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Mythology
Source List

Original Mythology Sources Reference Material token mark coin.

Mythology Source List

What is a source?
The Sources pages hold the old books themselves: public-domain texts and translations Mythopouch uses as witnesses. Some were first written thousands of years ago, in languages and dialects no one speaks now. Others are later English versions that are free public domain to host, such as Frazer 1921 or Budge 1895.

A source is not a film of the story and not the Mythopouch retelling. It is the document you can cite, download and check. Spellings, notes and asides belong to the date of that edition. Where the old English is hard going, the Mythopouch retelling is the readable path through the same cycle, that also caters for ages 15+.

Mythopouch does not own the myths. It does not sell a Loeb, a modern scholarly edition, or a museum papyrus. It keeps the free witness on this page, and its own wording on the retelling page. Use both.

As with everything on Mythopouch more content is going to be added soon!

Visit Retellings Instead

The Homeric Hymns, an ancient Greek collection of hymns to the gods.

The Homeric Hymns

Greek

Alternate Names

Homeric Hymns; The Homeric Hymns; Hymns traditionally attributed to Homer; Homeric Hymns and Homerica

Author Summary

Artistic representation of an anonymous ancient Greek hymn poet, with Hugh G. Evelyn-White as the 1914 English translator.

Anonymous ancient Greek poets, traditionally attributed to Homer; translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914 (William Heinemann / The Macmillan Co.)

Medieval Arthurian court with a king, queen, knights and castle imagery.

Idylls of the King

Arthurian

Alternate Names

The Idylls of the King; Tennyson's Arthurian Idylls; Idylls of the King cycle

Author Summary

Victorian British poet in formal nineteenth-century dress.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Victorian poet; 1896 Henry Altemus edition.

Medieval British kings, a castle and illuminated manuscript imagery.

The History of the Kings of Britain

Arthurian

Alternate Names

Historia Regum Britanniae; The British History; Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History; History of the Kings of Britain

Author Summary

Medieval cleric and chronicler holding a manuscript.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, twelfth-century cleric and writer; historical English witness translated by Aaron Thompson and revised and corrected by J. A. Giles in 1842.

Herodotus' Histories, an ancient Greek work of historical inquiry covering peoples, rulers, customs and the Greco-Persian Wars.

Herodotus: The Histories

Greek

Alternate Names

The Histories; The Histories of Herodotus; Historiae; Herodotus

Author Summary

Herodotus of Halicarnassus, ancient Greek historian and author of the Histories, with Henry Cary as the 1904 English translator.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus; translated by Henry Cary, 1904, with a critical and biographical introduction by Basil L. Gildersleeve (D. Appleton and Company)

Hatshepsut's divine-birth inscriptions at Deir el-Bahari, showing the pharaoh's conception, birth and divine parentage.

Hatshepsut Divine Birth Inscriptions

Egyptian

Alternate Names

Hatshepsut's Divine Birth; Divine Birth of Hatshepsut; The Birth of Queen Hatshepsut; Deir el-Bahari Divine Birth Inscriptions

Author Summary

James Henry Breasted, Egyptologist who translated and published Hatshepsut's divine-birth inscriptions, originally created by anonymous ancient Egyptian royal scribes and temple artists.

Anonymous ancient Egyptian royal scribes and temple artists; translated and published by James Henry Breasted, 1906, drawing on Édouard Naville's documentation of Deir el-Bahari

Mythopouch artistic interpretation of Culhwch and Olwen, the medieval Welsh Arthurian tale of Culhwch's quest to marry Olwen.

Culhwch and Olwen

Arthurian

Alternate Names

Culhwch ac Olwen; Kilhwch and Olwen; Kilhwch and Olwen or The Twrch Trwyth

Author Summary

Artistic representation of the anonymous medieval Welsh author tradition behind Culhwch and Olwen, with Lady Charlotte Guest as the 1842 translator and editor.

Anonymous medieval Welsh author; translated, edited and annotated by Lady Charlotte Guest, 1842 (Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans / W. Rees)

Ancient Egyptian papyrus manuscript with hieratic writing and ritual imagery.

Book of Overthrowing Apep

Egyptian

Alternate Names

Book of Overthrowing Apophis; Apep Ritual; Apophis Ritual; Bremner-Rhind Papyrus Apep Ritual

Author Summary

Artistic interpretation of anonymous author. Modern nineteenth-century British Egyptologist and museum scholar.

Ancient Egyptian ritual text; historical English source material translated and edited by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, with the 1910 British Museum edition as the controlling witness.

Mythopouch artistic interpretation of the Egyptian Coffin Texts, a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins.

Coffin Texts

Egyptian

Alternate Names

The Egyptian Coffin Texts; Coffin Text spells; CT

Author Summary

Artistic interpretation of anonymous author. Modern author Adriaan de Buck, Egyptologist and principal editor of The Egyptian Coffin Texts.

Anonymous ancient Egyptian funerary texts; edited by Adriaan de Buck with Alan H. Gardiner, 1935-1961 (Oriental Institute Publications)

Mythopouch artistic interpretation of the Pyramid Texts as presented by E. A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian source work.

Pyramid Texts

Egyptian

Alternate Names

Pyramid Texts; Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts; Saqqara Pyramid Texts

Author Summary

Artistic interpretation of anonymous original author. Modern author E. A. Wallis Budge, author and Egyptologist associated with the Egyptian source work.

Ancient Egyptian royal funerary texts by unknown author; historical English source selection by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934), published in 1914.

Theogony, an ancient Greek poem attributed to Hesiod.

Theogony

Greek

Alternate Names

The Theogony of Hesiod; Hesiod's Theogony; Hesiod: Theogony

Author Summary

Hesiod, ancient Greek poet.

Hesiod; English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, first published in 1914. Reading copy: a standalone English PDF with new typesetting and pagination, prepared in 2026.

Mythopouch artistic interpretation of Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, Arthurian source work.

Le Morte d'Arthur

Arthurian

Alternate Names

Le Morte Darthur; Le Morte D'Arthur; Morte Darthur; The Death of Arthur

Author Summary

Artistic portrait representing Sir Thomas Malory, author and compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur.

Sir Thomas Malory; Everyman's Library edition, 1906 (J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. / E. P. Dutton & Co.)

Mythopouch artistic interpretation of the Book of the Dead, Papyrus of Ani, ancient Egyptian funerary text.

Book of the Dead

Egyptian

Alternate Names

Book of Going Forth by Day; Book of Coming Forth by Day; Egyptian Book of the Dead; Papyrus of Ani

Author Summary

Artistic portrait representing Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, editor and translator of the 1913 Papyrus of Ani edition.

Anonymous ancient Egyptian funerary texts; translated and edited by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, 1913 (The Medici Society / G. P. Putnam’s Sons)

Mythopouch artistic interpretation of the Apollodorus, otherwise known as The Library (Bibliotheca), are Greek myths, ranging from the creation of the universe to the heroic adventures. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are pictured.

The Library

Greek

Alternate Names

Bibliotheca; Bibliotheke; The Library of Apollodorus; Pseudo-Apollodorus

Author Summary

Artistic portrait representing Pseudo-Apollodorus, the name given to the ancient author of The Library. No genuine likeness survives.

Pseudo-Apollodorus; translated by Sir James George Frazer, 1921 (William Heinemann / G. P. Putnam’s Sons)

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