Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome
HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.‘This was the slaying of the Minotaur, which put an end forever to the shameful tribute of seven youths and seven maidens which was exacted from the Athenians every nine years.‘The gods, heroes and legends of Greek mythology and their Roman interpretations are as fascinating as they are instructive. They include the almighty Zeus and his many wives; heroic Perseus, slayer of the snake-headed Medusa; Helen of Troy, whose beauty caused a great war; Medea, driven mad by jealousy; and tragic Persephone, doomed to live half of each year in the Underworld, condemning the world above to winter.First published in 1880, this comprehensive collection is an early modern retelling of the characters and tales of ancient Greece and Rome; a popular account which offers an important insight into the ancient civilisations that it evokes, and forms a basis for our understanding of the classical world.
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MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME
E. M. Berens
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
This eBook published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016
Life & Times section © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
Silvia Crompton asserts her moral rights as author of the Life & Times section
Classic Literature: Words and Phrases adapted from Collins English Dictionary
Cover by e-Digital Design
Cover illustration: Theseus slays the Minotaur in the labyrinth below the palace of King Minos, H M Brock/Mullan Collection/Mary Evans
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins
Source ISBN: 9780008180553
Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780008180560
Version: 2016-09-23
Contents
Copyright
History of William Collins
Preface
PART I.âMYTHS.
Introduction
FIRST DYNASTY. ORIGIN OF THE WORLDâ
URANUS AND GÃA (CÅlus and Terra)
CRONUS (Saturn)
THEORIES AS TO THE ORIGIN OF MAN
THIRD DYNASTY. OLYMPIAN DIVINITIESâ
ZEUS (Jupiter)
OCEANUS
THE HARPIES
ERINYES, EUMENIDES (Furiæ, Diræ)
NYX (Nox)
THANATOS (Mors), HYPNUS (Somnus)
TYCHE (Fortuna) and ANANKE (Necessitas)
NYMPHS OF THE VALLEYS AND MOUNTAINS
JANUS
PUBLIC WORSHIP OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANSâ
TEMPLES
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES
SATURNALIA
RETURN OF THE GREEKS FROM TROY
CLASSIC LITERATURE: WORDS AND PHRASES
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
In 1819, millworker William Collins from Glasgow, Scotland, set up a company for printing and publishing pamphlets, sermons, hymn books and prayer books. That company was Collins and was to mark the birth of HarperCollins Publishers as we know it today. The long tradition of Collins dictionary publishing can be traced back to the ï¬rst dictionary William co-published in 1825, Greek and English Lexicon. Indeed, from 1840 onwards, he began to produce illustrated dictionaries and even obtained a licence to print and publish the Bible.
Soon after, William published the ï¬rst Collins novel; however, it was the time of the Long Depression, where harvests were poor, prices were high, potato crops had failed and violence was erupting in Europe. As a result, many factories across the country were forced to close down and William chose to retire in 1846, partly due to the hardships he was facing.
Aged 30, Williamâs son, William II, took over the business. A keen humanitarian with a warm heart and a generous spirit, William II was truly âVictorianâ in his outlook. He introduced new, up-to-date steam presses and published affordable editions of Shakespeareâs works and ThePilgrimâs Progress, making them available to the masses for the ï¬rst time.
A new demand for educational books meant that success came with the publication of travel books, scientiï¬c books, encyclopedias and dictionaries. This demand to be educated led to the later publication of atlases, and Collins also held the monopoly on scripture writing at the time.
In the 1860s Collins began to expand and diversify and the idea of âbooks for the millionsâ was developed, although the phrase wasnât coined until 1907. Affordable editions of classical literature were published, and in 1903 Collins introduced 10 titles in their Collins Handy Illustrated Pocket Novels. These proved so popular that a few years later this had increased to an output of 50 volumes, selling nearly half a million in their year of publication. In the same year, The Everymanâs Library was also instituted, with the idea of publishing an affordable library of the most important classical works, biographies, religious and philosophical treatments, plays, poems, travel and adventure. This series eclipsed all competition at the time, and the introduction of paperback books in the 1950s helped to open that market and marked a high point in the industry.
