THE MYTHS NOTEBOOK

Every myth has
more than one version.

Choose a myth. Read the story, see which ancient writer it comes from, and keep the source beside it.

Find a mythKind of article14 articles

Retold from Hesiod and Apollodorus

Prometheus and fire

A trick with an ox, a hidden fire carried in a fennel stalk, and a long punishment on a mountain.

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Retold from Hesiod

Pandora and the jar

A woman made by the gods, a gift that should have been sent back, and a great jar with Hope left inside.

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Retold from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter

Persephone and Demeter

A girl snatched from a meadow, a mother who searches with torches, and a pomegranate seed that changes the year.

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Retold from Apollodorus

Perseus and Medusa

A baby in a chest, three sisters with one eye, winged sandals, and a head that turns people to stone.

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Retold from Apollodorus

Theseus and the Minotaur

A tribute of young Athenians, a labyrinth, a ball of thread, and a sail of the wrong colour.

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Retold from Ovid

Daedalus and Icarus

Feathers, thread and wax, a warning about the middle way, and a boy who flew too high.

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Retold from Ovid

Arachne and Athena

A weaver who would not give the goddess credit, a weaving contest, and the first spider.

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Retold from Ovid

Midas and the golden touch

A lost companion of Bacchus, a wish that goes badly wrong, and a secret told to a hole in the ground.

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Retold from Homer’s Odyssey

Odysseus and the Cyclops

A cave full of cheeses, a giant who ignores the rules of hospitality, and a hero who calls himself Noman.

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Retold from Homer and Apollodorus

The wooden horse of Troy

A horse of wood full of warriors, a city that argued about what to do with it, and a famous trick.

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Retold from Ovid

Orpheus and Eurydice

A singer whose music moves the underworld, one condition, and a single look back.

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History guide

Myth or history?

Who wrote the myths down and when, Greek and Roman names, and what Troy and Knossos can and cannot tell us.

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Reading guide

Timeline

From Homer and Hesiod to Ovid, Apollodorus, Erasmus and Hawthorne, with the museum objects in date order.

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Museum guide

Museum objects

Painted pots, a bronze and an engraving: what the museums’ own records say they show.

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