The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology (Penguin Dictionary) - Softcover

Pierre Grimal

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140512357 ISBN 13: 9780140512359

Publisher: Penguin, 1991

Synopsis

This concise, abridged edition of Pierre Grimal's celebrated DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY brilliantly distils and captures the essence of Greek and Roman mythology. It is the ideal reference tool for anyone with an interest in the Classics or those seeking to explore the many allusions to its mythology that abound in later literature.

About this title

Review

"This substantial and attractive book should be warmly welcomed . . . a work at once authoritative and complete with an impressive standard of accuracy: the generous cross–referencing given makes browsing an almost mandatory pleasure, and it will indeed be a learned reader who does not find something he did not previously know on almost every page." Times Literary Supplement

"There has been nothing in English like Grimal′s authoritative dictionary... this text will be an essential source for specialists and general readers alike... invaluable and sorely needed." Library Journal

From the Publisher

Some sample entries:

ECHO

A Nymph of the trees and springs. In one account Echo was loved by Pan but loved a Satyr instead, who shunned her; in revenge, Pan sent some shepherds mad, who tore her to pieces. In another account Echo loved Narcissus unrequitedly and pined away; when she died her voice alone remained - this repeated the last syllables of spoken words.

PARCAE

The three Roman goddesses of Destiny, identified with the Greek Moirae. The Parcae were originally the attendant spirits of childbirth. They were depicted as spinning thread and measuring out, at whim, the lifespan of all mortals. They were sisters; they presided over birth, marriage and death. In the Forum the statues of the three Parcae were popularly called the Three Fates (the tria Fata).

SATYRS

Demons of nature who appeared in Dionysus' train. They were represented sometimes with the lower part of the body resembling that of a horse and the upper part that of a man, and sometimes with their animal half in the form of a goat. They had a long, thick tail, like that of a horse, and a perpetually erect penis of enormous proportions. They were depicted as dancing, drinking with Dionysus and pursuing the Maenads and the Nymphs. They were gradually represented with less obviously bestial characteristics: their lower limbs became human, they had feet and not hooves. Only the tail remained, as evidence of their old form.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0140512357
• ISBN 13: 9780140512359
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480
• Editor: Stephen Kershaw