Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition

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The Creation of the Earth: From the beginning of time, gods have fought over who controls the earth. Finally, Zeus wins the war and takes charge. Ceyx and Alcyone: Ceyx leaves his lover, Alcyone, and dies at sea. Alcyone jumps into the ocean for his body, and the two lovers turn into birds.

Arethusa and Alpheus: Arethusa, a mortal huntress, wins the attention of the river god, Alpheus. Arethusa wants nothing to do with him, so to spare her from rape, Artemis turns her into a river spring. One the great kings who leads the Greeks in the Trojan War and whose story continues in the Oresteia. Agamemnon’s stubbornness toward Achilles almost costs the Greeks the war, and his cold-hearted sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia ultimately costs him his life. Achilles Bellerophon: Bellerophon accidentally kills his brother. To purify himself, he rides Pegasus as he completes challenges. The Greek creation story begins with only Chaos, Night, and Death. Next comes Love, and with it Heaven and Earth, and then monsters and the godlike Titans. The gods, who are children of the Titan Cronus, overthrow their father (led by Zeus) and rule the universe. They then create humans, who populate the earth along with other supernatural creatures. Hades is the land of the dead.

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We follow the drama of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Odysseus. We hear the tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Cupid and Psyche, and mighty King Midas. We discover the origins of the names of the constellations. And we recognize reference points for countless works for art, literature and culture inquiry-from Freud's Oedipus complex to Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas to Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra a b c d e Catherine E. Forrest Weber (Winter 2002). "A Citizen of Athens: Fort Wayne's Edith Hamilton". Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. 14 (1): 40. Sicherman, Barbara (1984). Alice Hamilton, A Life in Letters. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01553-3.

Europa: Zeus pursues a fine maiden, Europa, in the shape of a bull. He takes her on a ride across the ocean and eventually bears two sons by her. More recent writers have used Hamilton's observations in contrasting the civilizations and cultures of the East with that of the West. In comparing ancient Egypt with Greece, for instance, Hamilton's writing describes the unique geography, climate, agriculture, and government. Historian James Golden cites from The Greek Way that "Egyptian society was preoccupied with death." Its pharaohs erected giant monuments to themselves to impress future generations and its priests advised the slaves to "look forward to an afterlife." [35] Golden used Hamilton's research to contrast these differences with the Greeks, especially the Athenians. Hamilton argued that individual "perfection of mind and body" dominated Greek thought and as a result, the Greeks "excelled at philosophy and sports" and that life "in all its exuberant potential" was the hallmark of Greek civilization. [35] The Roman Way Edith Hamilton, an educator, writer and a historian, was born August 12, 1867 in Dresden, Germany, of American parents and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. Her father began teaching her Latin when she was seven years old and soon added Greek, French and German to her curriculum. Hamilton's education continued at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut and at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which she graduated in 1894 with an M.A. degree. The following year, she and her sister Alice went to Germany and were the first women students at the universities of Munich and Leipzich. Again, Hamilton is not the original author of these myths, but their compiler from a variety of classical poets from ancient Greek and Roman civilization. Greek civilization flowered first, generating the paradigms, frameworks, and myths that the Romans later adopted. The earliest poet Hamilton uses is a Greek one—Homer, who is said to have composed the Iliad and the Odyssey around 1,000 b.c.. These two works are the two oldest known Greek texts and are—with their clear and widespread influence—considered fundamental texts of Western culture and literature. Their depictions of heroism have provided models for social morals and ethics that still resonate today. Their imaginative power has achieved no less: their characters, images, and narratives have continued to fascinate generations of readers and guide multitudes of artists. Hamilton draws from a number of other authors besides Homer: other Greeks, such as Hesiod, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and Romans such as Ovid, Virgil, and Apollodorus. At the beginning of each chapter, Hamilton notes which authors she has used as source material for that chapter’s stories. Such citations are important, as these different authors—widely separated by time and worldview—tell radically different kinds of stories. Hamilton’s introduction offers a chronological overview of these original authors, reminding us that the Romans wrote roughly 1,000 years after Homer and about 500 years after the Greek tragedians. This time difference is significant, as the warring, fractious conglomeration of independent Greek city-states made for a very different society from the immense, stately Roman Empire, the largest and most stable empire the world had ever seen. Augustus’s Rome was a rich, sophisticated, and decadent culture, and its literature reflects this spirit. Whereas myths were very practical for the Greek authors, defining their religion and explaining the world around them, Roman authors treated the myths as elaborate fantasies told purely for entertainment or as cultural hallmarks that were used to justify Roman world dominance as a divinely decreed manifest destiny.Cupid and Psyche: Venus is jealous of a beautiful girl named Psyche, who wins the attention of her son Cupid. Although Psyche marries Cupid, she disobeys him and demands to see his figure in the light. Disowned by her husband, she then sets out to win his love and respect, and after many adventures, she eventually does. As Publishers Weekly described the event in Hamilton's honor, floodlights illuminated the Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus and, for the first time in history, the Stoa. See Hallett, in Bosher, McIntosh, McConnell and Rankine, ed. (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Greek Drama in the Americas. Oxford University Press. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list ( link)

a b c d e f Charles Moritz, ed. (1964). Current Biography Yearbook, 1963. New York: H. W. Wilson Company. pp.175–77.

Hamilton intended to remain in Munich, Germany, to earn a doctoral degree, but her plans changed after Martha Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, persuaded Hamilton to return to the United States. In 1896 Hamilton became head administrator of Bryn Mawr School. [20] Founded in 1885 as a college preparatory school for girls in Baltimore, Maryland, Bryn Mawr School was the country's only private high school for women that prepared all of its students for collegiate coursework. The school's students were required to pass Bryn Mawr College's entrance exam as a requirement for graduation. [13] [19] Robert Kanigel (1998). Vintage Reading: From Plato to Bradbury. Bancroft Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-9631246-7-8.

The Quest for the Golden Fleece: When Jason claims his rightful place as king, the reigning Many scholars note that the story of Persephone captures the important spirit of the natural process. As the descent and return of the goddess bring about the seasons, so too does her transition resemble the birth-and-death cycle of all living things. One of the most innocent characters in Greek mythology, Persephone shows that youth must eventually grow old and die. The original gods, children of Heaven and Earth, and parents of the six original Olympians. Defeated by Zeus and his siblings in a war for control of the universe, most of the Titans are imprisoned in the bowels of the earth. Prometheus, who sides with Zeus, and his two brothers, Epimetheus and Atlas, are not imprisoned. Atlas is forced to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders forever. CronusDionysus's tale reveals a way in which Greek myths served to enforce a moral code. Although some tales are more complex than others, they tend to hold moral significance for the reader. In this case, the story of Dionysus reminds the reader that bad deeds will be remembered and revenge will ensue. Singer, Sandra L. (2003). Adventures Abroad: North American Women at German-Speaking Universities, 1868–1915. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-09686-0. The stories of mythology involve many tales about the gods and their interactions with each other and with mortals. The stories begin at the beginning of time and proceed through the first few generations of gods and goddesses until they begin to interact with humans. Doing so creates a wide variety of troubles for humans and gods alike. In 1884 Edith began two years of study at Miss Porter's Finishing School for Young Ladies (now known as Miss Porter's School) in Farmington, Connecticut, where attendance was a family tradition for the Hamilton women. [1] Three of Hamilton's aunts, three cousins, and her three sisters attended the school. [17]