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The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths
The first anthology ever to present the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories—from myths and fairy tales to jokesCaptured 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.
580 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 14, 2017
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776 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 8, 2017
I loved this. It is not really a book of Greek myths, though it does include some of them. It's really more an encyclopedia of urban legends, famous quotations, and jokes. It made me laugh a lot and I can't wait to read it again.
Note: This is not the sanitized Disney-esque version of these stories and it is not appropriate for children.
Note: This is not the sanitized Disney-esque version of these stories and it is not appropriate for children.
April 5, 2025
This is a great resource but I want to be clear about what it is and is not. This is not a collection of the common stories about Zeus, the Olympians, Hercules, Oedipus, or Troy. It won't serve as your primary "Greek Mythology" book. Go with Hamilton or Graves for that.
Hansen's collection concentrates on folktales, more localized myth, and anecdotes about famous figures, fictional and real - what we might describe as urban legends today. A large chunk of the tales come from lesser known classical writers like Lucian, Aelian, Athenaios, Livy, and Diogenes. Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus are also well represented. If like me, you normally approach Herodotus with an eye to historical evidence, it is easier to overlook the large number of legendary anecdotes sprinkled throughout.
Hansen's collection concentrates on folktales, more localized myth, and anecdotes about famous figures, fictional and real - what we might describe as urban legends today. A large chunk of the tales come from lesser known classical writers like Lucian, Aelian, Athenaios, Livy, and Diogenes. Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus are also well represented. If like me, you normally approach Herodotus with an eye to historical evidence, it is easier to overlook the large number of legendary anecdotes sprinkled throughout.
October 29, 2025
I would probably give this a 3.25. I've been reading it over several months as it's quite a long read but it's full of short stories effectively, so it's easy to dip in and out of, I don't think I could have read it all in one go. It took me a while to get through the introduction but then as I got into reading all the folktales, legends and myths I really enjoyed it. I preferred the slightly longer myths, as reading several short ones in a row felt a bit jarring but it was a good read overall.
May 9, 2021
The title might lead you to expect a retelling of Greek Mythology, but there's little of that here. Instead we find a collection of stories, anecdotes, and jokes culled from many ancient writers, most of them Greek and few of them well known. I enjoyed reading them very much and as a result was induced to add the works of Aelian and Lucian to my reading list. The Introduction and Appendix, in which Hansen discusses the classification of the various tales, were duller fare; unfortunately the Introduction is all you get in the Kindle sample.
April 22, 2021
Really solid compendium of Greek myths, legends, folktales and personal narratives (and it also explained the difference between those which is helpful)
October 1, 2023
An assortment of tales, lore, and aphorisms that go beyond the typical tales of deities, heroes, and monsters.
November 14, 2021
This is really long, and it's good. It's clear that the author put his heart into this work. It's only that it's really long, and it's a library book, so I wanted to return it. I only got halfway through it, but I wanted to remember my favorite parts:
Cicero's story of the grateful Dead Man:
"The 'grateful Dead Man,' as folklorists call him, figures in a stable narrative routine in a variety of traditional stories: (a) the protagonist comes upon the corpse of a man he does not know; (b) he kindly arranges for Burial at his own expense; subsequently, (c) the Dead Man's ghost appears to him and helps him in some way. In the present belief legend The grateful Dead Man serves Simonides as a warning apparition.
the American rock band The Grateful Dead took its name from this recurrent figure of folk narrative."
"36. Pythagoras remembers an earlier life
Pythagoras believed in the transmigration of souls and regarded the eating of meat as something to be avoided, saying that after death The souls of all living beings enter into other living beings. He used to declare than in his own case he remembered having been Euphorbos, the son of Panthos, at the time of the Trojan war, and that he had been slain by Menelaos.
They say that Pythagoras once came as a traveler to Argos and, seeing among the spoils from Troy a shield nailed to a wall, began to weep. When they Argives asked him the reason for his grief, he explained that he had carried this very shield at Troy when he was Euphorbos. Since they were incredulous and judged him to be mad, he declared that he would give them verbal proof that this was the case. On the inner side of the shield (he said) there was inscribed, in archaic letters, EUPHORBOS. At this surprising claim everyone called for the shield to be taken down, and, as it happens, this inscription was found on the inner side.
Diodorus of Sicily"
From: Miracles of Jesus
"There was a woman who had been experiencing her menstrual period For 12 years. She had been treated by many doctors, had spent all the money she had, and had not been helped but had gotten worse. After hearing about Jesus, she joined the crowd from behind and touched his cloak. For she had said to herself, 'if I touch even his cloak, I'll be healed.' The source of her blood immediately dried up, and she recognized in her body that she was healed of her illness.
Jesus was immediately aware that his power had gone out of him, and turning around to the crowd, he said, 'who touched my cloak?' his disciples said, 'you see how the crowd is pressing you, and yet you ask who touched you?' But he was looking around to see who had done it. In fear and trembling, The woman who knew what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. He said to her, 'daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be free of your illness.' "
"The suckling daughter
a praetor found a free-born woman guilty of a capital crime at his tribunal and handed her over to the triumvir for execution in prison. She was received there, but the man in immediate charge of her custody, moved with pity, did not strangle her straight away. Moreover, he permitted the woman's daughter to have access to her, although he did search the girl thoroughly beforehand to be sure that she did not bring any any food with her, for he was calculating that the woman would die of starvation.
After the passage of many days, however, the man asked himself how it was that his prisoner was holding out for so long. Observing the daughter more closely, he noticed her take out her breast and alleviate her mother's hunger with the help of her own milk. This novel and astonishing scene was reported by the jailer to the triumvir, by him to the praetor, and by him to the board of judges, and a remission of the woman's penalty was granted.
Where does Piety not penetrate, and what does she not devise? in prison she found a new way to save a parent. For is there anything so extraordinary, so unusual, as for a mother to be nourished by her own daughter's breasts? One might think this could be contrary to natural order, if it were not the first law of nature to esteem one's parents.
Valerius Maximus"
"Zeus and Hera wrangle over sexuality
among the Thebans there was a seer named Teiresias, son of Eueres and a nymph Chariklo, descended from the family of the Spartan Oudaios. Teiresias lost his sight, and different stories are told about his blinding and his powers as a seer. Some persons say that he was blinded by the gods because he had revealed to human beings matters that the gods wished to keep secret.
Pherekydes, however, says that he was blinded by Athena. For Chariklo was dear to Athena, but [some words have fallen out of the text here, such as 'when Teiresias happened to come upon the goddess and'] saw her completely naked, she put her hands over his eyes and disabled his sight.
Chariklo asked Athena to restore his vision, but since Athena was unable to do this, she cleansed his ears, making him understand all the cries of birds, and she gave him a staff of Cornel wood by means of which he was able to walk like sighted persons.
but Hesiod says that Teiresias saw snakes copulating on Mount kyllene, wounded them, and was transformed from a man into a woman, and that on another occasion he observed the same snakes copulating, and became a man. For this reason, when Hera and Zeus were arguing about whether men or women enjoyed sexual intercourse more, they asked Teiresias. He said that if sexual pleasure had 10 parts, men enjoyed 1/10 and women 9/10. Because of this answer Hera blinded him, while Zeus granted him the power of prophecy."
🤣
Cicero's story of the grateful Dead Man:
"The 'grateful Dead Man,' as folklorists call him, figures in a stable narrative routine in a variety of traditional stories: (a) the protagonist comes upon the corpse of a man he does not know; (b) he kindly arranges for Burial at his own expense; subsequently, (c) the Dead Man's ghost appears to him and helps him in some way. In the present belief legend The grateful Dead Man serves Simonides as a warning apparition.
the American rock band The Grateful Dead took its name from this recurrent figure of folk narrative."
"36. Pythagoras remembers an earlier life
Pythagoras believed in the transmigration of souls and regarded the eating of meat as something to be avoided, saying that after death The souls of all living beings enter into other living beings. He used to declare than in his own case he remembered having been Euphorbos, the son of Panthos, at the time of the Trojan war, and that he had been slain by Menelaos.
They say that Pythagoras once came as a traveler to Argos and, seeing among the spoils from Troy a shield nailed to a wall, began to weep. When they Argives asked him the reason for his grief, he explained that he had carried this very shield at Troy when he was Euphorbos. Since they were incredulous and judged him to be mad, he declared that he would give them verbal proof that this was the case. On the inner side of the shield (he said) there was inscribed, in archaic letters, EUPHORBOS. At this surprising claim everyone called for the shield to be taken down, and, as it happens, this inscription was found on the inner side.
Diodorus of Sicily"
From: Miracles of Jesus
"There was a woman who had been experiencing her menstrual period For 12 years. She had been treated by many doctors, had spent all the money she had, and had not been helped but had gotten worse. After hearing about Jesus, she joined the crowd from behind and touched his cloak. For she had said to herself, 'if I touch even his cloak, I'll be healed.' The source of her blood immediately dried up, and she recognized in her body that she was healed of her illness.
Jesus was immediately aware that his power had gone out of him, and turning around to the crowd, he said, 'who touched my cloak?' his disciples said, 'you see how the crowd is pressing you, and yet you ask who touched you?' But he was looking around to see who had done it. In fear and trembling, The woman who knew what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. He said to her, 'daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be free of your illness.' "
"The suckling daughter
a praetor found a free-born woman guilty of a capital crime at his tribunal and handed her over to the triumvir for execution in prison. She was received there, but the man in immediate charge of her custody, moved with pity, did not strangle her straight away. Moreover, he permitted the woman's daughter to have access to her, although he did search the girl thoroughly beforehand to be sure that she did not bring any any food with her, for he was calculating that the woman would die of starvation.
After the passage of many days, however, the man asked himself how it was that his prisoner was holding out for so long. Observing the daughter more closely, he noticed her take out her breast and alleviate her mother's hunger with the help of her own milk. This novel and astonishing scene was reported by the jailer to the triumvir, by him to the praetor, and by him to the board of judges, and a remission of the woman's penalty was granted.
Where does Piety not penetrate, and what does she not devise? in prison she found a new way to save a parent. For is there anything so extraordinary, so unusual, as for a mother to be nourished by her own daughter's breasts? One might think this could be contrary to natural order, if it were not the first law of nature to esteem one's parents.
Valerius Maximus"
"Zeus and Hera wrangle over sexuality
among the Thebans there was a seer named Teiresias, son of Eueres and a nymph Chariklo, descended from the family of the Spartan Oudaios. Teiresias lost his sight, and different stories are told about his blinding and his powers as a seer. Some persons say that he was blinded by the gods because he had revealed to human beings matters that the gods wished to keep secret.
Pherekydes, however, says that he was blinded by Athena. For Chariklo was dear to Athena, but [some words have fallen out of the text here, such as 'when Teiresias happened to come upon the goddess and'] saw her completely naked, she put her hands over his eyes and disabled his sight.
Chariklo asked Athena to restore his vision, but since Athena was unable to do this, she cleansed his ears, making him understand all the cries of birds, and she gave him a staff of Cornel wood by means of which he was able to walk like sighted persons.
but Hesiod says that Teiresias saw snakes copulating on Mount kyllene, wounded them, and was transformed from a man into a woman, and that on another occasion he observed the same snakes copulating, and became a man. For this reason, when Hera and Zeus were arguing about whether men or women enjoyed sexual intercourse more, they asked Teiresias. He said that if sexual pleasure had 10 parts, men enjoyed 1/10 and women 9/10. Because of this answer Hera blinded him, while Zeus granted him the power of prophecy."
🤣
July 29, 2023
Goodreads does not list the publisher's audio version of this book: Princeton UP ISBN 9780691251639.
This anthology has an extensive bibliography of its resources and endnotes identifying the classical source of each excerpt (author when known, title of the work, title of the source work, approximate publication century or date).
This anthology has an extensive bibliography of its resources and endnotes identifying the classical source of each excerpt (author when known, title of the work, title of the source work, approximate publication century or date).
November 8, 2017
What I like best about this is the note which each piece of text that frames the story within the cultural context.
April 14, 2023
Iată c-am făcut-o și pe asta.
Mi-a plăcut foarte mult această carte. Motivele sunt multiple.
1) Nu-mi plac introducerile lungi și plictisoase, recunosc. Însă aici, a fost mai mult decât necesar. În mod surprinzător, grecii nu aveau o categorisire „standard” a poveștilor, insă autorul, distins clasicist, nu numai că împarte aceste povestiri, dar și explică pe larg prin ce se caracterizează fiecare tip.
2) Deși există și câteva dintre miturile știute de toată lumea din mitologia clasică („Cupidon și Psyche”, Mitul lui Narcis, „Sabia lui Damocle” etc.), majoritatea textelor din această carte sunt povești, fabule, anecdote, legende și apoftegme mult mai puțin cunoscute, toate citate autorilor clasici, de la Homer, la Platon, la Herodot (unde am recunoscut aproape toate textele atribuite lui, încât îi citesc încă de la începutul anului Istoriile) la Ovidiu, la Hesiod, la Titus Livius, la Aelius, Petronius, Seneca, Esop și așa mai departe, uneori în variante multiple
3) E o carte atât pentru cei mai mici, cât și pentru adulți (având și povești deșuchiate... și nu atât de puține pe cât m-aș fi așteptat)
Aveți grijă de voi!
Mi-a plăcut foarte mult această carte. Motivele sunt multiple.
1) Nu-mi plac introducerile lungi și plictisoase, recunosc. Însă aici, a fost mai mult decât necesar. În mod surprinzător, grecii nu aveau o categorisire „standard” a poveștilor, insă autorul, distins clasicist, nu numai că împarte aceste povestiri, dar și explică pe larg prin ce se caracterizează fiecare tip.
2) Deși există și câteva dintre miturile știute de toată lumea din mitologia clasică („Cupidon și Psyche”, Mitul lui Narcis, „Sabia lui Damocle” etc.), majoritatea textelor din această carte sunt povești, fabule, anecdote, legende și apoftegme mult mai puțin cunoscute, toate citate autorilor clasici, de la Homer, la Platon, la Herodot (unde am recunoscut aproape toate textele atribuite lui, încât îi citesc încă de la începutul anului Istoriile) la Ovidiu, la Hesiod, la Titus Livius, la Aelius, Petronius, Seneca, Esop și așa mai departe, uneori în variante multiple
3) E o carte atât pentru cei mai mici, cât și pentru adulți (având și povești deșuchiate... și nu atât de puține pe cât m-aș fi așteptat)
Aveți grijă de voi!
November 4, 2018
A remarkable composition of Greek, Roman and Early Christian writing. I cannot think of another book so richly compact as a gateway to the classical literary world. Definitely a book worth reading often.
July 11, 2023
You won't find too many of the famous Classic myths and tales in here, but there are endlessly fascinating tales and sayings from the ancient world to delight. And you'll also learn something on categorizing stories.
Liked it.
Liked it.
Read
April 4, 2024I did not actually finish this. However, I will say what I did read was a very good telling of different legends and myths. I didn't finish as it wasn't what I was looking for for my research project, but I think it would be of great interest to others who are looking for this subject matter.
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April 24, 2025A solid reference manual, or casual reader. Listening to it as an audiobook showcased how many short one liners and explanations of proverbs the book had. Still had loads of eye opening insights and I think Diogenes wins out as my favorite.
June 13, 2020
Nice to read something different to the traditional myths and legends. Also interesting to see how modern stories have been shaped.
July 11, 2020
Informative, but a terribly boring read.
April 29, 2023
It was not as cool as I thought it would be.
February 3, 2025
About 3 stars. I love Greek mythology, but these stories kind of mooshed together too much.
March 6, 2023
„Cartea poveștilor, legendelor și miturilor greco-romane” nu trebuie să lipsească din casa nimănui, spun cu convingere după ce am citit-o flămând de la un capăt la celălalt; dacă te pasionează nu doar miturile pe care poate ți le mai amintești din școală, ci și orice istorisire pe care ai auzit-o în cadru educațional sau la biserică, orice povață primită pe ton glumeț de la vreun bătrân din familie, atunci cartea de față este cea care oferă contextul perfect pentru a pricepe (o parte dintre) rădăcinile unor legende care au ajuns până-n zilele noastre ca atare sau care s-au transformat, influențate de istorie și de curgerea timpului.
Recenzia integrală: https://ancazaharia.ro/cartea-povesti...
Recenzia integrală: https://ancazaharia.ro/cartea-povesti...
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September 7, 2018398.20938 B7243 2017
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews