One of my favorite books growing up was D'Aulaires' Book of
Greek Myths by Ingri D'Aulaire and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. The funny thing
about it, I never read it. I flipped through and made up my own stories with
the illustrations or drew the characters like the D'Aulaires. Their
illustrations look like pencil drawings filled in with coloring crayons.
In Ann Turball’s book, Greek Myths, she explains that her
father loved the old stories and shared them with her. His favorites were the
stories of Homer, but she was partial to Pan.
“I was captivated by Pan and by the mysterious nymphs,
fauns, and satyrs, the spirits of woods and streams. I liked the way they could
change shape, go from woman to tree, god to river, so that life and nature
became one.”
Turnball continues, “To the ancient Greeks, the whole land –
rocks, trees, rivers, caves, springs – was alive and inhabited by nature
spirits. Tmolus was a god but also a mountain. Arethusa, a nymph with human
form, could turn into a stream and emerge as a new spring. Pegasus, the winged
horse, created springs with a stamp of his hoof. Hades lived in the Underworld
and burst forth from fiery fissures in the earth.”
In Turball’s book, she tells the stories in a timeline
fashion. She says that many stories standalone like Archne, but others flow
into the next like a continuing episode such as Minotaur leading into Ariadne
on Naxos.
My favorite is her retelling of “Phaethon and the Chariot of
the Sun.” Phaethon finds out he is the son of the sun god, Helios, but his friends
all call him a liar. In order to prove his lineage, he leaves Ethiopia and
travels east to where the sun rises.
Once Helios sees Phaethon, he knows without a doubt that is his
son. Celebration ensues, but Phaethon feels unsatisfied. He begs his father to
allow him to chariot his horses through the heavens where everyone will see him
and know he is the son of Helios.
Helios agrees but regrets it instantly knowing the horses
will be too strong to control. As the story goes, Phaethon cannot control the chariot
and the chaos sets both the heavens and the earth aflame. Zeus steps in and
kills Phaethon before he destroys the world. In his guilt, Zeus raises the dead
Phaethon to the heavens where he is known as the Charioteer constellation.
I bet Ann Turnbull loves the D'Aulaires' book, too. Wonder
if she drew any of the gods or goddesses?
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