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1 Jenny March THE PENGUIN BOOK OF CLASSICAL MYTHS 2 PENGUIN BOOKS UK | Canada | Ireland | Australia New Zealand | India | South Africa Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com. First published 2008 Published in paperback 2009 Copyright © Dr Jennifer March, 2008 Cover images: Bridgeman Art Library/Corbis/The Art Archive. All rights reserved The moral right of the author has been asserted ISBN: 978-0-141-92059-7 3 Contents List of Plates List of Illustrations Maps Introduction 1 Creation 2 The Gods 3 The First Humans 4 The Quest for the Golden Fleece 5 Io and Argos 6 Heroes and Monsters 7 Herakles 8 Theseus, Athens and Crete 9 The Theban Saga 10 The Trojan War 11 Odysseus and His Odyssey 12 The House of Pelops 13 Dangerous Women 14 Aeneas and the Destiny of Rome 15 The Foundation of Rome 4 16 Metamorphoses 17 Myths of Love and Death Illustrations Select Bibliography Acknowledgements Follow Penguin 5 PENGUIN BOOKS THE PENGUIN BOOK OF CLASSICAL MYTHS Dr Jenny March has taught at London, Reading and Southampton universities, was a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College London and is attached to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Her several books include the acclaimed Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology, winner of the 1999 Runciman Award. She lives in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor. 6 To Len with love for all the years 7 List of Plates 1 Danae by Gustav Klimt (1907–8) (photo © Ali Meyer/CORBIS). 2 Apollo and Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1622–5), Galleria Borghese, Rome (photo: Scala, Florence/Luciano Romano). 3 Saturn Devouring One of His Sons by Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (c.1819–23), Museo del Prado, Madrid (photo © Archivo Iconografico, SA/Corbis). 4 Judgement of Paris by Cecchino da Verona, 15th century, Museo del Bargello, Florence (photo: Scala, Florence, courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali). 5 Amor and Psyche by Antonio Canova (1786–93), Musée du Louvre, Paris (photo RMN © Christian Jean). 6 Oedipus and the Sphinx by J. A. D. Ingres (c.1826), Musée du Louvre, Paris (photo: RMN © René-Gabriel Ojéda). 7 The Intervention of the Sabine Women by Jacques-Louis David (1796– 9), Musée du Louvre, Paris (photo RMN © René-Gabriel Ojéda). 8 Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (c.1485), Galleria Degli Uffizi, Florence (photo © Summerfield Press/Corbis). 9 The Trojan Horse, from a medieval manuscript. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (photo: Joerg P. Anders/Scala, Florence/Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin). 10 Constellations by G. de Vecchi and da Reggio (1574), Salla del Mappamundo, Palazzo Farnese, Rome (photo © the Art Archive/Corbis). 8 List of Illustrations Attic red-figure kylix by Douris, c.480–470 BC, in the Musei Vaticani (photo © Krause, Johansen/Archivo Iconografico, SA/Corbis). Attic red-figure krater by the Pelias Painter, 450–425 BC, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (photo RMN © Hervé Lewandowski). Lakonian kylix, c.560 BC, in the Gregorian Museum of Etruscan Art, the Vatican (photo: Scala, Florence). Attic red-figure amphora by the Berlin Painter, early 5th century BC, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (photo RMN © Hervé Lewandowski). Venus de Milo, 2nd century BC, in the Muséedu Louvre, Paris (photo RMN © Hervé Lewandowski). The Atalanta Lekythos (funerary oil jug) by Douris, painted white-ground terracotta, 500–490 BC, in the Cleveland Museum of Art (Leonard C. Hanna, Jr, Fund 1966.114). Attic red-figure skyphos, c.420 BC, in the Toledo Museum of Art. Roman relief, 3rd century AD, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (photo RMN © Gérard Blot). Attic red-figure krater by the Underworld Painter, second half of the 4th century BC, in the Muséedu L