There was a fast fluttering, a furious flapping of wings and a wild wheeling and whirling in her ears.īut no … they were not glorious at all. Its waxen seal gave way and she pulled it free. She pulled the jar from its hiding place and twisted at the lid. Unable to stand it any longer Pandora leapt from her matrimonial bed and was out in the garden, unrolling the base of the sundial and scrabbling at the earth, before she had time to tell herself that this was the wrong thing to do. Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch’s Mythology, Chapter 2: Prometheus and PandoraĮpithemeus was sleeping beside happily beside her. Forthwith there escaped a multitude of plagues for hapless man, - such as gout, rheumatism, and colic for his body, and envy spite, and revenge for his mind, - and scattered themselves far and wide. Pandora was seized with an eager curiosity to know what this jar contained and one day she slipped off the cover and looked in. Thus equipped, she was conveyed to earth, and presented to Epithemeus, who gladly accepted her, though cautioned by his brother to beware of Jupiter and his gifts Epithemeus had in his house a jar, in which were kept certain noxious articles, for which, in fitting man for his new abode, he had had no occasion. For example, here is Thomas Bulfinch on a familiar story: When reading Fry, it is not hard to imagine that he is talking to you, especially when one is familiar with his mellifluous (a word Fry seems fond of) speaking voice. But I think Fry has something to offer a modern audience: a conversational tone and an intention to be entertaining and engaging.

With so many books on myth published over time the obvious question for any publisher – indeed, even the public – is, why this one? Fry acknowledges his own debt to previous modern writers (Edith Hamilton, Thomas Bulfinch, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Graves to mention a few) apart from ancient sources like Hesiod, Ovid and Aeschylus (again, only a few).

He does this with all the wit, charm and good humour that anyone familiar with Fry’s public persona would be familiar.Īnd that’s a good place to start a discussion about this book.

In Mythos Stephen Fry retells the Greek myths and tries to make sense of the chronology, and the meaning and cultural impact the myths have had on our own civilisation. Nevertheless, with any sort of familiarity it is easy to see certain patterns emerge from myth: repetitions of themes or even stories. Whether it’s been through Hollywood movies, snippets of stories here and there, or reading myths from one culture or another, the result tends to be a familiarity with a lot of names and incidents from myth, but not necessarily a coherent understanding as to how the stories relate or even a coherent timeline. I don’t know what kind of exposure others have to myth, but I know mine has been fairly piecemeal over the years.

Stephen fry's mythos