The Age of Fable

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Bulfinch's Mythology is a classic guide to the stories, symbols, and allusions that shape Western literature, written to make the ancient world vivid and intelligible for ordinary readers. Thomas Bulfinch presents mythology not as a dry field of study, but as a living companion to poetry and prose, from Homer, Milton, and Byron to Shakespeare and beyond. This edition preserves his original text while expanding it with Northern legends, British hero myths, and a fuller index, strengthening its value as both a treasury of tales and a key to literary memory. The book ranges from the ancient Greek vision of a flat earth encircled by Ocean to the splendor of Olympus, where Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Pluto, and the other gods rule a universe shaped by family conflict, divine power, and fate. It also surveys Cupid, Minerva, Mercury, Ceres, Bacchus, the Muses, the Graces, and the Fates, then moves into memorable myths of Aristaeus, whose bees are restored through ritual, and of legendary musicians such as Amphion, Marsyas, Arion, and others whose gifts reveal both the beauty and peril of inspired art. Blending classical myth, medieval romance, and poetic commentary, the work offers wonder, instruction, and a deeper understanding of Europe's imaginative heritage.