Bibliography Revisited, Greek Mythology Link

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Bibliography: Ancients Authors Revisited

This page rearranges the ancient authors and works in two different ways:

Table I shows their quantitative relevance
Table II arranges a number of works following the chronological order of the stories they narrate

Relevant links
Bibliography, Ancient Authors
Bibliography, Modern Authors
Ancient sources in chronological order
Abbreviations
Charts: Contemporaries 800 BC - AD 600 Historical Context of the Myths

Table I
Quantitative relevance of authors and works

Authors and Works are listed in decreasing order according to the amount of mythological data they provide. This quantitative relevance is measured mainly through the occurrence of names, and is expressed below by the percentage of mythological data represented by each author. The percentages do not amount to a full 100% because some details have been omitted from the list. Other ancient authors consulted for writing the Greek Mythology Link such as Aristotle, Athenaeus, Aulus Gellius, Boethius, Clement of Alexandria, Conon, Dares, Dictys, Diogenes Laertius (Lives of Eminent Philosophers), Epictetus, Livy, Lucian, Lycophron, Musaeus, Seneca, Suetonius, and certain contributions by Plato (besides those mentioned below), etc. are not included in this evaluation. But the general picture shown by the table should not be significantly altered if they were.

Colour key	Diverse subjects or collections
	Single subject
	Astronomy
	Hymns, Odes, Elegies, and other shorter poems, usually referring to several subjects.

%	Authors Greek / Latin	Works	Description
19%	Apollodorus AD 100	The Library	This is the most complete ancient mythographic compilation available. After a Theogonical introduction, Apollodorus goes through the description of several mythological families, such as that of Deucalion, that of Inachus, Atlas, etc. This work, including its Epitome, covers the Trojan War, the Returns of the Achaean leaders, and the wanderings of Odysseus.
12%	Pausanias AD 150	Description of Greece	Mythical and historical accounts, and description of Greek landmarks. In addition to many tales, throne succession in several cities, and the return of the Heraclides are described in detail.
12%	Hyginus c. AD 200	Fabulae	Large mythographic compilation organized in 277 short sections, providing many interesting versions of the myths.
12%	Hyginus c. AD 200	Poetica Astronomica	Astronomical manual based on Greek mythological accounts.
8%	Homer c. 750 BC	The Iliad	Epic poem.
		The Odyssey	Epic poem.
		Homeric Hymns	Invocations to the gods
6%	Ovid 43 BC-AD 17	Metamorphoses	A Poem in 15 books collecting important myths.
		Fasti	A poem in six books, having by subject the Roman calendar, in which relevant traditions (mythical, historical and astronomical) are described
		Heroides	Twenty-one imaginary letters of heroines to their lovers.
5%	Nonnos 5th c. AD	Dionysiaca	Epic in 48 books narrating the adventures of Dionysus in India.
4.6%	Hesiod c. 700 BC	Theogony	Poem describing the origin of the gods. The most complete version on the subject.
		Catalogues	Poem enumerating heroines, their adventures and descendants.
		Shield of Heracles	Poem telling some adventures of Heracles.
		Works and Days	Didactic poem with pratical instructions and ethical maxims.
4.4%	Diodorus Siculus 80-20 BC	The Library of History	History of the world with many myths recorded.
4%	Virgil 70-19 BC	The Aeneid	Epic poem relating the wanderings of Aeneas and his arrival to Italy.
4%	Virgil 70-19 BC	Georgics	Didactic poem dealing with rural gods, and serving as a manual of farming as well.
3.3%	Quintus Smyrnaeus AD 400	The Fall of Troy	Epic poem, completing the story of the Trojan War.
2.6%	Statius AD 48-96	Thebaid	Epic poem about the war of the Seven Against Thebes.
2.6%	Statius AD 48-96	Achilleid	Epic poem (unfinished) covering the first years of Achilles, his education and his mother's fears.
2%	Valerius Flaccus AD 80	Argonautica	Unfinished epic poem in eight books on the expedition of the Argonauts. It tells the story up to the escape of the Argonauts from Colchis and the murder of Medea's brother Apsyrtus.
2%	Antoninus Liberalis AD 100	Metamorphoses	Series of mythological tales (41 fables of metamorphoses).
2%	Strabo 64 BC-AD 25	Geography	Extensive work dealing with geographical and historical subjects, and describing customs and traditions as well.
1.8%	Apollonius Rhodius 260 BC	Argonautica	Epic poem in four books, telling the story of Jason and the Argonauts.
1.5%	Euripides 485-406 BC	Several plays	See list of plays in Table II or at Bibliography, Ancient Authors.
1.5%	Dionysius of Halicarnassus 60 BC-AD 7	The Roman Antiquities	Work dealing with the history of Rome from the mythical beginnings to the First Punic War.
1.3%	Plutarch AD 45-120	Parallel Lives:	Fifty biographies of historical and also mythical characters. See which lives are mythologically relevant at Bibliography, Ancient Authors.
		Moralia (Greek and Roman Parallel Stories)	The Moralia are treatises on various subjects. They include not few mythical accounts.
		Moralia (Greek Questions)
1%	Herodotus 484-430 BC	History	'The father of history' includes several myths in his historical accounts.
1%	Pindar 518-438 BC	Odes	Poems dedicated to athletic victors with multiple mythical references.
1%	Parthenius 1st C. BC	Love Romances	Collection of prose outlines of love stories.
0.5%	Aeschylus 525-456 BC	Several plays	See list of plays in Table II or at Bibliography, Ancient Authors.
0.5%	Sophocles 495-406 BC	Several plays	See list of plays in Table II or at Bibliography, Ancient Authors.
0.4%	Propertius born 50 BC	Elegies	Love poems with mythical references.
0.4%	[Orpheus]	Argonautica Orphica	Another major account on the expedition of the Argonauts.
0.3%	Tryphiodorus AD 450	The Taking of Ilios	Epic poem. Almost seven hundred remaining lines deal with the events between the episode of the Wooden Horse and the sacrifice of Polyxena.
0.3%	Callimachus 284 BC	Hymns	In several hymns to the gods the poet informs on other characters as well.
0.3%	Cicero 106-43 BC	The Nature of the Gods	Several accounts on the gods presented with the purpose of refuting the Greek traditional tales.
0.3%	Plato 427-347 BC	Critias	Source of the myth of Atlantis.
		Phaedrus	Offspring of Achelous.
		The Republic	Information about parentage of the MOERAE. Information about Ajax the Salaminian.
		Timaeus	Information about the offspring of Oceanus.
0.1%	Colluthus AD 500	The Rape of Helen	Epic poem giving an account of the Judgement of Paris and his seduction of Helen.
0.08%	Aratus of Soli 315-245 BC	Phaenomena	Didactic poem dealing with astronomy.
0.06%	Longus AD 200	Daphnis and Chloe	Novel depicting a pastoral love story.
0.05%	Manilius AD 10	Astronomica	Latin didactic poem on celestial phenomena.
0.04%	Aristophanes c. 447-386 BC	The Birds	Contains a cosmogonic exposition explaining humorously the origin of birds, but the exposition itself has mythological interest.
0.01%	Apuleius AD 160	The Golden Ass	A Latin novel. The only known source for the myth of Eros and Psyche.

Table II
Works arranged following the chronological order of the mythical events they narrate
The table below includes works on particular subjects; larger collections of myths have been excluded.

Colour key	Jason and the Argonauts
	Related to Thebes
	Related to the Trojan War
	Returns and wanderings after the fall of Troy
	Vengeance and adventures of Orestes

Order of Events	Works of authors other than playwrightsGreek / Latin			Playwrights
Order of Events	Works of authors other than playwrightsGreek / Latin			Aeschylus	Sophocles	Euripides
1	Theogony Hesiod
2				Prometheus Bound
3				The Suppliant Maidens
4						Bacchanals
5	Dionysiaca Nonnos
6						Ion
7	Argonautica Orphica	Argonautica Apollonius R.	Argonautica Valerius F.
8						Alcestis
9	Shield of Heracles Hesiod					Heracles
10					Trachiniae	Medea
11						Hippolytus
12					Oedipus the king
13					Oedipus at Colonus
14	Thebaid Statius			Seven Against Thebes		The Phoenician Women
15					Antigone
16						Suppliants
17	Achilleid Statius
18	The Rape of Helen Colluthus					Helen
19						Iphigenia in Aulis
20	The Iliad Homer					Rhesus
21					Ajax
22					Philoctetes
23	The Fall of Troy Quintus S.	The Taking of Ilios Tryphiodorus				Hecabe
24						Daughters of Troy
25	The Odyssey Homer			Agamemnon		Cyclops
26	The Aeneid Virgil			The Libation-Bearers	Electra	Electra
27						Orestes
28				Eumenides
29						Iphigenia in Tauris
30						Andromache
31						Heraclides

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