Legends and myths of ancient Greece

Author: Russian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This monograph by Professor H. A. Kuhn, a Soviet authority on the study of ancient Greek culture in the first half of the 20th century, presents the myths of ancient Greece in a popular style. It narrates the tales of mythical creatures—gods, monsters, and heroes—as if they had once lived in ancient Greece and the surrounding Aegean region. In antiquity, the inhabitants of the Aegean region personified all the forces and phenomena of nature as powerful and immortal beings—gods. They believed that these gods were ideal humans, possessing all the emotions inherent in humans (joy, sorrow, anger, jealousy, hatred, etc.). Part of ancient Greek mythology describes the behavior of the gods, while the other part depicts heroes—the miraculous deeds and adventures accomplished by humans, who were endowed with divine powers, wit, and courage and were considered the offspring of gods and goddesses. These ancient legends and stories were widely circulated among the peoples of the Mediterranean countries and were also adopted by the Romans. Certain series of mythological legends, initially originating in different parts of the Aegean region (Crete, Delos, the western coast of Asia Minor, and various parts of Europe—Epirus, Peloponnese, Thessaly, Boeotia, Attica), gradually merged into a certain religious worldview system. This system was based on the deification of incomprehensible natural phenomena or the veneration and worship of ancestors, especially the leaders of clans. The names of people and places in Greek mythology vary in translation in domestic publications, lacking uniformity. This book references the Comprehensive Dictionary of Foreign Mythology (China International Press), the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology (Chinese Social Sciences Press), the Mythological Dictionary (Commercial Press), the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology and Minor Dictionary (FLTRP Press), and Greek and Roman Mythological Allusions.