Class JiL AIL Book >l s Copyright N° COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. CLASSIC MYTHOLOGY"A \ T A TRANSLATION (WITH THE AUTHORS SANCTION) OF PROFESSOR C. WITT'S "GRIECHISCHE GOTTER TOD HELDENGESCHICHTEff" BY FRANCES YOUNGHITSBAND WITH A PREFACE BY ARTHUR SIDGWICK, M.A. SUPPLEMENTED WITH A GLOSSARY OF ETYMOLOGIES AND xvELATED MYTHS n APR 28 1883 \ %>v no.:. °/=" WASHING^ NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1888 3^ t> Copyright, 1883, BY HENRY HOLT & CO, IX-yozcv NOTE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. While all that Mr. Sidgwick says in the preface about the fitness of these stories to instruct and entertain chil- dren, is true, it is also true that they are fit to entertain students of any age, and instruct most of them. In consequence of the latter fact, the American pub- lishers have had prepared for their edition a glossary of etymologies and related myths, so that any student with a moderate preparation may find the volume an introduc- tion to Comparative Mythology. The teacher is recommended to explain each myth, referring the pupils to the glossary, after the recitation, and to examine the pupils on the explanation, as a review exercise at the next recitation. To couple the explanation with the first knowledge of the story, would detract from its charm as a story. PREFACE. The following collection of legends about the Greek gods and heroes, to which I have been asked to write a few words of introduction, is a translation of a little book by Professor C. Witt which has been received in Germany with great favour by the public and * the press. This popularity has been due, not merely to the intrinsic beauty of the stories, but to the skill shown in the selection, and in the simplicity of the style. The last quality it has been the aim of the translator to retain in the English version ; and the success of the book in Germany suggests a hope that the translation may become a favourite in this country. That there still exists a demand for some such book, notwithstanding the deserved popularity of Kingsley's ' Heroes,' Cox's Mythological Tales, and Church's Stories from Greek and Latin Writers, seems to be shown by the large number of encouraging letters received by the translator from persons engaged or interested in education. VI PREFACE. That Greek stories, simply told, will be acceptable to children, common sense would tell us, even apart from experience. Children impartially welcome all tales of incident and wonder, if they can understand the language in which they are written, and if their pleasure is not dashed by the medicinal flavour of a moral , And even a moral will not deter them if it be not too explicit or obtrusive. Again, from the teacher's point of view as well as the child's, there seems to be every reason in favour of presenting to them at an early age the stories of Greek mythology. There is first the obvious fact that such reading trains and cultivates the imaginative faculties, and that it is good to vary the ' Arabian Nights ' and the German and Norse fairy-tales with such totally different material as the Greek stories. There are also other reasons arising from the altered position of Greek in education. Without entering on any controverted question, it is clear that even in classical schools the teaching of Greek will have in the future to occupy fewer hours, and probably to begin at a later age, than hitherto. The much greater number of subjects now taught, and necessarily and rightly taught, makes this inevitable. And if the same good, or anything like the same good, is to be got out of the fewer hours, there must be con- siderable modification of method. And one obvious PREFACE. Vll modification is, that much which before was taught slowly and painfully by means of the Greek authors, should be learnt quickly and pleasurably by means of an English rendering. To take a very humble example : The present writer would have a much less weary memory of his early struggles with the ' Alcestis ' of Euripides at the age of twelve, if he had been familiar from the age of six with such a version of the story as is presented in this volume. In short, to bring to the study of a language— always a difficult and tedious business to a beginner —some knowledge of the matter with which the literature deals, and some interest in the people and their life, must tend to lighten and shorten the process of learning. And to this end the following little book is offered as a small contribution. The aim and hope of the translator may be thus summed up in two or three words. All children will get pleasure out of these stories, and that is much. Many children will perhaps get the elements of cul- ture, and that is more. And some may get at once pleasure, culture, and a little real preparation for severer studies ; and so receive a benefit, though doubtless of a humbler kind, yet something like that ' which Pope's Homer ' has given to so many genera- tions of schoolboys. A. S. Oxford : November, 1882. — Vll I NOTES. NOTE ON T3E SOURCES OF THE STORIES. The stories have been taken by the Author from many sources, but chiefly from a Greek writer, ^pollodorus, who lived hi the second century B.C., and collected the old mytho- logical tales. A good deal has also been taken from the poems of Hesiod and Homer, and from the tragedies of Sophocles ; but in these cases it has been necessary to exer- cise some care in the selection of what would be suitable for a book intended to be placed in the hands of children. Several of the details have been supplied by the ancient works of art which have come down to us. NOTE ON THE NAMES OF THE GODS. As it is probable that many readers will be more familiar with the Latin names of the gods, whilst the stories in this book, being derived from Greek sources, give naturally the Greek names, the following list will perhaps be useful, which shows the corresponding names of each god in the two languages : Greek. Latin. Aphrodite. Venus. Apollon. Apollo. Artemis. Diana. Athene. Minerva.. Kronos. Saturnus Demeter. Ceres. Dionusos or Bacchos. Bacchus. Hephaistos. Vulcanus. Hera. Iuno. Hermes. Mercurius. Persephone. Proserpina. Plouton. Pluto. Poseidon. Neptunus. Zeus. Iuppiter. Also the hero and domi-god Herakles is called Hercules by the Romans. ;; .NOTES. ix The young reader will naturally ask why, if the stories are the same, the names are in most cases so different. And the answer is briefly this : Each nation had originally its own gods, with different names and quite different ideas attaching to them. But the Greeks were a far more gifted and imaginative people than the Romans, and, when com- munication was established between the countries, became in many ways their teachers. Many Romans learned Greek, and the Greek stories became current. But as the Romans naturally adhered to the old names of their own gods, there arose in this way an identification. The old Latin ideas about their gods gave way to, .or were incorporated with, the much richer and more poetical Greek fancies and traditions and thus the Greek mythology was almost bodily adopted by the Roman writers. For example, the god Saturnus was originally a Latin rustic god, presiding (as the name shows) over the important work of solving corn. But when the identification took place, all the stories about Kronos were gradually attached to him, and thus we find him in the Roman poets the father of luppiter, and the old dispossessed king of the gods. In a f'3w cases (as Apollo, Pluto, Bacchus), the name was adopted as well as the story, the termination being Latinised. Sometimes it was corrupted, as Proserpina from Persephone and sometimes a chance resemblance (as that between the Latin Hercules, originally Herculus, and the Greek Herakles) determined the identification. Accordingly when we say, as is often said, that the Greek Artemis (for example) is 'called Diana in Latin,' we are using language which, without the above explanation, is liable to mislead the beginner. A. S. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE Glossary of Etymologies and Related Myth s xiii I. The Beginning of All Things 1 II. The Golden Age 8 III. Prometheus and Epimetheus . 9 IV Deucalion and Pyrrha ... 13 * V. The Rape of Persephone . 16 VI. Marpesra . - 20 VII. Artemis 23 VIII. The Giants Otus and Ephialtes 27 IX. Endymiox 29 X. lo . 31 XL Danaus and Aegyptus 34 XII. Phaethon 39 XIII. Salmoneus and Sisyphus . 42 XIV. Bellerophon 45 XV. Daedalus and Icarus .... 52 XVI. Europa and Cadmus 54 XVII. Thebes 59 XVIII. Semele 61 XIX. Dionysus , . 63 XX. Melampus and Bias 68 XXI. Tantalus. Pelops ..... 75 XXII. Niobe . 80 XXIII. Meleager and Atalanta .... 83 XXIV, Admetus and Alcestis . ... 91 — XI i CONTENTS. VAOB- CHAPTKR " XXV. Perseus . .95 XXVI, Heracles :— 104 1. The War with the Teleboae .... 108 2. The Birth and Youth of Heracles . 3. The Madness of Heracles, and his First Six Labours ....... 112 122 4. The Last Six Labours . ... 5. The Murder of Iphitus and the Vengeances of Heracles ..,.•• 137 6. The Marriage of Heracles with Deianira, and his Death 142 XXVII. The Quest op the Argonauts : 1. The Golden Fleece 148 2. The Journey to Colchis 151 3. The Fight for the Golden Fleece . 159 4. The Journey Home 165 5. Medea's Kevenge 171 XXVIII. Theseus 176 XXIX. Oedipus 205 XXX. The Seven against Thebes .