A fantasy read-list: A-1
Fantasy read-list
Part A: Ancient fantasy
1) Mythological fantasy (Greco-Roman)
The oldest form of fantasy in the history of mankind is, without a doubt, mythology. The roots of the modern fantasy genre are found in the old myths and legends of the Antiquity - and so this read-list will open with a few works of reference when it comes to mythology, the most famous texts covering the legends of old.
# The “founding duo”: Homer and Hesiod
These two poets form the oldest Greek mythological texts known to history, and together they created the basis on which classical Greek mythology formed itself (though Hesiod and Homer had conflicting mythology, with numerous differences in pantheons, relationships and cosmogonies, resulting in an “Homeric” Greek mythology - older and more archaic - and an “Hesiodic” Greek mythology - the most famous and widespread one, the “classical” pantheon).
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the two greatest epics of Ancient Greece, and the two works from which the epic genre originally defined itself. The Homeric Hymns were probably not written by Homer himself, just written in his style, but they are also a series of mini-epics each depicting the greatest adventures and most famous legends of the Greek gods.
Hesiod’s Theogony is the cosmogony of Ancient Greece, and the creation legend of its mythology. He also collected/wrote several Greek myths in his Works and Days.
# Callimachus’ Aetia (a poem explaining the mythological origins of rites, cults and worships, in the style of the Theogony) and Hymns (hymns to the god in the style of the Homeric Hymns)
# Apollonius’ Argonautica. Another famous Greek epic, and the main source of information for the myth of Jason, Medea and the Argonauts.
# The trio of famous Ancient Greece tragedy playwrights. Aeschylus, author of Prometheus Bound, the Seven Against Thebes, and the Oresteia trilogy (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides). Sophocles, with his Theban trilogy (Oedipus-Rex, Oedipus at Column, Antigone) and other plays such as Ajax or the Women of Trachis. Euripides, famous for his Medea, Hippolytus, Alcestis, Herakles, Iphigenia in Tauris, The Bacchae and many more...
Plus, in a different genre, Artistophanes, the “father of comedy” or “prince of comedy”: The Birds and The Frogs are his most mythological plays, though other classics of his include The Clouds, The Wasps or Lysistrata...
# The fourth volume of Diodorus Siculus’ “Bibliotheca historica”, which is a true encyclopedia of all the Greek myths and legends Diodorus could find.
# The “founding duo” of Roman myths: the Roman equivalent of Hesiod and Homer, with works just as influential as them.
Virgil, who with his Aeneid formed a “sequel” to Homer’s Iliad and created the greatest Roman epic of history - he also collected/rewrote several myths in his Bucolics and Georgics.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses is the other main piece of literature that defined Ancient Roman literature and mythology as a whole, and for the longest time in Europe it stayed the main source of information about Greco-Roman mythology - to the point Ovid’s Metamorphoses was much more well-known than Hesiod or Homer’s own works. Other works of his with mythological tales include his Ars Amatoria and his Fasti.
# Titus Livius’ “Ab urbe condita”, a work containing the history of Rome, but opening with the myths and legends concerning the foundation of this city.
# Antoninus Liberalis’ Metamorphoses, the lesser-know “twin” of Ovid’s own Metamorphoses.
# Hyginus’ Fabulae and De Astronomica. Compilation of myths and legends told with a scientific mind.
# Apuleius’ The Golden Ass. A strange, bizarre, mystic and comical novel of late Ancient Rome, which contains the most famous version of the legend of Psyche and Cupid.
# The works of Lucian, another author of late Antiquity. Highlights include The Dialogues of the Gods, a parody of the Homeric epics and mythology ; Lover of Lies, which contains the earliest version of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” tale ; and A True Story, considered by many to be the earliest work of sci-fi.
# The Orphic Hymns, and the Orphic Argonautica, the two main texts informing us about the “Orphic religion”, a mystery cult with its own mythology, cosmogony and beliefs completely separate from the “classical” Greek mythology of Hesiod/Homer.
# Nonnus’ famous Dionysiaca, the last of the great mythological epics of Antiquity, written by a very, VERY late Greek author (we are talking of a post-Roman era author, living in an early-Christianized Greece).
