In wondrous beauty once again.
The dwellings roofed with gold.
The fields unsowed bear ripened fruit
In happiness forevermore.
Then would come the reign of One who was higher even than Odin and beyond the reach of evil—
A greater than all.
But I dare not ever to speak his name.
And there are few who can see beyond
The moment when Odin falls.
This vision of a happiness infinitely remote seems a thin sustenance against despair, but it was the only hope the Eddas afforded.
THE NORSE WISDOM
Another view of the Norse character, oddly unlike its heroic aspect, is also given prominence in the Elder Edda. There are several collections of wise sayings which not only do not reflect heroism at all, but give a view of life which dispenses with it. This Norse wisdom-literature is far less profound than the Hebrew Book of Proverbs; indeed it rarely deserves to have the great word “wisdom” applied to it, but the Norsemen who created it had at any rate a large store of good sense, a striking contrast to the uncompromising spirit of the hero. Like the writers of Proverbs the authors seem old; they are men of experience who have meditated on human affairs. Once, no doubt, they were heroes, but now they have retired from battlefields and they see things from a different point of view. Sometimes they even look at life with a touch of humor:—
There lies less good than most believe
In ale for mortal men.
A man knows nothing if he knows not
That wealth oft begets an ape.
A coward thinks he will live forever
If only he can shun warfare.
Tell one your thoughts, but beware of two.
All know what is known to three.
A silly man lies awake all night,
Thinking of many things.
When the morning comes he is worn with care,
And his trouble is just as it was.
Some show a shrewd knowledge of human nature:—
A paltry man and poor of mind
Is he who mocks at all things.
Brave men can live well anywhere.
A coward dreads all things.
Now and then they are cheerful, almost light-hearted:—
I once was young and traveled alone.
I met another and thought myself rich.
Man is the joy of man.
Be a friend to your friend.
Give him laughter for laughter.
To a good friend’s house
The path is straight
Though he is far away.
A surprisingly tolerant spirit appears occasionally:—
No man has nothing but misery, let him be never so sick.
To this one his sons are a joy, and to that
His kin, to another his wealth.
And to yet another the good he has done.
In a maiden’s words let no man place faith,
Nor in what a woman says.
But I know men and women both.
Men’s mind are unstable toward women.
None so good that he has no faults,
None so wicked that he is worth naught.
There is real depth of insight sometimes:—
Moderately wise each one should be,
Not overwise, for a wise man’s heart
Is seldom glad.
Cattle die and kindred die. We also die.
But I know one thing that never dies,
Judgment on each one dead.
Two lines near the end of the most important of the collections show wisdom:—
The mind knows only
What lies near the heart.
Along with their truly awe-inspiring heroism, these men of the North had delightful common sense. The combination seems impossible, but the poems are here to prove it. By race we are connected with the Norse; our culture goes back to he Greeks. Norse mythology and Greek mythology together give a clear picture of what the people were like from whom comes a major part of our spiritual and intellectual inheritance.
Genealogical Tables
The Principal Gods
Descendants of Prometheus
Ancestors of Perseus and Hercules
Ancestors of Achilles
The House of Troy
The Family of Helen of Troy
The Royal House of Thebes and the Atreidae
The House of Athens
Illustrations
The Greeks, unlike the Egyptians, made their gods in their own image
Olympus
The rape of Persephone (Proserpine)
Pandora lifted the lid and out flew plagues and sorrows for mankind
The rape of Europa
Psyche gazed at the sleeping Cupid
Pygmalion and Galatea
The Harpies and the Argonauts
Bellerophon on Pegasus killing the Chimaera
Perseus holding Medusa’s head
The Minotaur in the Labyrinth
Hercules carrying Cerberus
Atalanta and the golden apples
The Judgment of Paris
The wooden horse
Odysseus and Circe
Aeneas and the Sibyl enter Charon’s boat
Clytemnestra and Orestes
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Athena appears to Creüsa and Ion
Glaucus and Scylla
Brynhild on a couch surrounded by fire
Thank you for buying this e-book, published by Hachette Digital.
To receive special offers, bonus content, and news about our latest e-books and apps, sign up for our newsletters.
Sign Up
Or visit us at hachettebookgroup.com/newsletters
* See Part Three, Chapter I.
* See Part Three, Chapter II.
* See next chapter.
* See Part Five, Chapter II.
* See Part Three, Chapter III.
* See Part Four, Chapters I and II
Contents
Welcome
Preface
Introduction to Classical Mythology
The Mythology of the Greeks
The Greek and Roman Writers of Mythology
Part One: The Gods, the Creation, and the Earliest Heroes
Chapter I: The Gods
The Titans and the Twelve Great Olympians
The Lesser Gods of Olympus
The Gods of the Waters
The Underworld
The Lesser Gods of Earth
The Roman Gods
Chapter II: The Two Great Gods of Earth
Demeter (Ceres)
Dionysus or Bacchus
Chapter III: How the World and Mankind Were Created
Chapter IV: The Earliest Heroes
Prometheus and Io
Europa
The Cyclops Polyphemus
Flower-Myths: Narcissus, Hyacinth, Adonis
Part Two: Stories of Love and Adventure
Chapter I: Cupid and Psyche
Chapter II: Eight Brief Tales of Lovers
Pyramus and Thisbe
Orpheus and Eurydice
Ceyx and Alcyone
Pygmalion and Galatea
Baucis and Philemon
Endymion
Daphne
Alpheus and Arethusa
Chapter III: The Quest of the Golden Fleece
Chapter IV: Four Great Adventures
Phaëthon
Pegasus and Bellerophon
Otus and Ephialtes
Daedalus
Part Three: The Great Heroes before the Trojan War
Chapter I: Perseus
Chapter II: Theseus
Chapter III: Hercules
Chapter IV: Atalanta
Part Four: The Heroes of the Trojan War
Chapter I: The Trojan War
Prologue: The Judgment of Paris
The Trojan War
Chapter II: The Fall of Troy
Chapter III: The Adventures
of Odysseus
Chapter IV: The Adventures of Aeneas
Part One: From Troy to Italy
Part Two: The Descent into the Lower World
Part Three: The War in Italy
Part Five: The Great Families of Mythology
Chapter I: The House of Atreus
Tantalus and Niobe
Agamemnon and His Children
Iphigenia Among the Taurians
Chapter II: The Royal House of Thebes
Cadmus and His Children
Oedipus
Antigone
The Seven against Thebes
Chapter III: The Royal House of Athens
Cecrops
Procne and Philomela
Procris and Cephalus
Orithyia and Boreas
Creüsa and Ion
Part Six: The Less Important Myths
Chapter I: Midas—and Others
Aesculapius
The Danaïds
Glaucus and Scylla
Erysichthon
Pomona and Vertumnus
Chapter II: Brief Myths Arranged Alphabetically
Part Seven: The Mythology of the Norsemen
Introduction to Norse Mythology
Chapter I: The Stories of Signy and Sigurd
Chapter II: The Norse Gods
The Creation
The Norse Wisdom
Genealogical Tables
Illustrations
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
Copyright © 1942 by Edith Hamilton
Copyright renewed © 1969 by Dorian Fielding Reid and Doris Fielding Reid
Illustrations by Chris Wormell
Cover design by Susan Zucker; cover art: Bernard Picart, Atlas Supports the Heavens on His Shoulders (engraving, 1731), © Bridgeman Art Library / Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection
Cover copyright © 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected] Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
hachettebookgroup.com
twitter.com/littlebrown
First ebook edition: June 2012
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591.
ISBN 978-0-316-03216-2
Edith Hamilton, Mythology
(Series: # )
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends