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Captured centaurs and satyrs, talking animals, people who suddenly change sex, men who give birth, the temporarily insane and the permanently thick-witted, delicate sensualists, incompetent seers, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh - these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology - from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable translations, this is the first book to offer a representative selection of the entire range of traditional classical storytelling.

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"William Hansen´s marvelous treasury lets us experience for ourselves the timeless tales that made the ancient Greeks and Romans think, shudder, and laugh."--Adrienne Mayor, author of The Amazons

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William Hansen, professor emeritus of classical studies and folklore at Indiana University, Bloomington, is one of the world´s leading authorities on classical folklore. His books include Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans, Ariadne´s Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature, and Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature. He lives in Bloomington.

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