Author Description

An unabridged edition of the greatest stories ever told as chronicled by Thomas Bulfinch available in paperback.Almost one hundred and fifty years ago, Thomas Bulfinch collected the great tales of the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman antiquity; of Scandinavian, Celtic, and Oriental fables and myths; and of the age of chivalry in a series of notes for himself. He reprised the stories and related them to contemporary literature and art, making his work an invaluable guide to nineteenth-century culture. Over time, he published his notes in three volumes -- The Age of Fable (1855), The Age of Chivalry (1858), and the Legends of Charlemagne (1863) -- each of which is reproduced here in its entirety.Bulfinch gives us the myths of Zeus and Hera, Venus and Adonis, Daphne and Apollo, and the gods of Mount Olympus; the love story of Pygmalion and Galatea; the epics of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Ulysses and Aeneas; the legends of Valhalla and Thor; and the tales of Beowulf, King Arthur, and Robin Hood. The stories are told clearly by Bulfinch, who was keen to amuse as well as to educate. As he wrote: Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated.