Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Athena [Αθηνά (Athīná)]

This comic book is about the goddess Athena. On the inside of the front cover, we read about Athena’s temples on the Acropolis, her motherless status, and her many adjectives, which, we note, derive from Homer. Also, we learn about festivals honouring Athena. The book closes with Pericles praising Athena’s virtues. The story starts with young and beautiful Athena’s presentation to the world. She stands in Zeus’ hand as he sits on a throne surrounded by other O(...)

literary

YEAR: 1965

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Acropolis Alcibiades Aphrodite Apollo Argonauts Asclepius Aspasia Athena Briareus / Briareos Charites Crete Darius the Great Echo Enceladus Erechtheion Giants Hephaestus Hera Heracles Hermes Iris Marathon Medusa Minos Muses Odysseus / Ulysses Panathenaia Paris (Trojan Prince) Parthenon Pericles Perseus Persians Pheidias / Phidias Poseidon Sisyphus Socrates Solon Sophocles Tartarus Theseus Tiresias Trojan War Typhon / Typhoeus / Typhaon Zeus

Witold Makowiecki, Artur Łoboś

Diossos

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.Ancient Corinth, Miletus and other cities upon Aegean Sea during the reign of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos (6th century b.c.). Diossos, a boy from a very poor family, tries to encourage Greeks who arrived for Olympics in Corinth t(...)

literary

YEAR: 1950

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Ancient Slavery Ancient Warfare Argos (Dog) Caria Corinth Customs of Ancient Greeks Dionysia (Festival) Galleys Greece Greek Colonies Hipponax of Ephesus Marathon Miletus Olympic Games Solon Thales of Miletus

Dominic Brigstocke, Steve Connelly, William Terence Deary, Chloë Thomas

Horrible Histories (Series)

A sketch show based on the books of the same name by Terry Deary, focussing on many aspects of history not just the Classical areas. Each episode includes parodic songs teaching children about aspects of history, with both live-action and animated sections often working in conjecture to form the full picture of the sketch. Each sketch is accompanied by the narrative character Rattus Rattus who is used as an accuracy marker for the jokes within the series. The show takes a non-linear format (...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Achilles Aeschylus Aesop Aesop’s Fables Alexander the Great Antoninus Pius Aphrodite Archimedes Ares Aristotle Artemis Asclepius Athena Athens Avaricum Caesar Caesarion Caligula Cato the Elder Cerberus Claudius (Emperor) Cleopatra VII Constantine Cronus / Kronos Delphic Oracle Diana Diogenes Egypt Gallic Wars Gladiators Graeco-Persian Wars Greek History Hadrian Hannibal Hector Helen Hippocrates Janus Jupiter Marathon Mark Antony Mars Menelaus Mercury Minerva Mithras Neptune Nero Octavian Olympic Games Ouranos / Uranus Paris (Trojan Prince) Plato Pliny the Elder Pluto / Plouton Praetorian Guard Punic Wars Pyrrhus of Epirus Pythagoras Roman Baths Roman History Saturn Scipio Africanus Socrates Sparta Syracuse Theagenes of Thasos Thebes Tiberius Trojan Horse Trojan War Venus Vercingetorix Vesuvius Xerxes Zeus

Volodymyr Dakhno

How Cossacks Rescued Brides [Как казаки невест выручали (Kak kazaki nevest vyruchali)]

The movie is the third in a series about Cossacks produced by Volodymyr Dakhno. The series depicts adventures of three brave Cossacks: Grai, Oko and Tur.*The movie tells the story of Ukrainian young girls kidnapped by pirates. The girls are dressed in national costumes; singing a traditional Ukrainian song about the Sun, they float wreaths of cornflowers on a river, most probably celebrating the Kupala Night (the night of the Summer Solstice, the shortest, magical night in Slavic tradition). Thr(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1973

COUNTRY: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

TAGS: Abduction of Women Greece Marathon Olympic Games

Mordicai Gerstein

I am Pan!

This is a graphic novel adaption of myths relating to Pan, and told in the first person by Pan “himself”. The colourful, whimsical illustrations take up most of the page, and the necessary information is given either as captions or speech balloons. The book follows Pan’s birth and his later adventures. The narrated myths are: Pan’s birth, his escapades in Olympus, his residence in Arcadia, his invention of Panic, his falling in love with the moon and other nymphs, h(...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Echo Hera Hermes Marathon Midas Syrinx Typhon / Typhoeus / Typhaon Zeus

Kalliope Kyrdi, Evi Pini

Icarus Tells Stories about Statues in the National Archaeological Museum [Ο Ίκαρος αφηγείται ιστορίες για αγάλματα στο Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο (O Íkaros afīgeítai istoríes gia agálmata sto Ethnikó Archaiologikó Mouseío)]

A talking animal, a duck called Icarus, takes us through the galleries with sculpture at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Icarus shows us statues of males, females, and animals (as we notice also on the front cover), prompting us to pay attention to their style, meaning, and material.The value of experiential learning is emphasised in the introduction (page 3), so that teachers and parents can prepare for the museum visit. Throughout the book, Evi Pini and Kalliopi Kyrdi address bot(...)

literary

YEAR: 2008

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Alexander the Great Aphrodite Apollo Artemis Athena Athens Aulos Croesus Cycladic Culture Daedalus Delphi Dodona Egypt Greece in the Roman Era Hera Hermes Icarus Iris Kerameikos Kore / Korai Kouros / Kouroi Labyrinth Leto Marathon Marsyas Minoan Civilization Minos Olympia Pan Paris (Trojan Prince) Persians Poseidon Sounion Sparta Syrinx Zeus

Natalia Kapatsoulia, Filippos Mandilaras

The Battle of Marathon [Η μάχη του Μαραθώνα (I máchī tou Marathṓna)]

The textual and pictorial narrative starts with a contemporary setting: parents and children enjoy the sun and the sea in a crowded beach, ‘Marathon Beach’. As we read in red letters, this is the place where an important battle in history happened. We turn the page, and we are introduced to the Persian Empire, its geographical vastness and its great King, Darius I. By contrast, the reader comes to appreciate, Greece is much smaller. In the Greek city-states decisions were reached dem(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Artaphernes Athens Callimachus Darius the Great Datis Ionia Marathon Miltiades Persians

Natalia Kapatsoulia, Filippos Mandilaras

Theseus [Ο Θησέας (O Thīséas)]

This book aims to educate young learners about Theseus, presenting episodes from Theseus' life in a compact and entertaining manner. The textual and visual narrative starts with Theseus’ parents, Aegeus and Aethra, and ends with the hero’s long rule as a wise king of Athens. The plot unfolds like a fairy tale, appropriate for a story about the four kings mentioned: Aegeus, Theseus, Pittheus, and Minos. There is constant action, and we move on swiftly from one event to(...)

literary

YEAR: 2008

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Aegeus Aethra Ariadne Athens Crete Marathon Midas Periphetes Procrustes Sciron Sinis Sounion Troezen