The Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth

by Felton, Debbie

• ISBN13: 9780192896506
• ISBN10: 0192896504
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780192650443
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-01-31
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth presents forty chapters about the unique and terrifying creatures from myths of the long-ago Near East and Mediterranean world, featuring authoritative contributions by many of the top international experts on ancient monsters and the monstrous. The first part provides original studies of individual monsters such as the Chimaera, Cerberus, the Hydra, and the Minotaur, and of monster groups such as dragons, centaurs, sirens, and Cyclopes. This section also explores their encounters with the major heroes of classical myth, including Perseus, Jason, Heracles, and Odysseus. The second part examines monsters of ancient folklore and ethnography, encompassing the restless dead, blood-drinking lamiae, exotic hybrid animals, the so-called dog-headed men, and many other unexpected creatures and peoples. The third part covers various interpretations of these creatures from multiple perspectives, including psychoanalysis, colonialism, and disability studies, with monster theory itself evident across the entire volume. The final part discusses reception of these ancient monsters across time and space--from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance to modern times, from Persia to Scandinavia, the Caribbean, and Latin America-and concludes with chapters considering the use and adaptation of ancient monsters in children's literature, science fiction, fantasy, and modern scientific disciplines. This Handbook is the first large-scale, inclusive guide to monsters in antiquity, their places in literature and art across the millennia, and their influence on later literature and thought.

Author Biography

Debbie Felton, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Debbie Felton is Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research focuses on folklore in classical antiquity, especially tales of the monstrous and supernatural. Her books include Haunted Greece and Rome (1999), the edited volumes Landscapes of Dread in Classical Antiquity (2018) and A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity (2021), and Monsters and Monarchs: Serial Killers in Classical Myth and History (2021). She enjoys bringing her research into the public sphere, and has appeared in various media (newspapers, radio, tv, blogs, podcasts, webinars) in the USA and Europe.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Monster Theory and Classical Antiquity, Debbie Felton
Part I: Monsters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East
1. Monsters in Creation Narratives of Ancient Greece and Rome, Fiona Mitchell
2. Monsters in Ancient Near Eastern Myth and Religion, Madadh Richey
3. Spawned from the Nile: Egyptian Monsters in Greco-Roman Culture, Leanna Boychenko
4. Typhoeus, Agent of Disorder, William Brockliss
5. The Giants: Children of Gaia, Christina A. Salowey
6. Dragons, Daniel Ogden
7. The 'Monster-Harbouring Sea': Sea Monsters and Sea Serpents in Ancient Myth, Dominic Ingemark and Camilla Asplund Ingemark
8. Art Horror: The Gorgons and Medusa, Dunstan Lowe
9. The Chimaera, R. Scott Smith
10. Cerberus, Hound of Hades, Derrek Joyce
11. Down the Sink Hole: The Lernaean Hydra, Susan Deacy
12. Cyclopes, Mercedes Aguirre and Richard Buxton
13. Scylla and Charybdis, Marianne Hopman
14. Sirens and Harpies: The Enchanting and Repulsive Avian Monsters of Classical Antiquity, Ryan Denson
15. The Sphinx, Carolina López-Ruiz
16. The Minotaur, Stephen M. Trzaskoma
17. Human-Animal Hybrids, Emma Aston
18. Monstrous Metamorphoses: Ovid and the Art of Making and Unmaking Monsters, Genevieve Liveley
Part II: Monsters in Ancient Folklore and Ethnography
19. Ancient Bogeys: Lamia, Mormo, Empousa, Gello, and Others, Janek Kucharski
20. Ghosts: The Restless and Unpleasant Dead, Julia Doroszewska
21. The Monstrous Animals and Animal Monsters of Ancient Greece, Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr.
22. Reading Monstrous Peoples in Ancient Greece and Rome, John B. Friedman
Part III: Interpreting the Monsters
23. Monumental Monsters, Simon Oswald
24. Cryptids in Greek Art, Andrea Murace
25. Monsters in Ancient Greek Art, Lorenz Winkler-Horaček
26. Rationalizing Mythic Monsters in Antiquity, Greta Hawes
27. Beyond Othering : Classical Monstrosity and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century, Vanda Zajko
28. Gods and Monsters: Cognitive Approaches to the Monstrous, Jennifer Larson
29. Monsters of the Inner World: Psychoanalytic Approaches, Eirini Apanomeritaki
30. Monsters and Disability: The Violence of Interpreting Bodies in Aristotle and Homer, Hannah Silverblank and Marchella Ward
Part IV: The Reception of Classical Monsters
31. Pearls from a Dark Cloud: Monsters in Persian Myth, Peter Adrian Behravesh
32. Plinian Monsters in Old Norse Encyclopedic Literature, Arngrímur Vídalín
33. Ancient Monsters in Medieval Literature and Art, Antonella Sciancalepore
34. The Revival of Classical Monsters in the Italian Renaissance, Luba Freedman
35. Classical Monsters in Latin American Cultures, Persephone Braham
36. Recasting Monsters in Postcolonial Art and Literature, Justine McConnell
37. Classical Monsters in Children s and YA Literature, Katarzyna Marciniak
38. Ancient Monsters in Modern Speculative Fiction, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Jesse Weiner, and Brett M. Rogers
39. Classical Monsters in Modern Popular Culture: A Case Study in Fan Fiction, Liz Gloyn
40. Ancient Monsters in Modern Science, Debbie Felton