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Griffins, Cyclopes, Monsters, and Giants--these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? What if monstrous creatures once roamed the earth in the very places where their legends first arose? This is the arresting and original thesis that Adrienne Mayor explores in The First Fossil Hunters. Through careful research and meticulous documentation, she convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact--in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans. As Mayor shows, the Greeks and Romans were well aware that a different breed of creatures once inhabited their lands. They frequently encountered the fossilized bones of these primeval beings, and they developed sophisticated concepts to explain the fossil evidence, concepts that were expressed in mythological stories. The legend of the gold-guarding griffin, for example, sprang from tales first told by Scythian gold-miners, who, passing through the Gobi Desert at the foot of the Altai Mountains, encountered the skeletons of Protoceratops and other dinosaurs that littered the ground. Like their modern counterparts, the ancient fossil hunters collected and measured impressive petrified remains and displayed them in temples and museums; they attempted to reconstruct the appearance of these prehistoric creatures and to explain their extinction. Long thought to be fantasy, the remarkably detailed and perceptive Greek and Roman accounts of giant bone finds were actually based on solid paleontological facts. By reading these neglected narratives for the first time in the light of modern scientific discoveries, Adrienne Mayor illuminates a lost world of ancient paleontology.

Paleontology --- Science, Ancient. --- Vertebrates, Fossil --- History. --- Paleontology - Greece - History. --- Paleontology -- Greece -- History. --- Paleontology - Rome - History. --- Paleontology -- Rome -- History. --- Science, Ancient --- Geology --- Earth & Environmental Sciences --- History --- Ancient science --- Science, Primitive --- Fossilogy --- Fossilology --- Palaeontology --- Paleontology, Zoological --- Paleozoology --- Historical geology --- Zoology --- Fossils --- Prehistoric animals in motion pictures --- Science

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Polemology --- Antiquity

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Machiavelli praised his military genius. European royalty sought out his secret elixir against poison. His life inspired Mozart's first opera, while for centuries poets and playwrights recited bloody, romantic tales of his victories, defeats, intrigues, concubines, and mysterious death. But until now no modern historian has recounted the full story of Mithradates, the ruthless king and visionary rebel who challenged the power of Rome in the first century BC. In this richly illustrated book--the first biography of Mithradates in fifty years--Adrienne Mayor combines a storyteller's gifts with the most recent archaeological and scientific discoveries to tell the tale of Mithradates as it has never been told before. The Poison King describes a life brimming with spectacle and excitement. Claiming Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia as ancestors, Mithradates inherited a wealthy Black Sea kingdom at age fourteen after his mother poisoned his father. He fled into exile and returned in triumph to become a ruler of superb intelligence and fierce ambition. Hailed as a savior by his followers and feared as a second Hannibal by his enemies, he envisioned a grand Eastern empire to rival Rome. After massacring eighty thousand Roman citizens in 88 BC, he seized Greece and modern-day Turkey. Fighting some of the most spectacular battles in ancient history, he dragged Rome into a long round of wars and threatened to invade Italy itself. His uncanny ability to elude capture and surge back after devastating losses unnerved the Romans, while his mastery of poisons allowed him to foil assassination attempts and eliminate rivals. The Poison King is a gripping account of one of Rome's most relentless but least understood foes.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Poisoning --- Empoisonnement --- Political aspects --- Aspect politique --- Mithridates --- Pontus --- Rome --- Mediterranean Region --- Black Sea Region --- Pont (Région ancienne) --- Méditerranée, Région de la --- Noire, Région de la mer --- Kings and rulers --- Biography --- History. --- History --- History, Military. --- Rois et souverains --- Biographies --- Histoire --- Histoire militaire --- Empoisonnement (Droit pénal) --- Mithridate --- Pont (Région ancienne) --- Méditerranée, Région de la --- Noire, Région de la mer --- History, Military --- Toxicological emergencies --- Toxicology --- Political aspects&delete& --- Mithradatēs, --- Mithradates --- Mithridates, --- Mithridatos --- Mitridat Evpator, --- Mitridate Eupatore, --- Mitridate --- Mitrydat --- Circum-Mediterranean countries --- Mediterranean Area --- Mediterranean countries --- Mediterranean Sea Region --- Poisoning - Political aspects - Rome - History --- Empoisonnement (Droit pénal) - Aspect politique - Rome - Histoire --- Rois et souverains - Pont (Région ancienne) - Biographies --- Mithridates - VI Eupator, - King of Pontus, - ca. 132-63 B.C. --- Mithridate - VI Eupator, - roi du Pont, - ca 132-63 av. J.-C. --- Pontus - Kings and rulers - Biography --- Pontus - History --- Rome - History - Mithridatic Wars, 88-63 B.C. --- Black Sea Region - History, Military --- Mediterranean Region - History, Military --- Pont (Région ancienne) - Histoire --- Rome - Histoire - 88-63 av. J.-C. (Guerres contre Mithridate) --- Méditerranée, Région de la - Histoire militaire --- Noire, Région de la mer - Histoire militaire --- Mithridate (roi du Pont ; 0132?-0063 av. J.-C.) --- Intoxication --- Méditerranée (région) --- Mer Noire (région) --- Antiquité --- Biography. --- Méditerranée (région) --- Mer Noire (région) --- Antiquité

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"A collection of short pieces by historian of myth and science, Adrienne Mayor, on a wide array of fascinating and fun classical myths and the reality which often lies behind them"-- "A treasury of astonishing mythic marvels-and the surprising truths behind them. Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights-glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth--embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from antiquity, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries.The book explores such subjects as how mirages inspired legends of cities in the sky; the true identity of winged serpents in ancient Egypt; how ghost ships led to the discovery of the Gulf Stream; and the beauty secrets of ancient Amazons. Other pieces examine Arthur Conan Doyle's sea serpent and Geronimo's dragon; Flaubert's obsession with ancient Carthage; ancient tattooing practices; and the strange relationship between wine goblets and women's breasts since the times of Helen of Troy and Marie Antoinette. And there's much, much more. Showcasing Mayor's trademark passion not to demythologize myths, but to uncover the fascinating truths buried beneath them, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a wonder cabinet of delightful curiosities"--

Mythology, Classical. --- Curiosities and wonders. --- Folklore --- Curiosities and wonders

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The first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called Talos. This wondrous machine was created not by MIT Robotics Lab, but by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention. More than 2,500 years ago, long before medieval automata, and centuries before technology made self-moving devices possible, Greek mythology was exploring ideas about creating artificial life--and grappling with still-unresolved ethical concerns about biotechne, "life through craft." In this compelling, richly illustrated book, Adrienne Mayor tells the fascinating story of how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese myths envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices, and human enhancements--and how these visions relate to and reflect the ancient invention of real animated machines. As early as Homer, Greeks were imagining robotic servants, animated statues, and even ancient versions of Artificial Intelligence, while in Indian legend, Buddha's precious relics were defended by robot warriors copied from Greco-Roman designs for real automata. Mythic automata appear in tales about Jason and the Argonauts, Medea, Daedalus, Prometheus, and Pandora, and many of these machines are described as being built with the same materials and methods that human artisans used to make tools and statues. And, indeed, many sophisticated animated devices were actually built in antiquity, reaching a climax with the creation of a host of automata in the ancient city of learning, Alexandria, the original Silicon Valley.

Robots. --- Technology --- Technology --- Technology --- Mythology. --- Antiquities. --- Artificial intelligence. --- Artificial intelligence --- Artificial intelligence --- Technology and civilization. --- Inventions --- Science and civilization. --- History. --- History. --- History. --- History. --- Social aspects. --- History.