On This Day in History - July 15:
In 1796, Thomas Bulfinch, son of architect Charles Bulfinch, was born. Fifty-nine years later he published The Age of Fable; or Stories of Gods and Heroes, which became the standard version of Greco-Roman
and also Norse mythology that Americans knew. Bulfinch's Greco-Roman mythology was largely based on the Roman poet Ovid, who had written a collection of stories from mythology, in Latin, known as the Metamorphoses.
Unlike Bulfinch's contemporary Nathaniel Hawthorne, who also wrote a successful collection of mythology (Wonderbook and Tanglewood Tales), Bulfinch wrote his mythology for adults as well as children. Bulfinch adds his own insights or editorial comments like the following (from the story of Prometheus and Pandora):
In 1796, Thomas Bulfinch, son of architect Charles Bulfinch, was born. Fifty-nine years later he published The Age of Fable; or Stories of Gods and Heroes, which became the standard version of Greco-Roman
and also Norse mythology that Americans knew. Bulfinch's Greco-Roman mythology was largely based on the Roman poet Ovid, who had written a collection of stories from mythology, in Latin, known as the Metamorphoses. Unlike Bulfinch's contemporary Nathaniel Hawthorne, who also wrote a successful collection of mythology (Wonderbook and Tanglewood Tales), Bulfinch wrote his mythology for adults as well as children. Bulfinch adds his own insights or editorial comments like the following (from the story of Prometheus and Pandora):
Woman was not yet made. The story (absurd enough!) is that Jupiter made her, and sent her to Prometheus and his brother, to punish them for their presumption in stealing fire from heaven; and man, for accepting the gift. The first woman was named Pandora.
Read more about Bulfinch and his mythology.
A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature (About Classical Literature)
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