Ancient Greek mythology is the system of myths created by ancient Greeks, concerning their gods, heroes, and the creation of the world, as well as explaining the sources of religious ceremonies and rites. Mythology was thus part of Ancient Greek religion.
At first, the myths circulated orally, but starting in the 8th c. BC they began to be recorded in various literary genres and in visual arts, mainly in ceramic decoration. Systematized collections of myths were also written in the Hellenistic era, although only one of them, the Mythological Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus (~ 2nd c. AD) survives.
Rome’s conquest of Greece following the battle at Corinth in 146 BC, marked the beginning of an era of Greek cultural influence on Rome. Roman authors adopted Greek myths and combined them with Roman mythology. Syncretic deities came into being and the main Roman gods took on characteristic features of Greek gods. Thus the supreme god Jupiter was identified with Zeus, the cult of Sol Invictus with the cult of Apollo, and Apollo was also identified with the Greek Helios.
Of particular interest was the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas. According to Virgil’s Aeneid, he traveled to Italy following the war, and his descendants became the legendary founders of Rome.
It is impossible to overestimate the role of ancient Greek myths in the treasury of world culture. In the Byzantine Empire as well as in the Eastern Christian world, which belonged to the sphere of its cultural influence, Greek mythology and literature were always perceived as classical Greek legacy and their study and elaboration never ceased. The Renaissance in Western Europe was the renaissance of Greco-Roman culture, when alongside biblical themes, classical and mythological topics became common and much admired subject-matter for authors, painters, sculptors, and composers in later centuries. The great interest in Greco-Roman myths and themes survives in our days as well, and they still remain a rich source of inspiration for writers, movie makers, and creative artists.
Greek myths were to some extent familiar to medieval Armenians, mainly through translations of late classical and early Christian writings; they also appear in original works of Armenian authors, but this knowledge was never profound or accurate. Translators, Armenian authors, as well as later scribes, often distorted names or details of the plot while translating, narrating, copying, or alluding to short mythical stories. The material in this book (which is a slightly revised translation of the original Armenian book)1 shows that medieval Armenian readers and writers came across various parts of the Greek mythological cycle which were not always familiar and understandable to them.
To help the reader, I have extracted the citations or paraphrases of Greek myths in medieval Armenian literature from translated and original Armenian texts (mainly published ones) and have presented them side-by-side with the original Greek version (if extant), along with a parallel English translation.2 In the case of minor differences between Greek passages and their Armenian versions, the equivalents of the Greek readings are given in the English translation in brackets and marked by the abbreviation “Gr.” If the differences are far reaching, the Greek passages are cited and translated into English separately, following the corresponding Armenian passages preceded by “cf.” The English translations are my own unless otherwise noted.
The material is grouped in 154 sections or episodes; each includes one or several citations which usually consist of a couple of sentences, sometimes incomplete sentences. The Sermons of Gregory of Nazianzus, for example, contain allusions to myths consisting of just one word.
I have arranged the episodes mainly in a “chronological order,” in accordance with the sequence of myths in the Mythological Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus. Thus the first episode is dedicated to the children of Uranus and Gea, and number 153, to the foundation of Rome. Only one episode, about Narcissus, has no parallels in the Library, so it is located at the end.
Each episode has a preamble which is a short description of the classical story of this or that myth, with the corresponding chapter of Mythological Library indicated. Where necessary, other sources are noted as well. Within the episodes, the excerpts are arranged in a more or less chronological order (i.e. following the chronology of the writings from which they are excerpted), but the passages that are obviously influenced by one another are placed together.
Materials dedicated to gods, their images, rites associated with them and other similar topics are in the appendices, which also include complete narrations of the Trojan war, since such materials do not correspond to the composition of the book consisting of smaller episodes.
Some English passages are cited from published translations of Armenian authors, which are mentioned in the bibliography (“Armenian texts”), just after the information on the respective authors. In case of the Armenian versions of some classical and patristic authors (Plato, Gregory of Nazianzus, etc.), the existing English translations of their Greek source texts, mostly available as internet resources, have been partly used, modified as needed.