Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Ofra Deshe Dalman, Sipurei Mitologia Yevanit. Alumot Publishing, 1993, 158 pp.
Genre
Myths
Short stories
Target Audience
Young adults
Cover
Picture courtesy of Danny Sfarim publishing.
Author of the Entry:
Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, mauril68@gmail.com
Elżbieta Olechowska, University of Warsaw, elzbieta.olechowska@gmail.com
Ofra Deshe-Dalman
, b. 1948
(Author)
Summary
The book contains many stories from Greek mythology in somewhat chronological order: from the origin of the world to the titans and the Olympian gods, and then we have the creation of men and then various stories of specific individuals, like King Midas, Hercules, Perseus etc. So there is quite a large variety of stories in the book. The stories included in this book are:
- The Creation of the World;
- The First Gods;
- The War of the Gods against the Titans;
- Olympus- Residence of the Gods;
- Apollo and Hermes;
- Hermes the God;
- Pandora;
- Prometheus and the Creation of Man;
- The Birth of Dionysus;
- Stories of King Midas;
- The King of Hades Looks for a Bride;
- The Stories of the Goddess Athena and the Girl Arachne;
- The Aloadae;
- Orpheus in Hades;
- Theseus – Hero of Athens;
- Daedalus – The Genius Inventor;
- Hercules;
- Perseus;
- Atalanta – the Story of a Heroic Woman;
- The Love Story of Eros and Psyche.
Analysis
The book offers a short collection of stories from Greek mythology (for example, the birth of Venus) accompanied by illustrations. The stories are adapted for young teens.
According to Maurice (2016), 323–324: "Written on commission, Dalman used a range of sources in both Hebrew and English in composing the books. They … detailed compendia of classical mythology in a form accessible to young readers…These books were published as part of the publisher’s children’s book collection, which included story anthologies, such as Grimm’s fairy tales, animal fables, and translated classic juvenile literature."*
* Maurice, Lisa, “Greek Mythology in Israeli Children’s Literature”, in Katarzyna Marciniak, ed., Our Mythical Childhood... The Classics and Literature for Children and Young Adults, Leiden: Brill, 2016.
Further Reading
Maurice, Lisa, “Greek Mythology in Israeli Children’s Literature”, in Katarzyna Marciniak, ed., Our Mythical Childhood... The Classics and Literature for Children and Young Adults, Leiden: Brill, 2016.
