Book Review of Mythology by Edith Hamilton 6.7

General Information:

Name of Book: Mythology

ISBN: 9780316341516

Publisher: First Black Bay

Year it was published: 1942

Overall theme:

"The Greeks did not believe that the gods created the universe. It was the other way about: the universe created the gods. Before there were gods heaven and earth had been formed. They were the first parents. The Titans were their children, and the gods were their grandchildren." (24)

Part Six: The Less Important Myths

20. Midas- and Others

Midas

Observations: Brief stories of Midas, that of the story of how he got the Golden Touch and then begged Apollo to take it back as well as the story of him siding with Pan rather than Apollo, and in anger Apollo turned his ears into a donkey's ears.

Aesculapius

Observations: He is Apollo's and Coronis's son. His mother preferred a mortal and laid with him. Apollo was angered and killed her but rescued the boy and gave him to Chiron to rear. Chiron taught him remedies and whatnot, and soon Aesculapius surpassed the teacher. He resurrected someone and Zeus struck him down, although for hundreds of years he was worshiped by mortals.

The Danaids

Observations: Daughters Danaus didn't want to marry cousins and they fled to Argos where they were promised sanctuary. For unknown reasons, however, they were all married and forty nine of the sisters killed their husbands. Hypermnestra didn't kill her husband Lynceus and various endings are given for their endings. The forty nine sisters had to go to hell and fill up water in jars riddled with holes.

Glaucus and Scylla

Observations: Story of how Scylla became the monster; she was loved by Glaucus a formal mortal who became a god but she continually repelled him away from her. Glaucus asked Circe for help, but Circe fell in love with him as well. Glaucus refused to love her, thus Circe poured potion into waters where Scylla was bathing and she turned into a monster.

Erysichthon

Observations: He cut down down tress sacred to Ceres and when Ceres learned of the deed she asked Famine to give him a punishment where the more he eats the more he starves. To fill his appetite he sold his daughter numerous times and she changed shapes, returned to him, and he sold her again. Eventually he ate himself.

Pomona and Bertumnus

Observations: Pomona loved fruits and gardening, as Vertumnus loved her. He disguised himself as an old woman, told a sad story about Anaxarete and how she spurned her lover Iphis. Pomona accepted his suit and from now on there were two gardeners instead of one.

21. Brief Myths arranged alphabetically

Observations: Various myths such as about Amalthea and Cornucopia, the Amazons and their deeds, Amymone who was inspiration for a spring, Antiope and how she was avenged by her two sons, Arachne and how she became a spider, Arion who was a real person and how dolphins rescued him, Aristaeus and how he got the bees he wanted, Aurora and Tithonus whom Aurora forgot to ask for youth when she asked for immortality, Biton and Cleobis who showed loyalty to their mother but got death instead, Callisto who got turned into a bear due to Zeus's love for her, Chiron who was accidentally wounded by Hercules, Clytie who loved sun god but he never loved her, Dryope who accidentally plucked flowers and was turned into a tree, Epimenides who slept for fifty seven years, Ericthonius who was half man half serpent, Hero and Leander who also sound similar to Romeo and Juliet, The Hyades who cares for Dionysus and became stars, Ibycus and the cranes who avenged Ibycus's death, Leto (Letonia) who gave birth to Apollo and Artemis, Linus who was killed by youths in childhood, Marpessa who was beloved by Idas and Apollo was forced to choose between them, Marsyas who found flute and punishment, Melampus who understood the animal talk, Merope who helped her own son become king, the Myrmidons who used to be ants but became humans, Nisus and Scylla father and daughter who betrayed her father and two became brids, Orion who became a constellation, the Pleiades who were daughters of Atlas and became a constellation, Rhoecus who earned ire of a dryad, Salmoneus who pretended to be Zeus, Sisyphus who told Zeus what he saw and was punished by being forced to roll a rock up the cave, Tyro who was an ancestress of Jason and her bearing the twins to Poseidon.

To be Continued...