Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Sarah McCarry

Dirty Wings (The Metamorphoses Trilogy, 2)

The second instalment in McCarry’s Metamorphoses Trilogy, Dirty Wings is the prequel to All Our Pretty Songs (2013), the story of the powerful friendship between the beautiful, charismatic Aurora, and the unnamed narrator, and the drama ensues when a mysterious, brilliant musician comes between them. Dirty Wings reveals the origins of the friendship between the girls’ mothers, Maia and Cass. In this book, Maia is a naïve, beautiful teenager with a prodigious musical talent for t(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Cassandra Cerberus Demeter Hades Jason Katabasis Maia Orpheus Persephone Sirens Underworld

Natalia Kapatsoulia, Filippos Mandilaras

Hermes. The god for all chores [Ερμής, ο θεός για όλες τις δουλειές (Ermī́s, o theós gia óles tis douleiés)]

The book begins by explaining that Hermes is known for helping the thieves, for serving as the messenger of the Olympians, for befriending heroes, and for travelling to the underworld. Zeus fell in love with the nymph Maia, who gave birth in a cave. While Maia was asleep, we are told, baby Hermes stepped out of his cradle and started wandering in the forest. Inventive Hermes made a lyre out of a turtle’s tortoiseshell. Soon, tired of singing, Hermes became hungry. In search for food, he wa(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Apollo Arcadia Hades Hermes Maia Nymphs Olympus Zeus

Sandra Jobson

Once Upon a Vase

Contents: Illustrations IntroductionThe First Story. The Story of Peleus and ThetisThe Second Story. The Trojan WarThe Third Story. The Revenge of HephaistosThe Fourth Story. Theseus and the MinotaurThe Fifth Story. Perseus and the GorgonsThe Sixth Story. The Battle of the Pygmies and the CranesThe colophon states that “Ergotimus made my vase and Kleitas painted me. Sandra Jobson has retold my story and redrawn my illustrations in my book”: “Ergotimus m’epoisen (...)

literary

YEAR: 1970

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Acrisius / Akrisios Agamemnon Ancient Fashion Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Centaur(s) Children’s Game (Ancient) Doris Eris Eurytion Fates Graeae / Graiai Helen Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hippodameia Leto Maia Menelaus Nereid(s) Nereus Oceanus / Okeanos Oenomaus / Oinomaos of Pisa Paris (Trojan Prince) Peleus Poseidon Pottery / Vases Priam Pygmies Wedding Traditions (Greek and Roman)

Katherine Dunlap Cather, Frances Elliott Clark

Pan and His Pipes: and Other Tales for Children

This is a collection of myths and legends about music from around the world, spanning in time from ancient Greece to medieval Europe. The Greek myths featured are the births of Pan and Mercury, story of Pan and Syrinx and the contest between Apollo and Pan. Each chapter ends with a list of music pieces relevant to the music discussed in the chapter. For example, the story about Mercury's invention of the lyre ends with a list of 25 selections on instruments descended from the lyre. There is (...)

literary

YEAR: 1916

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Apollo Jupiter Maia Mercury Midas Pan

Jacynth Hope-Simpson, Alberto Longoni

The Curse of the Dragon's Gold

This is a collection of Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Norse, and Arthurian myths retold for children, closely adapted from the ancient source material. The featured Greek myths are retellings of the stories of Theseus, Persephone, Aeneas, Odysseus and the birth of Hermes. All except Theseus are loose child-friendly English translations of ancient poems (the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Homeric Hymn to Demeter, The Aeneid, and The Odyssey). In the case of Theseus, Hope-Simpson writes in her introductio(...)

literary

YEAR: 1964

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aegeus Aeneas Anchises Apollo Ariadne Ascanius / Iulus Creusa (Aeneas' Wife) Demeter Dido Dionysus / Dionysos Eumaeus / Eumaios Eurycleia Hades Hermes Laertes Maia Minos Minotaur Odysseus / Ulysses Penelope Persephone Telemachus Zeus