Gods, Heroes, and Monsters A Sourcebook of Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern Myths in Translation

by López-Ruiz, Carolina

• ISBN13: 9780199797356
• ISBN10: 0199797358
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-07-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Setting itself apart from typical anthologies in classical mythology, Gods, Heroes, and Monsters: A Sourcebook of Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern Myths in Translation presents essential Greek and Roman sources--including work from Homer, Hesiod, Virgil, and Ovid--alongside analogous narratives from the ancient Near East--Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Hittite kingdom, Ugarit, Phoenicia, and the Hebrew Bible. Some of the sources appear here in English translations for the first time.

This collection stresses cultural continuities and comparisons, showing how Greek and Roman myths did not emerge in a vacuum but rather evolved from and interacted with their counterparts in the ancient Near East. Reinforcing this more inclusive definition of "classical," it is organized thematically, which allows readers to examine each category of myth in a comparative and cross-cultural light. For example, "Part III: Epic Struggles: Gods, Heroes, and Monsters" provides sources that feature Greek heroes like Heracles, Apollo, Achilles, and Hector along with the Epic of Gilgamesh and other ancient Near Eastern selections that focus on the hero.

Offering a uniquely expansive view of the ancient Mediterranean world, Gods, Heroes, and Monsters shows how the literature, inhabitants, and intellectual traditions of Greece and Rome and the ancient Near East were inextricably intertwined. The book is enhanced by a vibrant, full-color, 16-pg. photo insert, and many new translations by editor Carolina López-Ruiz and others. Ideal for undergraduate courses in Classical Mythology, it is also captivating reading for the general public.

Author Biography

Carolina López-Ruiz is Associate Professor of Classics at The Ohio State University. She is the author of When the Gods Were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East (2010) and the coeditor, with M. Dietler, of Colonial Encounters in Ancient Iberia: Phoenician, Greek, and Indigenous Relations (2009). Dr. López-Ruiz is currently preparing a monograph, with S. Celestino, on the pre-Roman culture of Tartessos in the Iberian Peninsula (OUP, forthcoming 2014).

Table of Contents

List of Maps
List of Figures
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Note on Text Arrangement, Transliterations, and Chronology
About the Editor
Contributors
Timeline
PART ONE. AND SO IT BEGAN: COSMOGONIES AND THEOGONIES
1.1. Babylonian Epic of Creation: Enuma Elish
1.2. Mesopotamian Theogony of Dunnu
1.3. Egyptian Cosmogonies
1.3.a. The Memphite Theology: Ending of the Shabako Stone
1.3.b. "A Hymn to Life": Coffi n Texts Spell 80
1.3.c. Excerpts from the Teachings for Merikare
1.4. God's Creation, from the Book of Genesis 1
1.5. Hesiod's Theogony
1.6. Orphic Cosmogony: the Derveni Papyrus
1.7. Phoenician Cosmogonies
1.7.a. Philon of Byblos: Excerpts from the Phoenician History
1.7.b. Phoenician Cosmogonies Mentioned by Damaskios
1.8. Cosmogony in Aristophanes' Birds
1.9. Short Cosmogony in Apollonios of Rhodes' Argonautika
1.10. Creation Myth in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 1
1.11. Two Short Cosmogonies, from Virgil's Aeneid and Eclogues
1.11.a. A "Tyrian" Cosmogony, from Aeneid, Book 1
1.11.b. Cosmic Song of Silenus, from Eclogues 6
PART TWO. MANKIND CREATED, MANKIND DESTROYED
2.1. Mesopotamian Flood Stories
2.1.a. Atrahasis
2.1.b. Flood Story from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI
2.2. Egyptian Texts on the Creation and Destruction of Mankind
2.2.a. Excerpts from the Coffin Texts
2.2.b. Excerpt from the Book of the Heavenly Cow
2.3. Adam and Eve, from Genesis 2-3
2.4. The Story of Noah, from Genesis 6-9
2.5. Prometheus, Pandora, and the Five Races of Mankind, from Hesiod's Works and Days
2.6. Ovid's Ages of Mankind and the Flood, from Metamorphoses, Book 1
2.7. An Orphic Anthropogony
PART THREE. EPIC STRUGGLES: GODS, HEROES, AND MONSTERS
3.1. The Epic of Gilgamesh (selections)
3.2. The Disputes between Horus and Seth (from the Pyramid Texts and papyri)
3.3. The Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
3.4. Hittite Myths
3.4.a. Anatolian (Hattic) Myth of Illuyanka
3.4.b. Hurro-Hittite Narrative Song: Kumarbi Cycle
3.5. Ugaritic Epic Poems
3.5.a. The Baal Cycle
3.5.b. The Aqhat Epic
3.6. Yahweh as a Storm God: Psalm 29
3.7. David and Goliath: 1 Samuel 17
3.8. Homer's Gods and Heroes
3.8.a. The Aristeia of Diomedes: Iliad, Book 5
3.8.b. Odysseus and the Cyclops: Odyssey, Book 9
3.9. Apollo's Journey: The Homeric Hymn to Apollo
3.10. Dionysos in Disguise
3.10.a. The Opening of Euripides' Bacchae
3.10.b. The Homeric Hymn to Dionysos
3.11. The Exploits of Perseus, Herakles, and Theseus, from Apollodorus' Library
3.11.a. Perseus
3.11.b. Herakles
3.11.c. Theseus
PART FOUR. OF CITIES AND PEOPLES
4.1. The Foundation of a Heliopolis Temple by Senusert I
4.2. The Hurro-Hittite Song of Release (Destruction of the City of Ebla)
4.3. Cain and Abel: Genesis 4
4.4. The Tower of Babel: Genesis 11
4.5. Abraham's Test, from Genesis 22
4.6. The Israelites' Escape from Egypt, from the Book of Exodus
4.7. The Sargon Legend
4.7.a. The Sargon Legend (Sumerian Text)
4.7.b. Sargon Birth Legend (Neo-Assyrian Text)
4.8. Birth of Cyrus the Great, from Herodotos' Histories
4.9. The Foundation of Cyrene
4.9.a. Herodotos on the Foundation of Cyrene
4.9.b. Cyrene in Pindar, Pythian Ode 5
4.10. The "Rape of Europa" and the Foundation of Thebes, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books 2-3 3
4.11. Theseus' Unification of Attika, from Plutarch's Life of Theseus
4.12. The Foundation of Carthage
4.12.a. Foundation Legend, from Justin, Epitome of Trogus
4.12.b. Aeneas' Arrival at Carthage, from Virgil's Aeneid, Book 1
4.13. The Foundation of Rome
4.13.a. Beginning of Livy's History of Rome, Book 1
4.13.b. Romulus and Remus, from Plutarch's Life of Romulus
PART FIVE. EROS AND THE LABORS OF LOVE
5.1. Ishtar and Gilgamesh: Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet VI
5.2. King Snefru and the Oarswomen
5.3. Egyptian Story of the Two Brothers
5.4. Joseph and Potiphar's Wife: Genesis 39
5.5. Aphrodite and Anchises: The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
5.6. Medea and Jason, from Euripides' Medea
5.7. "Hymn to Venus," from Lucretius' De rerum natura
5.8. Aeneas and Dido, from Virgil's Aeneid, Books 1 and 4
5.9. Pasiphae and the Cretan Bull
5.9.a. Minos, Pasiphae, and the Bull, from Apollodorus, Library, Book 3
5.9.b. Pasiphae's Passion, from Ovid, Ars Amatoria, Book 1
5.9.c. Minos and the Bull, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 8
5.10. Theseus and Ariadne
5.10.a. From Plutarch, Life of Theseus
5.10.b. Ovid, Heroides 10
5.11. Hippolytus and Phaedra: Ovid, Heroides 4
5.12. Penelope and Ulysses: Ovid, Heroides 1
5.13. Hermaphroditus, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 4
5.14. Cephalus and Procris, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 7
5.15. Hyacinth and Apollo, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 10
5.16. Pygmalion and the Statue of Galatea, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 10
5.17. Myrrha and Cinyras, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 10
5.18. Caenis-Caeneus, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 12
5.19. Achilles at Skyros, from Statius, Achilleid, Books 1-2
5.20. Cupid and Psyche, from Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Books 4-6
PART SIX. DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE JOURNEY
6.1. Gilgamesh and the Underworld: Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablets X-XI
6.2. Ishtar's Descent to the Underworld
6.3. Great Hymn to Osiris
6.4. The Fight between Re and Apep, from the Book of the Dead
6.5. Isis and Osiris, from Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride
6.6. Telipinu: An Anatolian Myth about a Departed God
6.7. Odysseus' Nekyia in Homer, Odyssey, Book 11
6.8. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter
6.9. Instructions for the Hereafter: An Orphic Gold Tablet
6.10. Cybele and Attis, from Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, Book 5
6.11. Adonis, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 10
6.12. Orpheus and Eurydice, from Virgil, Georgics, Book 4
6.13. Aeneas' Katabasis: Virgil, Aeneid, Book 6
6.14. The Dream of Scipio, from Cicero, De re publica, Book 6
6.15. Psyche's Descent to the Underworld, from Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Book 6
PART SEVEN. PLATO'S MYTHS
7.1. The Demiurge, from the Timaeus
7.2. Anthropogony, from the Protagoras
7.3. The Atlantis Myth, from Timaeus and Kritias
7.4. Aristophanes' Speech on Love, from the Symposium
7.5. The Myth of Er, from the Republic
Glossary of Technical Terms
Bibliography
References
Credits
Index of Place Names and Characters