Ancient Sources

The myths as the Greeks and Romans wrote them down. Every work is here in its original language with an English translation beside it, divided into short passages you can cite, link to and read on a phone. Each passage opens with a few sentences of ours on what happens and who is in it, and the names in the text lead to our articles on the gods, heroes and places.

Authors

• Apollodorus (1st or 2nd century AD (author uncertain))
• Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC)
• Pausanias (2nd century AD)
• Hesiod (c. 700 BC)
• Homer (8th century BC (traditional))
• Epic Cycle (c. 7th-6th century BC)
• Orpheus (attributed) (legendary singer; the hymns date from the Roman imperial period (probably 2nd-3rd century AD))
• Apollonius Rhodius (3rd century BC)
• Ovid (43 BC - AD 17/18)
• Quintus Smyrnaeus (4th century AD)
• Nonnus of Panopolis (5th century AD)
• Aeschylus (c. 525-456 BC)
• Sophocles (c. 496-406 BC)
• Euripides (c. 480-406 BC)
• Aristophanes (c. 446-386 BC)
• Pindar (c. 518 – after 446 BC)
• Bacchylides (c. 520 – c. 450 BC)
• Theocritus (3rd century BC)
• Callimachus (c. 310 – c. 240 BC)
• Aratus (c. 315 – before 240 BC)
• Lycophron (3rd century BC)
• Parthenius of Nicaea (1st century BC)

Gods, heroes and places

Every passage about one figure, author by author: all 300 figures.

• Zeus 949
• Apollo 415
• Athena 359
• Dionysus 333
• Heracles 273
• Troy 267
• Odysseus 253
• Achilles 219
• Hera 216
• Aphrodite 187
• Poseidon 187
• Artemis 173
• Athens 173
• Agamemnon 172
• Ares 161
• Menelaus 147
• Thebes 142
• Hector 141
• Hermes 140
• Orestes 140
• Helen 117
• Theseus 117
• Priam 116
• Sparta 107