Bulfinch’s classical retellings from Greek, Roman, Northern, Oriental, and Egyptian mythology.
Bulfinch's Mythology
Stories of Gods and Heroes
The Age of Fable
Bulfinch’s classical retellings from Greek, Roman, Northern, Oriental, and Egyptian mythology.
Chapter list
Read within The Age of Fable
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The religions of ancient Greece and Rome are extinct. The so- called divinities of Olympus have not a single worshipper among living men. They belong now not to the department...
CHAPTER II
PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA
The creation of the world is a problem naturally fitted to excite the liveliest interest of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans, not having the information on the subject...
CHAPTER III
APOLLO AND DAPHNE—PYRAMUS AND THISBE CEPHALUS AND PROCRIS
The slime with which the earth was covered by the waters of the flood produced an excessive fertility, which called forth every variety of production, both bad and good. Among...
CHAPTER IV
JUNO AND HER RIVALS, IO AND CALLISTO—DIANA AND ACTAEON—LATONA AND THE RUSTICS
Juno one day perceived it suddenly grow dark, and immediately suspected that her husband had raised a cloud to hide some of his doings that would not bear the light. She...
CHAPTER V
PHAETON
Phaeton was the son of Apollo and the nymph Clymene. One day a schoolfellow laughed at the idea of his being the son of the god, and Phaeton went in rage and shame and reported...
CHAPTER VI
MIDAS—BAUCIS AND PHILEMON
Bacchus, on a certain occasion, found his old schoolmaster and foster-father, Silenus, missing. The old man had been drinking, and in that state wandered away, and was found by...
CHAPTER VII
PROSERPINE—GLAUCUS AND SCYLLA
When Jupiter and his brothers had defeated the Titans and banished them to Tartarus, a new enemy rose up against the gods. They were the giants Typhon, Briareus, Enceladus, and...
CHAPTER VIII
PYGMALION—DRYOPE-VENUS AND ADONIS—APOLLO AND HYACINTHUS
Pygmalion saw so much to blame in women that he came at last to abhor the sex, and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonderful skill a statue of...
CHAPTER IX
CEYX AND HALCYONE: OR, THE HALCYON BIRDS
Ceyx was king of Thessaly, where he reigned in peace, without violence or wrong. He was son of Hesperus, the Day-star, and the glow of his beauty reminded one of his father....
CHAPTER X
VERTUMNUS AND POMONA
The Hamadryads were Wood-nymphs. Pomona was of this class, and no one excelled her in love of the garden and the culture of fruit. She cared not for orests and rivers, but...
CHAPTER XI
CUPID AND PSYCHE
A certain king and queen had three daughters. The charms of the two elder were more than common, but the beauty of the youngest was so wonderful that the poverty of language is...
CHAPTER XII
CADMUS—THE MYRMIDONS
Jupiter, under the disguise of a bull, had carried away Europa, the daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia. Agenor commanded his son Cadmus to go in search of his sister, and...
CHAPTER XIII
NISUS AND SCYLLA—ECHO AND NARCISSUS—CLYTIE—HERO AND LEANDER
Minos, king of Crete, made war upon Megara. Nisus was king of Megara, and Scylla was his daughter. The siege had now lasted six months and the city still held out, for it was...
CHAPTER XIV
MINERVA—NIOBE
Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, was the daughter of Jupiter. She was said to have leaped forth from his brain, mature, and in complete armor. She presided over the useful and...
CHAPTER XV
THE GRAEAE OR GRAY-MAIDS—PERSEUS—MEDUSA—ATLAS—ANDROMEDA
The Graeae were three sisters who were gray-haired from their birth, whence their name. The Gorgons were monstrous females with huge teeth like those of swine, brazen claws,...
CHAPTER XVI
MONSTERS
Monsters, in the language of mythology, were beings of unnatural proportions or parts, usually regarded with terror, as possessing immense strength and ferocity, which they...
CHAPTER XVII
THE GOLDEN FLEECE—MEDEA
In very ancient times there lived in Thessaly a king and queen named Athamas and Nephele. They had two children, a boy and a girl. After a time Athamas grew indifferent to his...
CHAPTER XVIII
MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
One of the heroes of the Argonautic expedition was Meleager, son of OEneus and Althea, king and queen of Calydon. Althea, when her son was born, beheld the three destinies,...
CHAPTER XIX
HERCULES—HEBE AND GANYMEDE
Hercules was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. As Juno was always hostile to the offspring of her husband by mortal mothers, she declared war against Hercules from his birth. She...
CHAPTER XX
THESEUS—DAEDALUS—CASTOR AND POLLUX
Theseus was the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and of Aethra, daughter of the king of Troezen. He was brought up at Troezen, and when arrived at manhood was to proceed to...
CHAPTER XXI
BACCHUS—ARIADNE
Bacchus was the son of Jupiter and Semele. Juno, to gratify her resentment against Semele, contrived a plan for her destruction. Assuming the form of Beroe, her aged nurse, she...
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
"Bacchus that first from out the purple grapes Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine, After the Tuscan manners transformed, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore as the winds listed...
CHAPTER XXII
THE RURAL DEITIES—ERISICHTHON—RHOECUS—THE WATER DEITIES— CAMENAE—WINDS
Pan, the god of woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds, dwelt in grottos, wandered on the mountains and in valleys, and amused himself with the chase or in leading the...
CHAPTER XXIII
ACHELOUS AND HERCULES—ADMETUS AND ALCESTIS—ANTIGONE—PENELOPE
The river-god Achelous told the story of Erisichthon to Theseus and his companions, whom he was entertaining at his hospitable board, while they were delayed on their journey...
CHAPTER XXIV
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE—ARISTAEUS—AMPHION—LINUS—THAMYRIS— MARSYAS—MELAMPUS—MUSAEUS
Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. He was presented by his father with a Lyre and taught to play upon it, which he did to such perfection that nothing could...
CHAPTER XXV
ARION—IBYCUS—SIMONIDES—SAPPHO
The poets whose adventures compose this chapter were real persons some of whose works yet remain, and their influence on poets who succeeded them is yet more important than...
CHAPTER XXVI
ENDYMION—ORION—AURORA AND TITHONUS—ACIS AND GALATEA
Endymion was a beautiful youth who fed his flock on Mount Latmos. One calm, clear night Diana, the moon, looked down and saw him sleeping. The cold heart of the virgin goddess...
CHAPTER XXVII
THE TROJAN WAR
Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, but on one occasion she did a very foolish thing; she entered into competition with Juno and Venus for the prize of beauty. It happened thus:...
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE FALL OF TROY—RETURN OF THE GREEKS—ORESTES AND ELECTRA
The story of the Iliad ends with the death of Hector, and it is from the Odyssey and later poems that we learn the fate of the other heroes. After the death of Hector, Troy did...
CHAPTER XXIX
ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES—THE LOTUS-EATERS—CYCLOPES—CIRCE—SIRENS —SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS—CALYPSO
The romantic poem of the Odyssey is now to engage our attention. It narrates the wanderings of Ulysses (Odysseus in the Greek language) in his return from Troy to his own...
CHAPTER XXX
THE PHAEACIANS—FATE OF THE SUITORS
Ulysses clung to the raft while any of its timbers kept together, and when it no longer yielded him support, binding the girdle around him, he swam. Minerva smoothed the...
CHAPTER XXXI
ADVENTURES OF AENEAS—THE HARPIES—DIDO—PALINURUS
We have followed one of the Grecian heroes, Ulysses, in his wanderings on his return home from Troy, and now we propose to share the fortunes of the remnant of the conquered...
CHAPTER XXXII
THE INFERNAL REGIONS—THE SIBYL
As at the commencement of our series we have given the pagan account of the creation of the world, so as we approach its conclusion we present a view of the regions of the...
CHAPTER XXXIII
CAMILLA—EVANDER—NISUS AND EURYALUS—MEZENTIUS—TURNUS
Aeneas, having parted from the Sibyl and rejoined his fleet, coasted along the shores of Italy and cast anchor in the mouth of the Tiber. The poet, having brought his hero to...
CHAPTER XXXIV
PYTHAGORAS—EGYPTIAN DEITIES—ORACLES
The teachings of Anchises to Aeneas, respecting the nature of the human soul, were in conformity with the doctrines of the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras (born five hundred and forty...
CHAPTER XXXV
ORIGIN OF MYTHOLOGY—STATUES OF GODS AND GODDESSES—POETS OF MYTHOLOGY
Having reached the close of our series of stories of Pagan mythology, and inquiry suggests itself. "Whence came these stories? Have they a foundation in truth or are they...
CHAPTER XXXVI
MODERN MONSTERS—THE PHOENIX—BASILISK—UNICORN—SALAMANDER
There is a set of imaginary beings which seem to have been the successors of the "Gorgons, Hydras, and Chimeras dire" of the old superstitions, and, having no connection with...
CHAPTER XXXVII
EASTERN MYTHOLOGY—ZOROASTER—HINDU MYTHOLOGY—CASTES—BUDDHA— GRAND LAMA
Our knowledge of the religion of the ancient Persians is principally derived from the Zendavesta, or sacred books of that people. Zoroaster was the founder of their religion,...
CHAPTER XXXVIII
NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY—VALHALLA—THE VALKYRIOR
The stories which have engaged our attention thus far relate to the mythology of southern regions. But there is another branch of ancient superstitions which ought not to be...
CHAPTER XXXIX
THOR'S VISIT TO JOTUNHEIM
One day the god Thor, with his servant Thialfi, and accompanied by Loki, set out on a journey to the giant's country. Thialfi was of all men the swiftest of foot. He bore...
CHAPTER XL
THE DEATH OF BALDUR—THE ELVES—RUNIC LETTERS—ICELAND—TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY—NIBELUNGEN LIED
Baldur the Good, having been tormented with terrible dreams indicating that his life was in peril, told them to the assembled gods, who resolved to conjure all things to avert...
CHAPTER XLI
THE DRUIDS—IONA
The Druids were the priests or ministers of religion among the ancient Celtic nations in Gaul, Britain, and Germany. Our information respecting them is borrowed from notices in...