Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.

It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,

and education by publishing worldwide in

Oxford New York

Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Calcutta

Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul

Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai

Nairobi Paris São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw

with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan

Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press

in the UK and in certain other countries

Published in the United States

by Oxford University Press Inc., New York

© Robin Hard 1997

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

Database right Oxford University Press (maker)

First published as a World’s Classics paperback 1997

Reissued as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 1998

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Apollodorus.

[Bibliotheca. English]

The library of Greek mythology / Apollodorus; translated by Robin Hard.

(Oxford world’s classics)

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

1. Mythology, Greek.   I. Hard, Robin.   II. Title.   III. Series.

PA3870.A73   1997   29.1’3—dc20   96–34135

ISBN–13: 978–0–19–283924–4

ISBN–10: 0–19–283924–1

13

Printed in Great Britain by

Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700 titles—from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels— the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing.

The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers.

Refer to the Table of Contents to navigate through the material in this Oxford World’s Classics ebook. Use the asterisks (*) throughout the text to access the hyperlinked Explanatory Notes.

OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

APOLLODORUS

The Library of Greek Mythology

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by

ROBIN HARD

OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

THE LIBRARY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY

APOLLODORUS is the name traditionally ascribed to the author of the Library. Although he was formerly identified as Apollodorus of Athens, a distinguished Alexandrian scholar of the second century BC, it is now recognized that the Librarymust have been written at a later period, probably the first or second century AD. It is not known whether Apollodorus was the author’s true name; in any case we know nothing about him. Essentially an editor rather than an original writer, he compiled this brief but comprehensive guide to Greek mythology by selecting and summarizing material from the works of earlier writers. Based in the main on good early sources, it is an invaluable reference work.

ROBIN HARD studied Greek at Aberystwyth and Reading, writing a doctoral thesis on Plato’s Symposium, and is currently combining writing and translating with the part-time teaching of ancient philosophy and Greek.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Note on the Text and Translation

Select Bibliography

THE LIBRARY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Contents

Genealogical Tables

Map

The Library

Appendix: Some Interpolations and an Unreliable Passage from the Epitome

Explanatory Notes

The Twelve Gods

References to Animals and Transformations

Index of Names

INTRODUCTION

THE Libraryof Apollodorus is a concise but comprehensive guide to Greek mythology. It covers the full span of mythical history from the origins of the universe and the gods to the Trojan War and its aftermath, and between these limits it tells the story of each of the great families of heroic mythology, and of the various adventures associated with the main heroes and heroines.

This is the only work of its kind to survive from classical antiquity. Although the Greeks developed an extensive and varied mythographical literature in Hellenistic and Roman times, the few handbooks which have been preserved are mostly specialist anthologies, recording myths of the constellations, for instance, or tales of transformation, and many of the stories contained in them are relatively obscure and of late origin. The author of the Library, by contrast, wanted to provide his readers with a general handbook which would offer them an account of the most important myths as related in the earlier tradition (with only the occasional late or recondite variant). Otherwise we possess only two works which are at all comparable. There is a Latin compendium, the Myths (Fabulae)of Hyginus, probably dating to the second century AD, which was based on a Greek predecessor, but conveys its contents in a very imperfect form; it presents summaries of myths and various catalogues in many separate chapters. Although it is a valuable source for myths or versions of myths which would otherwise have been lost, it is disorganized and sadly unreliable, and has to be approached with caution. Secondly, when Diodorus of Sicily was compiling his historical compendium in the first century BC, he departed from the more austere practices of many fellow historians and included a section on the mythical history (or pre-history) of Greece. Although it contains a useful biography of Heracles and other interesting material, Diodorus’ account of Greek myth is not nearly as complete as that in the Library, and much of it is based on inferior Hellenistic sources.