Year: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

René Goscinny , Albert Uderzo

Asterix the Gladiator [Astérix: Astérix gladiateur] (Astérix, 4)

The fourth installment in the Astérix series begins with the Prefect of Gaul, Caligula Alavacomgetepus (Odius Asparagus in English), visiting Petibonum (Compendium in English), one of the Roman camps near the Gaulish village that is home to Astérix and Obélix. He hopes to curry favour with Julius Caesar by bringing him one of the Gauls as a present, but Centurion Gracchus Nenjetépus (n'en jetez plus, Gracchus Armisurplus in English) is well aware that the Gauls ar(...)

literary

YEAR: 1964

COUNTRY: France

TAGS: Ancient Slavery Brutus Caesar Circus Maximus Forum Gaul Gladiators Phoenicians Roman Baths Rome

Edmund Niziurski, Zbigniew Łoskot

How to Get Alcibiades [Sposób na Alcybiadesa]

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.A group of schoolmates looked for a method of passing exams effortlessly. After many attempts, they succeeded in convincing an older boy (nick-named Shakespeare) to sell them a mysterious method that allows deceiving teachers. Th(...)

literary

YEAR: 1964

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Achilles Alcibiades Caesar Cato the Elder Heracles Hercules Hermes Latin (Language) Odysseus / Ulysses

Vakhtang Bakhtadze

Narcissus [Нарцисс (Nartsiss)]

The action starts in a museum, in the Greek antiquities department. Among statues and frescos, we see Greek vases. The camera stops at a vase with a silhouette of a young man with a bow. The narrator says: “Long ago, in ancient Greece, according to tradition, Narcissus lived. The young man was extremely handsome, but heartless and inaccessible.” At this moment the image on the red-figure vase gets full colours and Narcissus steps off the vase and off the frame. The same happens to Ec(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1964

COUNTRY: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

TAGS: Aphrodite Echo Eros Narcissus Pottery / Vases

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

Mary Renault

The Lion in the Gateway. The Heroic Battles of the Greeks and Persians at Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae

Ch. I. The Arrow of Ormuz. The Lion opens with a description of the mountainous Greek landscape. We hear of boys guarding flocks from wolves and the presence of many more dangers from pirates and raiders. Many Greeks seek land through colonisation, with many going east to settle Ionia. The ancient Greek disposition is described – an independent spirit that rejects kings in favour of oligarchies and democracies, inquiring minds which ask questions and seek answers about all manner of things(...)

literary

YEAR: 1964

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Alexander the Great Ancient Slavery Architecture Ares Artemis Athena Athens Bible Divination Eleusinian Mysteries Gods Graeco-Persian Wars Greek History Greek Philosophy Olympic Games Sparta