Title The Age of Fable Series --- Author Thoman Bulfinch Illustrator Giovanni Caselli Publisher MacMillan Publishing Company - 1997 First Printing 1885 Category Classic Warnings None Main Characters Greek, Roman, Hindu, Egyptian, Norse and Druid gods/goddesses/heroes/creatures Main Elements Mythology Website Available on Project Gutenberg

We have all heard or read of the cunning of Ulysses, the patience of Penelope, the darts of Cupid, and the labours of Hercules. And Pygmalion, Narcissus, and Europa are all familiar names. Here in The Age of Fable the thrilling stories of these classic heroes and heroines, and dozens more, come to life as never before. Superb artwork created for this edition by Giovanni Caselli breathes life into Thomas Bulfinch's dramatic retellings of the classic myths, making them vividly available to all.

Leading us into some of the most fantastic tales ever imagined - from Greek legends to the adventures of the Norse gods - this handsome volume is a treature to be returned to again and again. Children will love the illustrations and parents will enjoy leading them through the tales; plus all who are inspired by great literature and art, mythology, history, theater, and the opera, will find this invaluable to understanding the themes found throughout our culture. The Age of Fable is an ideal companion on a visit to a museum or gallery, a must-have for every home library, and the first illustrated edition is sure to become a collector's item.

This book is gorgeously illustrated by Giovanni Caselli, and I wish I had read it before I read Dante's Divine Comedy or Milton's Paradise Lost since maybe I would have caught more of the references. It will certainly help with the Aeneid which I am reading next. While decently versed in the Greek myths, this book actually tackles the Roman versions. Now the stories are more or less the same, except when the character involved is purely a Roman creation, but the names were all different. So I had to work a bit to remember Minerva = Athena, Diana = Artemis and so forth, but that was a good thing (contrary to people complainig about it on Goodreads), after all Bulfinch put this book together to educate readers on the references used by authors such as Dante or Milton, and yes, very often they used the Roman names and not the Greek. There are probably books that make the tales more entertaining, or go into more depth (the Trojan War and the adventures of Ulysses take a couple chapters while the originals each gets an entire novel) but this is a kind of "crash course" into the myths that most often get referenced in modern literature (I'm using modern as in not ancient, but it goes as far back as the Renaissance).

So I can see a modern reader used to Rick Riordan style of mythology retelling could find this a little dry. Even I found times where it was putting me to sleep, not that it was so boring but where I can read 100+ pages a day of Riordan, I was lucky to get through 20 of this one. But it isn't meant to be read like a novel and I don't blame the book for my having to work a bit to get through it. After all it is a textbook! It is a bunch of short retellings of myths all crammed together and if you read it right through you like I did, will find it hard to keep all the names straight and may find yourself skimming and remembering nothing. I found I'd forget who Memnon was even after just reading his tale a handful of pages before. I plan to go over it again after I read my next book, to see what I remembered, maybe even take some notes.

The book isn't limited to Greco-Roman mythology. There is brief talk of real people, the poets and philosophers. There is a short section on the monsters such as the Phoenix or the Unicorn. It also covers very briefly Hindu, Egyptian/, Norse, and Druid myths. On the whole I felt it had excellent coverage, giving time to both the most famous tales, but also covering many I'd never heard before.

But I loved the fact that Bulfinch then showed how more modern writers reference these myths in their poetry. How Eve is compared to Pandora in Milton for example. Or how Dante's Inferno is filled with ancient Greek monsters. It does drive home how much all these dead religions still influence us now. See the now defunct Tri-Star and their Pegasus. A lot of delievery and messaging services have some reference to Mercury/Hermes. Or how the Rod of Asclepius is still used to represent medicine (or if you don't know your mythology you might mistake Hermes' Caduceus for it like in the US). How even Rick Riordan can still retell the old tales, or remake them anew. I doubt our modern gods (and I don't mean our religions but our pop-idols and "heroes") will survive such a test of time. Thousands of years later we are still reading Homer and Virgil, and if not reading them, at least watching the movie with Brad Pitt as Achilles. These ancients influence so much so many centuries later. Wonder which, if any, of our modern authors and poets can survive that kind of test of time!

P.S. I don't mean to say there's anything wrong with reading Riordan, or getting your first exposure to Norse mythology through the Marvel universe. I think those are great too, they may be a little less than accurate but honestly Riordan dragged up so many giants, cyclops and obscure goddesses and things in some of his books I really did learn a lot from him, at least the names if not their true natures (pretty sure the sons of Boreas aren't hockey players that took a few too many pucks to the head, but hey, makes it fun while still getting some of the basics). As long as you realize that Hades could never actually release the Kraken (the god is Greek, the monster is Norse...plus sea creatures belong to Poseidon, he'd be a bit miffed if someone else messed with them) then you can still enjoy the movies even when they get it wrong. After all, these tales were all word of mouth, it is unlikely that there is a correct version out there for any of them, modified for centuries by retellings before being written down. Enjoy them for what they are and marvel at how they show up every day of our lives.