Written by Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the […]
Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring […]
For years, the people of Nemea had lamented their plight. Their cattle could not graze in the meadows near the forest, travelers dared not pass through the woods, and even in their homes, none could sleep in peace. A monstrous lion dwelled in the heart of the Nemean Forest, and each day brought fresh terror—a […]
1 It was the Anthesteria, the spring “festival of flowers.” Creusa, the younger and by then the only daughter of the old Athenian king Erechtheus, was to descend from the Acropolis to the meadow below on that day to gather flowers to adorn the tomb of her mother, Praxithea. Knowing of this intention, her nurse, […]
Now the other gods and the armed warriors on the plain slept soundly, but Jove was wakeful, for he was thinking how to do honour to Achilles, and destroyed much people at the ships of the Achaeans. In the end he deemed it would be best to send a lying dream to King Agamemnon; so […]
Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulder, and left his room looking like an immortal god. He at once sent the criers round to call the people in assembly, so they called them […]
1 For a traveler setting out from Anaphlystus through the southern fringe of Mesogaia to Phoricus on the Archipelago, a stop in the wretched little hamlet of Besa, lost amidst the labyrinth of the Lauriotic mountains, was unavoidable. It was a rather cheerless region: limestone crags showed white everywhere beneath a thin layer of black […]
Near Argos lay the vast swampland of Lerna. A pure spring bubbled from the earth there, but its feeble stream could not carve a path to river or sea, instead spilling across the lowland. The stagnant waters grew thick with moss and marsh weeds, transforming the great valley into a festering bog. Though its vibrant […]
When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain, the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that scream overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing waters of Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the Pygmies, and they wrangle in the air as they fly; but […]
But as the sun was rising from the fair sea into the firmament of heaven to shed light on mortals and immortals, they reached Pylos the city of Neleus. Now the people of Pylos were gathered on the sea shore to offer sacrifice of black bulls to Neptune lord of the Earthquake. There were nine […]
1 In the small peristyle of King Erechtheus’s palace, the women’s quarters grew ever more crowded: one handmaid after another passed along the exciting news that the Thracian guests—those who had sold the king a cargo of timber from Mount Pangaeum—had received permission to display, and, if buyers could be found, to sell the woven […]
Woodcutters gathering kindling in the forests of Arcadia’s mountain slopes once beheld a magnificent hind with golden antlers. She stood atop a steep cliff, but at the sight of humans, she vanished like a whirlwind—only swaying branches and the chime of silver hooves on stone marked her passing. Word of this wondrous creature spread through […]
Now the gods were sitting with Jove in council upon the golden floor while Hebe went round pouring out nectar for them to drink, and as they pledged one another in their cups of gold they looked down upon the town of Troy. The son of Saturn then began to tease Juno, talking at her […]
They reached the low lying city of Lacedaemon them where they drove straight to the of abode Menelaus [and found him in his own house, feasting with his many clansmen in honour of the wedding of his son, and also of his daughter, whom he was marrying to the son of that valiant warrior Achilles. […]
Summer and autumn, when fields ripened with grain and vegetables, brought dread to the peasants living near Mount Erymanthus. Each morning revealed fresh devastation—earth upturned, crops trampled, and precious fruit crushed under some brutish force. The villagers whispered of a monstrous boar dwelling in the oak groves on the mountain slopes. By night, it descended […]
1 With tidings, with tidings we come, We bring you a new and blessed song! Receive, O master, the guest we bring, Welcome her into your father’s hall— Iresione, Iresione! Thus sang the household servants in unison. Then a single, clear female voice rose above the chorus, continuing in a different melody: Iresione brings you […]
Then Pallas Minerva put valour into the heart of Diomed, son of Tydeus, that he might excel all the other Argives, and cover himself with glory. She made a stream of fire flare from his shield and helmet like the star that shines most brilliantly in summer after its bath in the waters of Oceanus- […]
And now, as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus- harbinger of light alike to mortals and immortals- the gods met in council and with them, Jove the lord of thunder, who is their king. Thereon Minerva began to tell them of the many sufferings of Ulysses, for she pitied him away there in the […]
The war god Ares kept a flock of monstrous birds with iron talons and beaks. Their bronze feathers could detach and rain down with deadly force like arrows. These creatures dwelled deep in the mountain gorge near Lake Stymphalia – a desolate place where waters vanished into an underground chasm leading to Hades’ realm. Barren […]
The fight between Trojans and Achaeans was now left to rage as it would, and the tide of war surged hither and thither over the plain as they aimed their bronze-shod spears at one another between the streams of Simois and Xanthus. First, Ajax son of Telamon, tower of strength to the Achaeans, broke a […]
So here Ulysses slept, overcome by sleep and toil; but Minerva went off to the country and city of the Phaecians- a people who used to live in the fair town of Hypereia, near the lawless Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes were stronger than they and plundered them, so their king Nausithous moved them thence and […]
King Augeas of Elis was immeasurably wealthy. His countless herds of cattle and sheep, along with vast troops of horses, grazed in the fertile valley of the Alpheus River. He owned three hundred snow-white steeds, two hundred red as copper, and twelve as radiant as swans—one of which bore a star gleaming upon its brow. […]
With these words Hector passed through the gates, and his brother Alexandrus with him, both eager for the fray. As when heaven sends a breeze to sailors who have long looked for one in vain, and have laboured at their oars till they are faint with toil, even so welcome was the sight of these […]
Thus, then, did Ulysses wait and pray; but the girl drove on to the town. When she reached her father’s house she drew up at the gateway, and her brothers- comely as the gods- gathered round her, took the mules out of the waggon, and carried the clothes into the house, while she went to […]
Six times already had Heracles appeared in Mycenae, each time setting forth at King Eurystheus’ command on a perilous and arduous journey. Six glorious deeds had he accomplished: he slew the Nemean Lion, destroyed the Lernaean Hydra, captured the Ceryneian Hind, brought the Erymanthian Boar to Mycenae, drove the Stymphalian Birds from Greece, and in […]
Now when Morning, clad in her robe of saffron, had begun to suffuse light over the earth, Jove called the gods in council on the topmost crest of serrated Olympus. Then he spoke and all the other gods gave ear. “Hear me,” said he, “gods and goddesses, that I may speak even as I am […]
Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Alcinous and Ulysses both rose, and Alcinous led the way to the Phaecian place of assembly, which was near the ships. When they got there they sat down side by side on a seat of polished stone, while Minerva took the form of one of Alcinous’ […]
Once again, Eurystheus commanded Heracles to embark on a distant quest—this time to seize the horses of Diomedes, king of Thrace. For the first time in his service to the king, Heracles hesitated. He had feared neither the Nemean Lion nor the Hydra, neither endless wanderings nor arduous labor, neither bloody battles nor human treachery. […]
Thus did the Trojans watch. But Panic, comrade of blood-stained Rout, had taken fast hold of the Achaeans and their princes were all of them in despair. As when the two winds that blow from Thrace- the north and the northwest- spring up of a sudden and rouse the fury of the main- in a […]
And Ulysses answered, “King Alcinous, it is a good thing to hear a bard with such a divine voice as this man has. There is nothing better or more delightful than when a whole people make merry together, with the guests sitting orderly to listen, while the table is loaded with bread and meats, and […]
King Eurystheus had a young daughter, Admete. One day she came to her father and said: “They say far to the east lies a kingdom ruled by women. There, women are the heads of households, masters of their homes. They govern cities, trade, administer justice, offer sacrifices in temples, and decide matters of state. Armed, […]
Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole night through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that he could get no rest. As when fair Juno’s lord flashes his lightning in token of great rain or hail or snow when the snow-flakes whiten the ground, or again as a sign […]
Thence we went on to the Aeoli island where lives Aeolus son of Hippotas, dear to the immortal gods. It is an island that floats (as it were) upon the sea, iron bound with a wall that girds it. Now, Aeolus has six daughters and six lusty sons, so he made the sons marry the […]
Eurystheus sent Heracles ever farther. When the hero returned from his Amazonian campaign, the king commanded him to journey to the world’s edge—where the sun sets—to Erytheia, the Crimson Isle amid Oceanus’ waters, where three-headed giant Geryon kept his herd of red cattle. Heracles was to bring these bulls to Mycenae. The hero traveled westward […]
And now as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus, harbinger of light alike to mortals and immortals, Jove sent fierce Discord with the ensign of war in her hands to the ships of the Achaeans. She took her stand by the huge black hull of Ulysses’ ship which was middlemost of all, so that […]
Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put the sheep on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind. Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that […]
Long ago, when the gods of radiant Olympus celebrated the wedding of Zeus and Hera, Gaia the Earth gifted the bride a magical tree bearing golden apples. These apples held the power to restore youth—any mortal who tasted them would never grow old. Yet no man knew where the garden of this wondrous tree lay. […]
So the son of Menoetius was attending to the hurt of Eurypylus within the tent, but the Argives and Trojans still fought desperately, nor were the trench and the high wall above it, to keep the Trojans in check longer. They had built it to protect their ships, and had dug the trench all round […]
“After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into the open sea, we went on till we reached the Aeaean island where there is dawn and sunrise as in other places. We then drew our ship on to the sands and got out of her on to the shore, where we […]
Heracles descended into the realm of the dead and conquered Cerberus. From the rising to the setting sun, Heracles had traversed the earth—battling, laboring, slaying monsters and wicked men. He carved paths up mountain peaks, sailed the ocean with the Sun itself, journeyed to the edge of the world… and returned victorious. Now, in desperation, […]