How was the world as we know it created? What does it mean to be a hero? Where do we go when we die? Why are flood myths so ubiquitous? Anyone who has pondered these and other questions about humanity's ancient beliefs will be fascinated by The Friendly Guide to Mythology. Focusing on Greek and Roman mythology but including myths from Africa, Asia, Australia, northern Europe, and the Americas, The Friendly Guide to Mythology is filled with compelling stories of gods, goddesses, mortals, and monsters. This entertaining guide also includes an A-to-Z listing of the world's most captivating goddesses; profiles of famous writers, collectors, and interpreters of myths; and engaging sidebars, beautifully ornamented with photos, line drawings, and quotes. Featuring myths of love, wisdom, and adventure as well as those of violence, jealousy, and pure folly, this accessible collection offers fascinating insights into the human psyche and brings our rich mythological heritage delightfully into focus.

Nancy Hathaway is the author of The Unicorn, Native American Portraits: 1862-1918, Giving Sorrow Words (with Candy Lightner), and The Friendly Guide to the Universe.

Preface	p. xv
Out of Chaos, Vast and Dark	p. 1
Tales of Creation and Destruction	p. 1
Tales of Dismemberment	p. 3
Marduk Slays the Serpent	p. 3
Marduk: A Chronology	p. 6
P'an Ku Creates the World	p. 7
The Frost Giants and the Creation of the World	p. 8
The Sacrifice	p. 10
Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca Attack the Goddess	p. 11
Ta'aroa Gets Angry	p. 12
Sky Woman Falls to Earth	p. 13
Izanami and Izanagi	p. 15
If not Green Cheese, What?	p. 17
The Mating of the Gods	p. 17
An Egyptian Story: Variations on a Theme	p. 18
The Greek Creation	p. 20
Night	p. 22
The Origin of Humanity	p. 23
Earthlings	p. 23
Skin, Bone and More	p. 24
Sex	p. 25
The Ages of Humanity	p. 26
A Tale from Borneo	p. 27
The Greek Version	p. 27
A Hindu Scenario	p. 28
The Fifth Sun and the Creation of Humanity	p. 30
The Chronicle of the Plumed Serpent	p. 32
Two Mayan Myths	p. 32
Tales of the Flood	p. 35
Enlil Can't Stand the Noise	p. 35
Zeus Gets Angry	p. 37
Venus Saves Wainkaura	p. 39
Nu Gua, the Gourd Girl	p. 40
Why the World is Such a Mess: Tricksters and Troublemakers	p. 42
Inktomi	p. 43
Coyote	p. 43
Maui	p. 44
Eshu	p. 44
Loki	p. 45
Death, Destruction and Apocalypse	p. 47
Why We Die	p. 47
A Story about Stones	p. 50
Hell and the Afterlife	p. 50
Ragnarok: The Final Battle	p. 55
The Doom of the Gods	p. 56
From the Annals of Mythology	p. 58
The Life of Hesiod	p. 58
Snorri Sturluson	p. 62
An Abecedarium of Goddesses	p. 65
Amaterasu	p. 69
Bastet	p. 70
Benten	p. 71
Brigit	p. 72
Cerridwen	p. 74
Coatlicue and Coyolxuahqui	p. 75
Cybele	p. 76
Durga	p. 78
Epona	p. 79
Freyja	p. 80
Frigg	p. 81
Gnowee	p. 83
Heng-o	p. 83
Huitaca	p. 84
Inanna	p. 86
Isis	p. 91
Jari	p. 98
Kali	p. 98
Kuan Yin	p. 100
Lilith	p. 102
Mary	p. 104
Niamh (and Oto-Hime)	p. 108
Oshun and Oya	p. 110
Parvati	p. 111
Pele	p. 113
Quies	p. 115
Rhiannon	p. 116
Sedna	p. 118
Tatsuta-Hime	p. 120
Taueret	p. 120
Tien-Mu	p. 121
Uke Mochi	p. 121
The Valkyries	p. 121
White Buffalo Woman	p. 123
Xochiquetzal	p. 124
Yambe-Akka	p. 125
The Zorya	p. 125
From the Annals of Mythology	p. 126
Max Muller and the Disease of Language	p. 126
Sir James George Frazer and The Golden Bough	p. 128
Jane E. Harrison	p. 132
The Greeks	p. 135
Zeus, Lord of the Dark Storm Cloud	p. 139
His Childhood	p. 140
The Clash of the Titans	p. 141
A Threat Overcome	p. 142
His Authority	p. 143
Zeus Loses His Son	p. 144
The Amorous History of Zeus	p. 145
Love's Masquerade	p. 146
Hera, Goddess of Marriage	p. 150
Hera's Children	p. 152
Tiresias	p. 153
Poseidon, God of the Sea-Blue Mane	p. 154
Poseidon Hippios, Lord of Horses (and Other Animals)	p. 156
Scylla and Charybdis	p. 157
From the Annals of Mythology: Homer, Lawrence of Arabia, and the Homeric Question	p. 158
Demeter and Persephone	p. 161
The Eleusinian Mysteries	p. 166
Demeter's Son Ploutus	p. 167
Hades: Lord of the Dead, Land of the Dead	p. 168
Residents of Hades	p. 170
Another Greek Afterlife: Plato and the Myth of Er	p. 173
Hestia and the Vestal Virgins	p. 175
Golden Aphrodite	p. 178
Anchises	p. 180
Adonis	p. 182
The Judgment of Paris	p. 184
The Punishments of Aphrodite	p. 185
Aphrodite's Children	p. 187
Apollo, God of Light	p. 189
The Birth of Apollo	p. 189
The Delphic Oracle	p. 191
The Mouse God and His Son	p. 193
Two Musical Competitions	p. 194
The Loves of Apollo	p. 196
The Sibyl of Cumae	p. 199
Apollo and Helios, Gods of the Sun	p. 201
Artemis: Wild Thing	p. 203
Niobe's Children	p. 204
The Death of Actaeon	p. 205
The Death of Orion	p. 206
The Bears of Artemis	p. 206
Lunar Goddesses	p. 208
Moon Gods	p. 208
Atalanta and the Calydonian Boar Hunt	p. 209
Atalanta Gets Married	p. 210
Gray-Eyed Athena: A Motherless Child	p. 211
Athena's Birth	p. 212
Athena and Her City	p. 213
Pallas Athene	p. 214
Arachne	p. 215
Erichthonius	p. 216
What Athena Wore	p. 217
Athena: Now and Then	p. 219
Ares and Mars, Gods of War	p. 220
Romulus and Remus	p. 222
Hephaestus, the Crippled Smith	p. 223
The Tale of a Cuckold	p. 225
The Masterpieces of Hephaestus	p. 226
Prometheus, Champion of Humankind	p. 229
The Sacrifice	p. 229
Zeus Strikes Back	p. 231
Prometheus Is Punished	p. 232
Hermes, Lord of Rascals, Prince of Thieves	p. 233
The First Lyre	p. 233
Hermes Becomes an Olympian God	p. 233
Hermes, Io, and the Herms	p. 236
Hermes Trismegistus	p. 237
The Great God Pan	p. 240
Echo and Narcissus	p. 242
Wind-footed Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow	p. 243
Death and the Rainbow	p. 244
Dionysus, God of Joy	p. 246
The Invention and Spread of Wine	p. 248
The Rites of Dionysus	p. 251
More Tales of Dismemberment	p. 252
King Midas	p. 254
Dionysus and Orpheus	p. 256
Orpheus and Eurydice	p. 258
From the Annals of Mythology: Ovid	p. 260
Heroes	p. 265
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Hero	p. 265
The Valet's Hero	p. 266
Hero Worship in Antiquity	p. 267
Heroines in Antiquity	p. 268
Emerson's Hero	p. 268
Carlyle's Hero	p. 269
E. B. Tylor's Hero	p. 270
Von Hahn's Hero	p. 270
Raglan's Hero	p. 272
Otto Rank's Hero	p. 272
Sigmund Freud's Hero	p. 273
The Jungian Hero	p. 274
Wallace Stevens's Hero	p. 275
Joseph Campbell's Hero	p. 276
Gilgamesh	p. 279
Gilgamesh and Enkidu	p. 280
The Search for Immortality	p. 281
The Woman of the Vine and the Ferryman	p. 282
Utnapishtim's Test	p. 283
The Old Men Are Young Again	p. 283
Perseus and the Medusa: The Hero's Task	p. 284
On the Medusa	p. 286
Heracles	p. 287
The Labors of Heracles	p. 289
Heracles Helps Out: Another Round Trip to the Underworld	p. 296
Jason and the Golden Fleece	p. 297
Jason and Medea	p. 303
A Flawed Hero	p. 303
Parents Who Kill	p. 304
Tales of the Cauldron	p. 305
The Dagda's Cauldron	p. 305
Bran's Cauldron	p. 306
Theseus	p. 307
Theseus in Athens	p. 308
Theseus and the Minotaur	p. 309
Daedalus, Icarus, and Minos	p. 310
On Labyrinths	p. 311
Theseus in the Underworld	p. 313
Theseus and Phaedra	p. 313
Krishna	p. 315
Krishna's Exploits	p. 317
The Last Incarnation of Vishnu, and the Next	p. 318
Blue	p. 319
Mwindo: Little-one-just-born-he-walked	p. 321
Mwindo Meets His Aunt	p. 322
Into the Underworld	p. 322
Mwindo and the Dragon	p. 324
Mwindo Is Purified	p. 324
Nyamitondo: A Sister's Story	p. 325
Cu Chulainn	p. 326
The Birth of Cu Chulainn	p. 326
Cu Chulainn Earns His Name	p. 327
Cu Chulainn the Warrior	p. 328
Macha's Curse	p. 329
Cu Chulainn in Love	p. 330
The Cattle Raid of Cooley	p. 331
The Death of Cu Chulainn	p. 332
The Heroic Lover	p. 334
The Salmon of Knowledge	p. 334
Finn's Pursuit of Love	p. 335
Psyche	p. 337
Venus Reacts	p. 339
The Labors of Psyche	p. 340
Glossary: A Compendium of Gods, Goddesses, Monsters, and Mortals	p. 343
Bibliography	p. 393
Index	p. 405
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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