Philip Matyszak skilfully navigates the myths and legends of early Rome, exploring the enigmatic origins of the Romans and how the first seeds of a great empire were sown. 'I sing of arms and the man' wrote Virgil at the start of the Aeneid, one of...

The definitive translation of the world's oldest known epic, now revised in a second edition (2020) and updated with newly discovered material.A Penguin ClassicMiraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as much as four thousand years, the poem of...

Folk tales by told by generations of Beijing story-tellers, compiled by Jin Shoushen. First published by Beijing Publishing House in 1957.

In Quest of the Hero makes available for a new generation of readers two key works on hero myths: Otto Rank's Myth of the Birth of the Hero and the central section of Lord Raglan's The Hero. Amplifying these is Alan Dundes's fascinating contemporary...

This collection of fourteen reimagined Grimm's fairy tales from award-winning author Mark Russell offers a biting new perspective while proving the classics never go out of style.In the two hundred years since Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm first published...

"A fresh, lyrical new translation of Persia's founding epic. Abu al-Qasem Ferdowsi (940-1020 CE), one of Iran's greatest poets, versified the ancient legends of the Persian Book of Kings (Shahnameh) in verse over one thousand years ago. It is the longest...

The ancient civilization of Mesopotamia thrived between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates over 4,000 years ago. The myths collected here, originally written in cuneiform on clay tablets, include parallels with the biblical stories of the Creation and the...

Prometheus the god stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on humans. In punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock, where an eagle clawed unceasingly at his liver, until Herakles freed him. For the Greeks, the myth of Prometheus's release reflected a...

The world-renowned classic that has enthralled and delighted millions of readers with its timeless tales of gods and heroes.Edith Hamilton's mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman and Norse myths...

Discover the wonderfully eerie supernatural beings of Japanese lore in this magnificent hardcover edition which features an elegant silk coating as well as coloured edges and closing straps. Yōkai ghosts are a significant aspect of Japanese culture. In...

World-renowned folklorist Maria Tatar reveals an astonishing but long-buried history of heroines, taking us from Cassandra and Scheherazade to Nancy Drew and Wonder Woman.The Heroine with 1,001 Faces dismantles the cult of warrior heroes, revealing a...

An international collection of the traditional tales that inspired some of Shakespeare's greatest playsShakespeare knew a good story when he heard one, and he wasn't afraid to borrow from what he heard or read, especially traditional folktales. The...

Volume two of Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory's powerful and elegaic version of the Arthurian legend, recounts the adventures of Sir Tristram de Liones and the treachery of Sir Mordred, and follows Sir Launcelot's quest for The Holy Grail, his...

It's a familiar story: a beautiful woman is abducted and her husband journeys to recover her. This story’s best-known incarnation is also a central Greek myth—the abduction of Helen that led to the Trojan War. Stealing Helen surveys a vast range of...

In these four artfully crafted essays, Patrick Geary explores the way ancient and medieval authors wrote about women. Geary describes the often marginal role women played in origin legends from antiquity until the twelfth century. Not confining himself...

Acknowledged by T. S. Eliot as crucial to understanding "The Waste Land," Jessie Weston's book has continued to attract readers interested in ancient religion, myth, and especially Arthurian legend. Weston examines the saga of the Grail, which, in many...

On the bicentennial of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth, this collection takes Andersen out of the nursery and places him squarely in the literary pantheon. While Andersen’s tales continue to seize the imagination with their singular blend of simplicity,...

Fascinating profiles of modern writers and artists who tapped the political potential of fairy talesJack Zipes has spent decades as a “scholarly scavenger,” discovering forgotten fairy tales in libraries, flea markets, used bookstores, and internet...