains.’”
This is quite accurate. I believe what we have today is just an epitome of the original work though unfortunately. And it also shows signs of being intentionally scrambled in order of descriptions lest one unravel all the purported great ages of deep history easily in direct order that are otherwise so cleverly - may I say even religiously? - semi-veiled in all other poetic and mysterious works of the Ellene’s and Palatine’s such as Ovid, Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Hyginus and Hesiod.
But this work here is an utterly unique work, what is left us even in epitome form, in that it plainly lays out the order of the Great Epochs of the forgotten past - at least in many sections unbroken still left in it - in this brief compendium, this “library” as it is titled.
Why all the editorial intrigue that possibly occured to it and that surrounds it though - even as to when the Author lived (on that, by the way, there is an older Castor than the one in Cicero’s time the Author purported to mention dating this to be by some pseudo-apollodorus per moderns. So I believe such mention refers rather to he and therefore I take this work to be a bit older)? Yes why the editorial intrigue layed upon this work?
It is good to remember Aeschylus was said to have been put to death for revealing the Eleusinian Mysteries which revealed the long epochs of the great ages. For some reason Archaic History was not divulged to the public but known only by certain groups then. Herodotus speaks of not being permitted to say certain things regarding Egyptian Mysteries he was initiated into which reveal long ages previous - see where he describes the great chronological figures of the Egyptian Pharaoh Kings and their statues depicting such; and Plato mentions having to be quiet too when speaking of which Zoroaster he was revealing when and what such title signifies.
Here though we for once have a work that “almost” (especially near the beginning of this work) sequentially lays the epochs out all in clear order from beginning to end. This is the reason then for the intrigue, but this work somehow made it past the editors table “in part” amazingly.
As such now, whether one take it though as children’s bedtime stories or a literal blow by blow account of the devolution of metaphysical, celestial, trans-dimensional beings unto man-form, going through various “metamorphic periods of appearance” in such periods then being personified by governing intellective powers later called gods (then “angels” by AD times) who also represent both the geography and houses of beinghood then of such times they resided as “Manu’s” over after a manner, coloring all such too then with their intellective presence, cosmologically apportioned power, and zeitgeist they had charge over then; either way that is for you to decide.
What is not for subjectivity to decide though, for the sake of the posterity of future generations, is the sequential order these epochs are laid out.
Such is for mythographical science which may be more or less accurate and can be finalized using this work and a few more besides the one’s mentioned above with great accuracy. Such is just a matter of good textual study by means of which we are on the verge of clarifying myth’s order in these centuries. And this work is essential, key to such.
Now whether Mythographers will have finalized the order of such just for the sake of better bedtime stories catagorized for people in the future or rather to clarify the missing data science now needs that initiates once had and encoded in myths that shall prove key to future generations regarding in fact their own cataclysmic rhythms, chronologies, major event astrological seasons, beinghood stages, flora and fauna changes and geographic shifts mentioned throughout all such lore - that will be for future generations to decide not critics of such Mythographers presently attempting to perfect this science that man may one day decide on either way.
But it is my estimation the science of Mythographers today, at least in the Greco-Roman department, would be considerably more shoddy without this invaluable work, it is central; hence all the preamble above: to show it’s incommensurable value for man today.
Having said this I will briefly now, to signify such and help fellow seekers, outline the order revealed in this book without giving away too many details.
It shows first a
Theogony
then an Olympian Period
then an Arimaspian Period
then a Gigantomachy of Maiades
then a Numakos Period wherein Atalantas is first mentioned
then the Titanomachy
then a Bronze Demi-god to Human period of increasing mortality
(with an Achilles and Herculeid Cycle),
and finally there comes the Iron Age Scruffulous Man period we are now in.
Each Epoch is punctuated by a massive extinction event before and after and usually involving a battle then (the correspondence between societal tension and earth changes arising from the selfsame planetary tension cycles of changing vibration in our solar system is another matter too long to go into here).
So that is it in a nutshell.
This may all seem quite abbreviated and simple for a more in depth review as I like to usually give but I really feel one will find Apollodorus structure not only the most important for understanding the Great Ages of Deep History for you my fellow historians I have befriended (if that is what one is looking for) but also this brief abbreviation of such given by me here also is the clearest and most ordered structure to date in all known publications revealing the otherwise usually garbled, misordered, misunderstood delineations of these forbidden mysteries in Apollodorus regarding the order of the periods forgotten in our past - on whatever level you wish to take their meaning.
Please feel free to contest or add questions to this order in the comments below and I will clarify how it is correct, in my estimation, and that perhaps you are just looking at a different sequential strand of the same thing (for example the Ouranus to Chronus to Zeus to Hermes sequential strand one sees in Greek Myth may seem contradictory at first to what is presented here until one sees how it is just a different way of describing the same lore sequence and fits in seamlessly with the above).
“It has the following not ungraceful epigram [introducing it at it’s beginning]: 'Draw your knowledge of the past from me and read the ancient tales of learned lore...Seek not the vaunted verse of the cycle; but look in me and you will find in me all that the world contains.’”
This is quite accurate. I believe what we have today is just an epitome of the original work though unfortunately. And it also shows signs of being intentionally scrambled in order of descriptions lest one unravel all the purported great ages of deep history easily in direct order that are otherwise so cleverly - may I say even religiously? - semi-veiled in all other poetic and mysterious works of the Ellene’s and Palatine’s such as Ovid, Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Hyginus and Hesiod.
But this work here is an utterly unique work, what is left us even in epitome form, in that it plainly lays out the order of the Great Epochs of the forgotten past - at least in many sections unbroken still left in it - in this brief compendium, this “library” as it is titled.
Why all the editorial intrigue that possibly occured to it and that surrounds it though - even as to when the Author lived (on that, by the way, there is an older Castor than the one in Cicero’s time the Author purported to mention dating this to be by some pseudo-apollodorus per moderns. So I believe such mention refers rather to he and therefore I take this work to be a bit older)? Yes why the editorial intrigue layed upon this work?
It is good to remember Aeschylus was said to have been put to death for revealing the Eleusinian Mysteries which revealed the long epochs of the great ages. For some reason Archaic History was not divulged to the public but known only by certain groups then. Herodotus speaks of not being permitted to say certain things regarding Egyptian Mysteries he was initiated into which reveal long ages previous - see where he describes the great chronological figures of the Egyptian Pharaoh Kings and their statues depicting such; and Plato mentions having to be quiet too when speaking of which Zoroaster he was revealing when and what such title signifies.
Here though we for once have a work that “almost” (especially near the beginning of this work) sequentially lays the epochs out all in clear order from beginning to end. This is the reason then for the intrigue, but this work somehow made it past the editors table “in part” amazingly.
As such now, whether one take it though as children’s bedtime stories or a literal blow by blow account of the devolution of metaphysical, celestial, trans-dimensional beings unto man-form, going through various “metamorphic periods of appearance” in such periods then being personified by governing intellective powers later called gods (then “angels” by AD times) who also represent both the geography and houses of beinghood then of such times they resided as “Manu’s” over after a manner, coloring all such too then with their intellective presence, cosmologically apportioned power, and zeitgeist they had charge over then; either way that is for you to decide.
What is not for subjectivity to decide though, for the sake of the posterity of future generations, is the sequential order these epochs are laid out.
Such is for mythographical science which may be more or less accurate and can be finalized using this work and a few more besides the one’s mentioned above with great accuracy. Such is just a matter of good textual study by means of which we are on the verge of clarifying myth’s order in these centuries. And this work is essential, key to such.
Now whether Mythographers will have finalized the order of such just for the sake of better bedtime stories catagorized for people in the future or rather to clarify the missing data science now needs that initiates once had and encoded in myths that shall prove key to future generations regarding in fact their own cataclysmic rhythms, chronologies, major event astrological seasons, beinghood stages, flora and fauna changes and geographic shifts mentioned throughout all such lore - that will be for future generations to decide not critics of such Mythographers presently attempting to perfect this science that man may one day decide on either way.
But it is my estimation the science of Mythographers today, at least in the Greco-Roman department, would be considerably more shoddy without this invaluable work, it is central; hence all the preamble above: to show it’s incommensurable value for man today.
Having said this I will briefly now, to signify such and help fellow seekers, outline the order revealed in this book without giving away too many details.
It shows first a
Theogony
then an Olympian Period
then an Arimaspian Period
then a Gigantomachy of Maiades
then a Numakos Period wherein Atalantas is first mentioned
then the Titanomachy
then a Bronze Demi-god to Human period of increasing mortality
(with an Achilles and Herculeid Cycle),
and finally there comes the Iron Age Scruffulous Man period we are now in.
Each Epoch is punctuated by a massive extinction event before and after and usually involving a battle then (the correspondence between societal tension and earth changes arising from the selfsame planetary tension cycles of changing vibration in our solar system is another matter too long to go into here).
So that is it in a nutshell.
This may all seem quite abbreviated and simple for a more in depth review as I like to usually give but I really feel one will find Apollodorus structure not only the most important for understanding the Great Ages of Deep History for you my fellow historians I have befriended (if that is what one is looking for) but also this brief abbreviation of such given by me here also is the clearest and most ordered structure to date in all known publications revealing the otherwise usually garbled, misordered, misunderstood delineations of these forbidden mysteries in Apollodorus regarding the order of the periods forgotten in our past - on whatever level you wish to take their meaning.
Please feel free to contest or add questions to this order in the comments below and I will clarify how it is correct, in my estimation, and that perhaps you are just looking at a different sequential strand of the same thing (for example the Ouranus to Chronus to Zeus to Hermes sequential strand one sees in Greek Myth may seem contradictory at first to what is presented here until one sees how it is just a different way of describing the same lore sequence and fits in seamlessly with the above).
July 22, 2024
(The following was originally posted on Amazon in 2005, and revised at intervals. Amazon at some point deleted it without informing me of any problem. I have reposted it there, but also here, so that it will be available if Amazon rejects it for whatever algorithmic reason.)
Robin Hard's version of The Library of Greek Mythology is one of several modern English translations of an ancient (date disputed) compilation (*bibliotheke* - hence" library") of summaries of stories of the gods and heroes of Greece (but not Rome). It seems to be based, wherever it can be checked, on excellent sources; or, possibly, on earlier compilations which had excellent sources. It was not intended for pleasure reading, but for use as a reference manual, although we have evidence that in Byzantine times some readers used it as a short "history" of mythological times.
If the name of the author is correct, he cannot be the "Apollodorus the Grammarian" to whom the work used to be attributed. Unfortunately, this is the only name we have for it. Given the lack of internal fraudulent claims, however the bare name seems to me better than "Pseudo-Apollodorus" as it is sometimes given, since pseudo- is likely to be taken as a reflection on the author, instead of early scholars.
Considering the huge amount of ancient Greek literature that has been lost, and the primary sources to which this compiler (whoever and whenever he was), seems to have had access it is even more regrettable that a portion of The Library survives only in an abridged form. (Fortunately, part of the re-summarized material is Homeric; unfortunately, some of it is not.)
Hard's translation is a clear presentation of the material, with an excellent introduction and helpful notes, as one would expect from the Oxford World's Classics series in recent years. It can be read alone, consulted, or, I think, used as a class text (not in my personal experience, however.) It is not the only translation available.
The classic translation (which stood alone for half a century) is that by Sir James Frazer (of The Golden Bough) in 1921, in two volumes of the Loeb Classical Library (and so facing a Greek text). His commentary to The Library is, as one might expect, packed with information from other ancient sources and later parallels. Unfortunately, Frazer's commentary is not very well organized. His translation - to my taste - adds a certain Victorian ponderousness to the spare, and sometimes awkward original. (The use of Latin names for the heroes but Greek names for the deities may puzzle the novice, and annoy those of us who grew up on Greek names for Greeks.) This version is still in print, and is available online at the Perseus site (for classical literature, etc.), and PDFs of the two volumes can be found at the Library of Congress site (archive.org).
1975 and 1976 saw the appearance of two new translations, by Keith Aldrich and Michael Simpson, respectively. The Aldrich translation, as The Library of Greek Mythology is out of print; Amazon seems to offer current printings, but these turn out on inspection to be the later translation by Robin Hard.
Simpson's Gods and Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorusis still in print. It is a richly annotated on ancient and modern literary versions of the story. Simpson has been criticized for unspecified inaccuracies in his treatment of the Greek. The most recent translaters, Smith and Trzaskoma (see below) prefer Hard's translation. However, Simpson's translation is clear, and his annotations, on the whole, well organized, if sometimes losing track of Apollodorus' text. Some readers seem to have found the language too American for their taste. It should be remembered that the author, whoever he was, used a kind of international literary Greek which probably seemed fairly up-to-date (if not very elegant) to his well-educated readers. Whether academic American English is a good substitute is certainly arguable.
Simpson's commentary appears as end-notes to sections of the main text, which makes for frequent interruptions, and the index is a bit sketchy, although usually helpful. I have used this edition for a quarter century with considerable enjoyment, and frequent enlightenment about other ancient works, and modern ones.
Aldrich's translation does not discuss other ancient versions in any detail, or refer to modern literary versions. I found it quite readable, but as of a decade ago I much preferred Simpson's version -- possibly a consequence of owning a paperback copy, instead of consulting it in a library. (Both Aldrich's and Simpson's versions are also illustrated.)
The more recent (1997) translation by Robin Hard, in the Oxford World's Classics series, as The Library of Greek Mythology has textual notes and critical apparatus, aimed at fellow classicists, but comforting to some of the rest of us. Hard's introduction and commentary offer clearer exposition of the structure of the The Library (stories arranged regionally, and genealogically in each section -- the latter device going back to the Hesiodic Catalogue poems, centuries earlier). It also has a superb index (several, in fact), and is fairly good on ancient variants, but avoids treatment of modern versions of the old stories, which is Simpson's strength. (Hard is one who does not approve of Simpson's translation.)
This translation is, like Simpson's, in print, and it also is now available in Kindle. I found the digital edition to be well-designed and well-executed, when I read it this spring on a smartphone screen, which I consider the ultimate test. (Toggling back and forth between text and notes took some time to get used to, but that was my problem!)
A more recent translation, aimed largely at students, is Apollodorus' 'Library' and Hyginus' 'Fabulae' translated, with Introductions, by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma (Hackett 2007), also available in both paperback and (at least formerly) Kindle formats. It contains complete, and substantially revised, versions of material which had appeared in excerpts in the same publisher's 2004 Anthology of Classical Myth.
[Addendum, March 2016: A truncated version of Frazer's 1921 two-volume translation-with-commentary has been published as a Kindle book, The Library of Apollodorus,by Delphi Classics, as Delphi Ancient Classics Book 62. I have reviewed it, concentrating on what is lacking, and how it can be supplemented with on-line resources (mainly pdfs).
Robin Hard's version of The Library of Greek Mythology is one of several modern English translations of an ancient (date disputed) compilation (*bibliotheke* - hence" library") of summaries of stories of the gods and heroes of Greece (but not Rome). It seems to be based, wherever it can be checked, on excellent sources; or, possibly, on earlier compilations which had excellent sources. It was not intended for pleasure reading, but for use as a reference manual, although we have evidence that in Byzantine times some readers used it as a short "history" of mythological times.
If the name of the author is correct, he cannot be the "Apollodorus the Grammarian" to whom the work used to be attributed. Unfortunately, this is the only name we have for it. Given the lack of internal fraudulent claims, however the bare name seems to me better than "Pseudo-Apollodorus" as it is sometimes given, since pseudo- is likely to be taken as a reflection on the author, instead of early scholars.
Considering the huge amount of ancient Greek literature that has been lost, and the primary sources to which this compiler (whoever and whenever he was), seems to have had access it is even more regrettable that a portion of The Library survives only in an abridged form. (Fortunately, part of the re-summarized material is Homeric; unfortunately, some of it is not.)
Hard's translation is a clear presentation of the material, with an excellent introduction and helpful notes, as one would expect from the Oxford World's Classics series in recent years. It can be read alone, consulted, or, I think, used as a class text (not in my personal experience, however.) It is not the only translation available.
The classic translation (which stood alone for half a century) is that by Sir James Frazer (of The Golden Bough) in 1921, in two volumes of the Loeb Classical Library (and so facing a Greek text). His commentary to The Library is, as one might expect, packed with information from other ancient sources and later parallels. Unfortunately, Frazer's commentary is not very well organized. His translation - to my taste - adds a certain Victorian ponderousness to the spare, and sometimes awkward original. (The use of Latin names for the heroes but Greek names for the deities may puzzle the novice, and annoy those of us who grew up on Greek names for Greeks.) This version is still in print, and is available online at the Perseus site (for classical literature, etc.), and PDFs of the two volumes can be found at the Library of Congress site (archive.org).
1975 and 1976 saw the appearance of two new translations, by Keith Aldrich and Michael Simpson, respectively. The Aldrich translation, as The Library of Greek Mythology is out of print; Amazon seems to offer current printings, but these turn out on inspection to be the later translation by Robin Hard.
Simpson's Gods and Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorusis still in print. It is a richly annotated on ancient and modern literary versions of the story. Simpson has been criticized for unspecified inaccuracies in his treatment of the Greek. The most recent translaters, Smith and Trzaskoma (see below) prefer Hard's translation. However, Simpson's translation is clear, and his annotations, on the whole, well organized, if sometimes losing track of Apollodorus' text. Some readers seem to have found the language too American for their taste. It should be remembered that the author, whoever he was, used a kind of international literary Greek which probably seemed fairly up-to-date (if not very elegant) to his well-educated readers. Whether academic American English is a good substitute is certainly arguable.
Simpson's commentary appears as end-notes to sections of the main text, which makes for frequent interruptions, and the index is a bit sketchy, although usually helpful. I have used this edition for a quarter century with considerable enjoyment, and frequent enlightenment about other ancient works, and modern ones.
Aldrich's translation does not discuss other ancient versions in any detail, or refer to modern literary versions. I found it quite readable, but as of a decade ago I much preferred Simpson's version -- possibly a consequence of owning a paperback copy, instead of consulting it in a library. (Both Aldrich's and Simpson's versions are also illustrated.)
The more recent (1997) translation by Robin Hard, in the Oxford World's Classics series, as The Library of Greek Mythology has textual notes and critical apparatus, aimed at fellow classicists, but comforting to some of the rest of us. Hard's introduction and commentary offer clearer exposition of the structure of the The Library (stories arranged regionally, and genealogically in each section -- the latter device going back to the Hesiodic Catalogue poems, centuries earlier). It also has a superb index (several, in fact), and is fairly good on ancient variants, but avoids treatment of modern versions of the old stories, which is Simpson's strength. (Hard is one who does not approve of Simpson's translation.)
This translation is, like Simpson's, in print, and it also is now available in Kindle. I found the digital edition to be well-designed and well-executed, when I read it this spring on a smartphone screen, which I consider the ultimate test. (Toggling back and forth between text and notes took some time to get used to, but that was my problem!)
A more recent translation, aimed largely at students, is Apollodorus' 'Library' and Hyginus' 'Fabulae' translated, with Introductions, by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma (Hackett 2007), also available in both paperback and (at least formerly) Kindle formats. It contains complete, and substantially revised, versions of material which had appeared in excerpts in the same publisher's 2004 Anthology of Classical Myth.
[Addendum, March 2016: A truncated version of Frazer's 1921 two-volume translation-with-commentary has been published as a Kindle book, The Library of Apollodorus,by Delphi Classics, as Delphi Ancient Classics Book 62. I have reviewed it, concentrating on what is lacking, and how it can be supplemented with on-line resources (mainly pdfs).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews