Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Ivan Kotliarevsky

Aeneid. Travestied Inside Out into Little Russian language by I. Kotliarevsky [Енеида. На малороссійскій языкъ перелиціованная И. Котляревскимъ (Eneyda. Na malorossiĭskiĭ iazyk perelytsiovannaia Y. Kotliarevskym)]

After the fall of Troy, Aeneas ("Aeneas was a lively fellow, / Lusty as any Cossack blade") and the Trojans run away to sea. Juno asks Aeolus to sink the Trojans. Aeolus creates the storm, but Aeneas gives Neptune a bribe, and the storm calms down. Venus feels worried about her son Aeneas and complains about Juno to Zeus. Zeus says that the fate of Aeneas is already sealed – he will go to Rome and found a strong state there. After much suffering, the Trojans reach Carthage, where(...)

literary

YEAR: 1798

COUNTRY: Russia Russian Empire

TAGS: Aeneas Aeneid Aeolus Anchises Apollo Ascanius / Iulus Carthage Creusa (Aeneas' Wife) Cupid Dido Euryalus Juno Jupiter Latinus Lavinia Mercury Minerva Neptune Nisus Paris (Trojan Prince) Sibyl Trojan Horse Trojan War Turnus Venus Virgil Vulcan

Susan Cooper

Greenwitch (The Dark is Rising Sequence, 3)

Greenwitch is a fantasy novel for children about a humanoid image of leaves and branches that comes to life with the powers of the universe and becomes involved in a battle between good and evil. It makes use of many folktale elements and allusions to Classical mythology in order to bring myth and ancient societal practices to the attention of the modern child. As the third book in the series The Dark is Rising Sequence, the Greenwitch returns to the lives of Simon, Jane, and Barn(...)

literary

YEAR: 1974

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Celtic Mythology Katabasis Poseidon Sibyl Tethys

Małgorzata Musierowicz

Jeżyciad (Series) [Jeżycjada]

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.Jeżycjada is a saga about the life of succeeding generations of families from a district in Poznań, Jeżyce. It began in December 1975. Most of the volumes highlight the problems of adolescence and early adulthood for girls from t(...)

literary

YEAR: 1977

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Aristophanes Aspasia Cyclops / Cyclopes Great Fire of Rome Homer Horace Hydra Hypatia Ides of March Jupiter Laocoön Group Latin (Language) Lotus Eaters / Lotophagoi Marcus Aurelius Nero Ovid Pyrrhus of Epirus Roman History Seneca Sibyl Socrates Styx Virgil Wedding Traditions (Greek and Roman)

Bob Lentz, Kate McMullan , Denis Zilber

Keep a Lid on It, Pandora! (Myth-O-Mania, 6)

Keep a Lid on it, Pandora! Tells the story of Pandora’s box and Prometheus stealing fire with a contemporary twist, narrated by Hades, and is part of a series of Greek myths told from Hades’ point of view. Hades claims that Zeus edited all the original myths in order to make himself look more powerful. He goes on to give a different explanation for the myth of Pandora’s Vase, specifically that he and Zeus had made a bet on whether Pandora would open it or not. Since Zeus b(...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Athens Caucasus Mountains Chaos Cronus / Kronos Cyclops / Cyclopes Delphic Oracle Epimetheus Gaia / Gaea Hades Harpies Hecatoncheires / Hundred-Handed Hephaestus Hestia Hypnos Olympus Ouranos / Uranus Pandora Pandora’s Box Parnassus (Mount) Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Sibyl Styx Titans Underworld Zephyrus Zeus

Margaret Mahy

Memory

In Memory, nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart is a dancer suffering from the post-traumatic stress disorder. Some years before, his sister Janine, also a dancer, had fallen from a cliff while playing a game with Jonny and their friend, Bonny Benedicta, in which Jonny was the "wolfman," and Bonny the "pythoness," or the "oracle." Jonny, who resented his family’s favouritism towards his sister, is haunted by the thought that he might have pushed Janine and develops a (...)

literary

YEAR: 1987

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Dionysus / Dionysos Oracles Pythia Sibyl

Wanda Markowska

Myths of the Greeks and Romans [Mity Greków i Rzymian]

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.The book includes stories of ancient gods and heroes. We find there the most important myths about the origins of the world, as well as the most popular ones, e.g. about Prometheus, Daedalus and Icarus, Sisyphus, or Romulus and R(...)

literary

YEAR: 1968

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Actaeon Aeneas Alcestis Amor Aphrodite Apollo Ares Argonauts Ariadne Artemis Asclepius Atalanta Athena Atlas Baucis Bellerophon Cerberus Ceres Cronus / Kronos Daedalus Demeter Deucalion Diana Dionysus / Dionysos Eros Europa Eurystheus Flora Fortuna Gaia / Gaea Genies Gods Golden Fleece Hades Harpies Hecate Hephaestus Hera Heracles Hercules Hermes Hero(es) Hestia Icarus Janus Juno Jupiter Lares Liber Libera Luna Mars Medea Medusa Meleager Mercury Metis Midas Minerva Minos Minotaur Moirai Neptune Niobe Olympians Orpheus Pandora Pasiphae Penates Persephone Perseus Phaethon Philemon Pomona Poseidon Priam Prometheus Proserpina Psyche Pyrrha Quirinus Remus Roman Religion Romulus Sibyl Sisyphus Sol Styx Tantalus Themis Theseus Typhon / Typhoeus / Typhaon Venus Vertumnus Vesta Vulcan Zeus

Eric Freeberg, Diane Namm

Roman Myths

Retelling of classic Roman myths meant for ages 7–9 with one illustration per story. Following the stories, the author includes questions for discussion about each story. The stories in the book:The Oak and the Linden TreePrometheus and IoAtlas and the Eleventh Labor of HerculesRomulus and RemusEscape from TroyThe Golden BoughCupid and PsycheMinerva and ArachneOedipus and the SphinxOtus and Ephialtes(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeneas Aeolus Amulius Apollo Arachne Atlas Baucis Carthage Cerberus Ceres Charon Crete Cupid Diana Dido Dii Consentes Elysian Fields / Elysium Ephialtes Faustulus Garden of Hesperides Golden Bough Greeks Harpies Heracles Hercules Io Italia Janus Juno Jupiter Lares Lemures Manes Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Numina Numitor (King) Nymphs Oedipus Otus (Giant) Ovid Penates Philemon Prometheus Psyche Remus Rhea Rome Romulus Saturn Sibyl Sphinx Styx Temple of Vesta (Forum Romanum) Thebes Titans Trojan Horse Troy Twelve Labours of Heracles Underworld Venus Vesta Vulcan

Paul Shipton

The Pig Who Saved the World

This comic adventure novel is a sequel to The Pig Scrolls, starring a pig named Gryllus. Gryllus was one of Odysseus’ crewmen who was transformed into a pig by Circe. When the rest of the sailors were returned to their human form, he hid in the bushes, and after being found by Sibyl, a courageous prophetess, and Homer, an awkward teenage poet, goes on to (unwittingly and unwillingly) save the world.In the sequel, The Pig Who Saved the World, Gryllus and his friends go back to the isla(...)

literary

YEAR: 2006

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Circe Homer Labyrinth Midas Odysseus / Ulysses Odyssey Orpheus Polyphemus Proteus Sibyl Sirens Sisyphus Thanatos Tithonus Underworld