Primary Texts in Translation – Main Sources for Our Readings

Poetry in Translation contains readable English translations from many different languages and traditions, spanning Classical Greece and Rome (our focus) to Medieval France, China, Russia, and on and on. Particularly relevant for us are the Greek and Latin sources when you go to Browse By > Language

We have several readings from Theoi.com, a sort of Wiki or Encyclopedia focused solely on Greek mythology and religion. Here you can find background information on different characters in mythology, religious context, primary sources organized by relevant character, and LOTS of visual art and archaeology from Greek myth.

Bonus Resources for Classical Myth

Myth enthusiast Liv Albert has over 600 episodes of her podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby that are well-researched and sassy with lots of variety. In addition to discussions of different characters and stories in myth, she has many interviews with academics and people who study the ancient world professionally. She is especially interested in gender, queerness/sexuality, and power as recurring themes in Greek Myth. Her page has a search feature so you can find an episode you’re interested in.

Myths, Stories and Literature Beyond Ancient Greece and Rome

It sucks to have to leave out so many awesome story traditions when deciding what to cover in a course! The Myth and Folklore Untextbook can broaden your encounters with stories to include Hindu and other Indian stories, Anansi from West Africa, stories from the Bible and from Arabic folklore pre-Islamic and Islamic, Medieval Europe…a vast range! Since the website was also originally conceived for a college course, there are also reading guides and suggested pathways through the wealth of materials. This could be a great resource for those looking for another myth tradition to compare our Greek one to for one of the response papers.

The podcast Myths and Legends has been going strong for years and gets you two thematically related stories per 30 minute episode along with a fun mythical creature. Note that there are lots of ads (that you can, however, easily skip over) and that if you want the specific source for the stories, you may have to do a bit of digging. This is great entertainment and creative retellings of stories—so don’t expect an accurate telling of some “original” best version, but DO expect fun!

For a VERY deep dive into literary history—so far including Greece and Rome, the Old and New Testaments from Christianity, Late Antiquity in Europe, and now starting on Arabic and Islamic literature, try out the Literature and History Podcast. The episodes are nearly 2 hours long, but the style is chatty and the research behind them is rigorous. There are also full transcripts of all the 100+ episodes available on the site. New episodes come out on the 15th of every month. This is a great resource for English majors and fans who want to put the stories we’re covering in the broader context of literary history.