The Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth presents forty chapters about the unique and terrifying creatures from myths of the long-ago Near East and Mediterranean world, featuring authoritative contributions by many of the top international experts on ancient monsters and the monstrous. The first part provides original studies of individual monsters such as the Chimaera, Cerberus, the Hydra, and the Minotaur, and of monster groups such as dragons, centaurs, sirens, and Cyclopes. This section also explores their encounters with the major heroes of classical myth, including Perseus, Jason, Heracles, and Odysseus. The second part examines monsters of ancient folklore and ethnography, encompassing the restless dead, blood-drinking lamiae, exotic hybrid animals, the so-called dog-headed men, and many other unexpected creatures and peoples. The third part covers various interpretations of these creatures from multiple perspectives, including psychoanalysis, colonialism, and disability studies, with monster theory itself evident across the entire volume. The final part discusses reception of these ancient monsters across time and space--from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance to modern times, from Persia to Scandinavia, the Caribbean, and Latin America-and concludes with chapters considering the use and adaptation of ancient monsters in children's literature, science fiction, fantasy, and modern scientific disciplines. This Handbook is the first large-scale, inclusive guide to monsters in antiquity, their places in literature and art across the millennia, and their influence on later literature and thought.
Edited by:
Debbie Felton (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 171mm,
ISBN: 9780192896506
ISBN 10: 0192896504
Series: Oxford Handbooks
Pages: 640
Publication Date: 25 April 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Debbie Felton: Introduction: Monster Theory and Classical Antiquity Part I: Monsters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East 1: Fiona Mitchell: Monsters in Creation Narratives of Ancient Greece and Rome 2: Madadh Richey: Monsters in Ancient Near Eastern Myth and Religion 3: Leanna Boychenko: Spawned from the Nile: Egyptian Monsters in Greco-Roman Culture 4: William Brockliss: Typhoeus, Agent of Disorder 5: Christina A. Salowey: The Giants: Children of Gaia 6: Daniel Ogden: Dragons 7: Dominic Ingemark and Camilla Asplund Ingemark: The 'Monster-Harbouring Sea': Sea Monsters and Sea Serpents in Ancient Myth 8: Dunstan Lowe: Art Horror: The Gorgons and Medusa 9: R. Scott Smith: The Chimaera 10: Derrek Joyce: Cerberus, Hound of Hades 11: Susan Deacy: Down the Sink Hole: The Lernaean Hydra 12: Mercedes Aguirre and Richard Buxton: Cyclopes 13: Marianne Hopman: Scylla and Charybdis 14: Ryan Denson: Sirens and Harpies: The Enchanting and Repulsive Avian Monsters of Classical Antiquity 15: Carolina López-Ruiz: The Sphinx 16: Stephen M. Trzaskoma: The Minotaur 17: Emma Aston: Human-Animal Hybrids 18: Genevieve Liveley: Monstrous Metamorphoses: Ovid and the Art of Making and Unmaking Monsters Part II: Monsters in Ancient Folklore and Ethnography 19: Janek Kucharski: Ancient Bogeys: Lamia, Mormo, Empousa, Gello, and Others 20: Julia Doroszewska: Ghosts: The Restless and Unpleasant Dead 21: Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr.: The Monstrous Animals and Animal Monsters of Ancient Greece 22: John B. Friedman: Reading Monstrous Peoples in Ancient Greece and Rome Part III: Interpreting the Monsters 23: Simon Oswald: Monumental Monsters 24: Andrea Murace: Cryptids in Greek Art 25: Lorenz Winkler-Horaček: Monsters in Ancient Greek Art 26: Greta Hawes: Rationalizing Mythic Monsters in Antiquity 27: Vanda Zajko: Beyond Othering : Classical Monstrosity and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century 28: Jennifer Larson: Gods and Monsters: Cognitive Approaches to the Monstrous 29: Eirini Apanomeritaki: Monsters of the Inner World: Psychoanalytic Approaches 30: Hannah Silverblank and Marchella Ward: Monsters and Disability: The Violence of Interpreting Bodies in Aristotle and Homer Part IV: The Reception of Classical Monsters 31: Peter Adrian Behravesh: Pearls from a Dark Cloud: Monsters in Persian Myth 32: Arngrímur Vídalín: Plinian Monsters in Old Norse Encyclopedic Literature 33: Antonella Sciancalepore: Ancient Monsters in Medieval Literature and Art 34: Luba Freedman: The Revival of Classical Monsters in the Italian Renaissance 35: Persephone Braham: Classical Monsters in Latin American Cultures 36: Justine McConnell: Recasting Monsters in Postcolonial Art and Literature 37: Katarzyna Marciniak: Classical Monsters in Children s and YA Literature 38: Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Jesse Weiner, and Brett M. Rogers: Ancient Monsters in Modern Speculative Fiction 39: Liz Gloyn: Classical Monsters in Modern Popular Culture: A Case Study in Fan Fiction 40: Debbie Felton: Ancient Monsters in Modern Science
Debbie Felton is Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research focuses on folklore in classical antiquity, especially tales of the monstrous and supernatural. Her books include Haunted Greece and Rome (1999), the edited volumes Landscapes of Dread in Classical Antiquity (2018) and A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity (2021), and Monsters and Monarchs: Serial Killers in Classical Myth and History (2021). She enjoys bringing her research into the public sphere, and has appeared in various media (newspapers, radio, tv, blogs, podcasts, webinars) in the USA and Europe.
