D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths

Written and illustrated by Ingrid and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths (1962) is a children’s/middle grade collection of ancient Greek (and Roman) myth narratives. A curation of ancient sources to foreground the charming and fantastical, the collection retells the familiar stories in lyrical prose and includes whimsical illustrations inspired by ancient Greek artifacts. The D’Aulaires shape the tales to explore themes related to origin stories, the danger of excess and need for wisdom, and the qualities that define a hero.

The D’Aulaires authored and illustrated more than 25 children’s books. D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths draws creatively on numerous ancient sources, most notably Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days, The Homeric Hymns, Apollonius of Rhodes’s Jason and the Golden Fleece, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It is one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Great Children’s Books and an NPR 100 Must-Reads for Kids 9-14 selection.

This guide is based on the e-book edition published by Random House Children’s Books.

Note: The myths begin on page 11 of the source text, as reflected in this guide’s summary groupings.

Content Warning: The book and guide include discussions of violence, kidnapping, cannibalism, incest, misogyny, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

The book begins with the creation of the gods. The first generation, born to Earth (Gaea) and Sky (Uranus), were the Titans, Cyclopes, and 100-armed ones. Earth and Sky’s son Cronus overthrew his father and then was overthrown by his son Zeus. Zeus ruled alongside his three sisters (Hera, Hestia, and Demeter) and two brothers (Poseidon and Hades).

Zeus wife Hera was jealous of his other wives and always kept a close watch on him. Zeus and Hera’s son Hephaestus was a kindly smith who built thrones and weapons for the gods. His wife was Aphrodite, goddess of love, who was born out of the surf; however, she preferred his brother Ares, god of brutal war. The other gods all disliked him, especially his sister Athena, Zeus’s favorite child. Skilled at weaving and pottery, she was goddess of strategic warfare and patron of artists. When her pupil Arachne arrogantly challenged her, Athena defeated her and transformed her into a spider.

On the island of Delos, Zeus’s twins with Leto were born: god of light and music Apollo and goddess of the hunt and newborn life Artemis. Zeus granted her request to remain a maiden eternally. Zeus’s son with Maia was Hermes, god of merchants, thieves, and travelers. He guided the souls of the departed to the underworld. The youngest Olympian was Dionysus, wine god and son of Zeus and mortal princess Semele.

Zeus’s brother Hades kidnapped Persephone. Her mother, Demeter, demanded her daughter back, refusing to let the crops grow until Persephone was returned. Because she had eaten while in the underworld, Persephone had to return to Hades for part of the year. As long as she remained with Hades, nothing grew, but when she was reunited with her mother, the crops bloomed.

In addition to the major deities, minor gods and goddesses lived on Olympus. Most powerful among them were the Fates, three sisters who spun, measured, and cut each life thread. Prometheus helped improve men’s quality of life, against Zeus’s wishes. Zeus punished him by chaining him to a mountain and sending an eagle to devour his liver day after day. Zeus punished men by creating Pandora, the first woman, who opened a jar Zeus gave her, releasing evil into the world. Zeus later created a flood, which destroyed the world. Only virtuous Pyrrha and her husband Deucalion, son of Prometheus, survived.

Deucalion’s grandson Aeolus became guardian of the winds. His mother was Eos (dawn), who once fell in love with a mortal, Tithonus, and her brother was Helios (the sun). Helios’s son Phaëthon longed to drive his father’s chariot through the sky but could not control its fiery horses and was killed. Helios’s sister was Selene, the moon, who fell in love with mortal shepherd Endymion.

Nature god Pan was the son of Hermes and a nymph. He fell in love with the nymph Echo, but she loved Narcissus, who loved only himself. Narcissus wasted away staring longingly at himself in a river and grieving his loss, and Echo did the same. Pan also loved Syrinx, but she transformed into reeds to escape him. Daphne likewise transformed into a tree to escape Apollo.

Apollo’s son Asclepius became a great healer but angered Zeus and Hades by raising the dead. Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt, angering Apollo, who killed the Cyclopes, makers of the thunderbolt, in retaliation. Zeus punished Apollo by enslaving him on Earth. The Muses, daughters of Zeus and the Titan Mnemosyne (memory), missed him. The Muses transformed their mother’s knowledge into songs and poems. Calliope, the muse of heroic poetry, had a son, Orion, who could enchant anyone with his music, even Hades.

In addition to his immortal children, Zeus had mortal ones. He kidnapped Europa, princess of Tyre, and their marriage produced three sons, including Cadmus, who founded Thebes. Zeus’s son Tantalus served his son to the gods at a banquet and was severely punished. Zeus’s Danaë gave birth to the hero Perseus, who cut off the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Later, he married Ethiopian princess Andromeda and founded Mycenae.

Some of Zeus’s descendants were clever but vain kings: Midas, who came to regret his wish to have everything he touched turned to gold; Sisyphus, who repeatedly tricked the gods; and Bellerophon, who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and defeated the Chimera but foolishly believed he could fly up to Olympus and join the gods.

Three important heroes in Greek myths were Heracles, Theseus, and Oedipus. Heracles was a son of Zeus with the mortal Alcmene. Hera hated Heracles and conspired against him. Because of her plots, he had to perform 12 labors, which made him famous throughout Greece. Eventually, he saved the gods and was reconciled with her. Theseus, son of Athenian king Aegeus, traveled to Crete to defeat the Minotaur. Later, he married Cretan princess Phaedra, creating peace between Athens and Crete. Theseus later offered Oedipus, king of Thebes, sanctuary. Oedipus tried to avoid an oracle’s prophesy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, but by trying to avoid it, he ended up fulfilling it. His mother and wife, Jocasta, died by suicide, and Oedipus blinded himself and fled Thebes.

The book concludes by recounting three popular quest narratives: The Golden Fleece, The Caledonian Boar Hunt, and the Apples of Love and Apple of Discord. Jason of Iolcus was sent to recover the Golden Fleece from Colchis, which he achieved because of Colchian princess Medea’s help. However, he later betrayed her, and she became evil. The heroes of the Caledonian Boar Hunt were Meleager and Atalanta, who slayed the boar together. Atalanta later married Melanion, who beat her in a foot race by distracting her via the Apples of Love. The Apple of Discord created a conflict between Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena, which eventually led to the Trojan war. The Greeks won the war, but Trojan prince Aeneas survived and later founded Rome.