arrow_upward
Pattern Pattern Pattern

Showing 102 entries for tag: Underworld

Pattern Pattern Pattern

Jetdogs Studios , Zoom Out Games

12 Labours of Hercules

The first 12 labours of Hercules game begins by introducing the main characters, Hercules and Megara, who live happily together with their servants. However, Hades abducts Megara, causing Hercules to set out to search for and rescue her. With the help of characters such as Medusa, Cerberus and Chiron, whom he rescues along the way, he fights the Hydra, saves Prometheus from his golden chains and rescues Megara from the Underworld.The second game begins in Thebes with Hercules having the idea of (...)

electronic

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Online


Sarah Janet Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, 2)

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2) is book two of a high fantasy series in which each book takes inspiration from well-known myths or fairytales, with book two being described by the author as influenced by the myth of Hades and Persephone. The novel is published as New Adult in America, a category that explores similar themes to Young Adult, but often with more explicit sexual themes and violence. This impacts the retelling by centring the protagonist’s attraction t(...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: United States of America


David Almond

A Song for Ella Grey

A Song For Ella Grey is a non-linear retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice set in contemporary Newcastle, from the point of view of Claire, Ella’s best friend and lover. Claire disapproves of Ella’s relationship with Orpheus, and is gradually left behind by Ella to witness their love and subsequent deaths. Claire and Ella are seventeen, and Orpheus is described as looking in his early twenties, though it is hinted that he may be much older.Part 1 – Present DayClaire is in love with(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Natalia Kapatsoulia, Filippos Mandilaras

Aphrodite, Goddess of Beauty [Αφροδίτη η θεά της ομορφιάς (Afrodítī ī theá tīs omorfiás)]

Mandilaras and Kapatsoulia recount Aphrodite’s life, starting with her birth from the sea in Cyprus and ending with her veneration in Greek temples and legacy for sculptors and painters. Aphrodite emerged from the sea in a large seashell. She was beautiful and everyone fell in love with her. Zephyrus travelled with Aphrodite, first to the island of Cythera – where he spent a night with her – and afterwards to the west part of Cyprus. In Cyprus, the Hours made Aphrodite bea(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: Greece


Marios Aristopoulos, Jesse McGibney, Maciej Paprocki, Lee Vermeulen

Apotheon

Apotheon features the story of Nikandreos, a warrior from the village of Dion, and his journey to save his village and the Earth from the wrath of Zeus. The story begins with the ransack of Dion by invaders. Nikandreos saves his village alongside surviving soldiers and then heads to the temple, where Hera congratulates him for defeating the invaders and recruits him as her champion to take down Zeus, in revenge for her husband’s affairs with other gods and humans. He agrees to this task an(...)

electronic

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Canada


Johnny Capps , Julian Murphy, Howard Overman

Atlantis (Series)

Jason, a twenty-first-century young man in search of his lost father, travels in a submarine through an under-ocean portal and ends up on the shores of the ancient city of Atlantis ruled by King Minos. He befriends a yet unrecognized mathematical genius/geek Pythagoras and a prizefighter past his prime, Hercules. In this version of the Minotaur myth, victims for the monster are picked from among the inhabitants of the city in a lottery. Pythagoras draws a black stone, but his friends try to save(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Arcade Fire

Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)

This song loosely narrates the death of Eurydice. Although he is not mentioned by name in the song, the second person perspective and the relative place of the song on the album (as a companion to It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus) suggests that it is being sung from Orpheus’ perspective. The lyrics do not directly reference ancient versions of the myth but narrates the version of events as told in the 1959 film Orfeu Negro (Eng: Black Orpheus; dir. Marcel Camus), from which the mythic eve(...)

music

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: Canada


Aleksei Bitskoff, Maz Evans

Beyond the Odyssey (Who Let the Dogs Out, 3)

Beyond the Odyssey is the third book in the Who Let The Gods Out series by Maz Evans, and picks up the story of Elliot and his immortal companions a short time after the end of Simply The Quest. Elliot and the gods are still living at Home Farm, but Hermes remains in a coma and Elliot's mother's illness is getting worse. On top of all that, the school has a sent another "very scary letter’", saying that they are going to conduct a welfare visit to see how everything (...)

literary

YEAR: 2018

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Laura Ruby

Bone Gap

Bone Gap is set in the small American town of the same name in the 21st Century and follows two protagonists: Finn, a teenage boy who does not know that he has prosopagnosia (more colloquially known as “face-blindness”, a disability that prevents him from recognising faces), and Roza, a beautiful young Polish woman who mysteriously turns up in Finn’s barn. Finn is the only witness of her subsequent abduction, but nobody believes him. As Roza fights to escape from her captor, Fi(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United States of America


Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn (Twilight, 4)

Breaking Dawn is the fourth of Meyer’s Twilight series. The novels deal with a young woman, Isabella (Bella) Swan, as she discovers a world of werewolves and vampires that lies within her own world. The novels explore the consequences of the mortal Bella venturing into this world and crossing the boundary between her mortal world and the immortal world. The text employs narrative patterns, names, and creatures from Graeco-Roman mythology in order to heighten the fantasy of the na(...)

literary

YEAR: 2008

COUNTRY: United States of America


Sulari Gentill

Chasing Odysseus (The Hero Trilogy, 1)

This is the first book in the author’s Hero trilogy. The story of Chasing Odysseus starts in the final days of the Trojan War. Its heroes are three teenaged brothers (Machaon, Cadmus and Lycon) and their younger sister (Hero). Their adoptive father, Agelaus, is a leader of the Herdsmen, a fiercely independent community, allied to the Trojans, who live on the slopes of Mt Ida. The Herdsmen, traditional protectors of the Trojan people, have been secretly supplying the Trojans with food (...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Australia


Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Series, Part 3)

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a supernatural horror show, a remake of Archie comic book series of the same title. Despite shared origins, this Netflix series has little in common with Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1996-2003), the previous U.S. television series based on the comic book character of half-witch Sabrina Spellman. The web television series consists as of March 2020 of two seasons each divided in two parts, with a total of four parts to be released between until the end of 2020.(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2018

COUNTRY: United States of America


Beverley Cross, Desmond Davis, Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer

Clash of the Titans

The film loosely follows ancient versions of the myth of Perseus and Medusa. The film opens with king Acrisius of Argos throwing his daughter Danaë and her infant son Perseus into the sea in a casket. After the credits, the scene cuts to the gods on Olympus, where Zeus swears to punish Acrisius and has Poseidon release a monster, a titan called the Kraken to destroy Argos. It is revealed that Perseus is the child of Zeus.Danaë and Perseus drift safely to the island of Seriphos, where P(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1981

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, Louis Leterrier, Matt Manfredi

Clash of the Titans

A remake of the 1981 film of the same name (also surveyed on this database), this film loosely follows both the plot of the original film and the myth of Perseus and Medusa. The film opens with the story of the defeat of the Titans by the Olympians. After Hades has produced the Kraken, the Titans are defeated and Zeus, Poseidon and Hades assigned kingdoms. Zeus creates humans to fuel the gods with prayers, and the voiceover explains that humans are questioning and rising up against the gods(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America


Justine Fontes, Ron Fontes, Steve Kurth , Barbara Schulz

Demeter and Persephone. Spring Held Hostage

The myth of Demeter and Persephone is retold here to familiarise young people with the myth and with ancient Greek culture more broadly. The myth provides an aeitiology for the seasons. Persephone is abducted by Hades, god of the Underworld. Persephone's mother, the goddess Demeter, searches for her. Demeter mourns her daughter when it transpires that she has been taken to the Underworld, causing harvests to fail and plants to die. A compromise is reached in which Persephone splits her time (...)

literary

YEAR: 2007

COUNTRY: United States of America


George O'Connor

Dionysos. The New God (Olympians, 12)

Dionysos opens not with “the new god”, but with the quieter, lesser-known deity, Hestia. The reader is returned to the beginning of the series (Vol. 1 Zeus. King of the Gods), which introduced the creation of the universe and the Olympians. Hestia tells this story, and that of the war with the Titans, this time from her own perspective. She then explains a little about herself; her disinterest in temples and the usual offerings and her content to be found in the hearths of people&rsq(...)

literary

YEAR: 2022

COUNTRY: United States of America


Sarah McCarry

Dirty Wings (The Metamorphoses Trilogy, 2)

The second instalment in McCarry’s Metamorphoses Trilogy, Dirty Wings is the prequel to All Our Pretty Songs (2013), the story of the powerful friendship between the beautiful, charismatic Aurora, and the unnamed narrator, and the drama ensues when a mysterious, brilliant musician comes between them. Dirty Wings reveals the origins of the friendship between the girls’ mothers, Maia and Cass. In this book, Maia is a naïve, beautiful teenager with a prodigious musical talent for t(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: United States of America


​Bob Baker, ​Dave Martin , ​Anthony Read , Norman Stewart

Doctor Who (Series, Season 15): Underworld

‘Underworld’ was typical of mid-1970s Doctor Who (1963–1989; 2005–present), in what is still regarded as its most successful period. Scripts in the era of the Fourth Doctor (played by Tom Baker) – with his enormous, multi-coloured scarf, and the ability to switch between high comedy and serious drama – delved regularly into mythological, historical, and literary themes that were already well-known to the family audiences. These were often transposed from their(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1978

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Brodi Ashton

Everbound (Everneath, 2)

A seventeen year old high school student and cheerleader, Nikki, is determined to rescue her boyfriend Jack, who saved her from the underworld, called Everneath in volume 1 of the trilogy. He is threatened by black shadows sucking out his emotions and energy. After finding the Hades-figure Cole, who kidnapped her and brought to the underworld in the past, Nikki asks him, what to do. He reveals to her, that she will encounter dangerous circles, which are made of the four elements, water, fire, ea(...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: United States of America


Brodi Ashton

Everneath (Everneath, 1)

A seventeen year old student and cheerleader, Nikki Beckett, whose mother died in a car accident, is trapped for a hundred years in an uncanny underworld named Everneath, ruled at some point by the Egyptian Isis and Osiris, then by Hades and Persephone. Nikki lies imprisoned in a cave together with the underworld-rocker Everlasting Cole, who steals her energy in order to feed himself and who is performing with the band “The Dead Elvises.” The immortals in the Everneath remain immorta(...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: United States of America


Brodi Ashton

Evertrue (Everneath, 3)

A seventeen year old high school student and cheerleader, Nikki, joins together with Jack, her boyfriend, in order to destroy the perilous and horrible Everneath completely. To fulfil that mission, she moves to Nebraska with Jack, from where they descend into the underworld. There, the couple meets the Hades-figure Cole, who lost his memory. Consequently, it is revealed, that he was tortured by Adonia, the cruel queen of the Everneath, because she feared him as a rival to her throne. By destroyi(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: United States of America


Graham Annable, Gregory Benton, R.O. Blechman, Vera Brosgol, Graham Chaffee, Eleanor Davis, Chris Duffy, Ulises Farinas, Tom Gauld, Sophie Goldstein, Charise Harper, Jaime Hernandez, John Kerschbaum, James Kochalka, Braden Lamb, Roger Langridge, Simone Lia, Jennifer L. Meyer, Corinne Mucha, Mark Newgarden, George O'Connor, Shelli Paroline, Israel Sanchez, Robert Sikoryak, Ricardo Siri, Maris Wicks, Keny Widjaja

Fable Comics

Fable Comics is a fun and diverse collection of comics retelling fables in a lively, modern style. As many author/illustrators were involved, the fables have many different visual styles; many are rendered in a simplistic or impressionistic style, others are highly illustrated. The majority are told in a humorous tone. Most of the fables are from Aesop, while some are from other traditions. The origin of the story is given as a note at the beginning of each story, e.g. "From Aesop", &q(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United States of America


Irena Parandowska, Józef Wilkoń

From the World of Myths [Ze świata mitów]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.Selection of seventeen widely known Greek myths from various sources including Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey: Pandora, Flood Myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha, Daedalus, Talos and Icarus, Persephone, Eos and Orion, Perseus, Sis(...)

literary

YEAR: 1967

COUNTRY: Poland


SIE Santa Monica Studio

God of War III

The story revolves around Kratos, a Spartan warrior, who sets on his quest to defeat the Olympian gods – in revenge for their actions against him in the previous installments. (see the God of War and God of War II entries for more info)The game opens with Kratos’s famous words that ended God of War II: “Zeus! Your son has returned. I bring the destruction of Olympus!” The warrior marches to Olympus atop Gaia, along with her fellow Titans saved with the power of the Fates,(...)

electronic

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America


Ready at Dawn , SIE Santa Monica Studio

God of War: Chains of Olympus

The story revolves around Kratos, a Spartan hero seeking to redeem his sins by serving the Olympian gods.During his journey, Kratos receives a number of weapons and magic items. In the God of War: Chains of Olympus there are: weapons – Blades of Chaos given to Kratos by Ares (default weapon), Gauntlet of Zeus forged by Hephaestus; magic – Efreet, an ability to use the spirit of a fiery Djiin, Light of Dawn, orbs of light to hurl and Charon's Wraith, green, ravenous blasting flame(...)

electronic

YEAR: 2008

COUNTRY: United States of America


Aimée Carter

Goddess Interrupted (The Goddess Test, 2)

In this second volume of the Goddess Test trilogy Kate and Henry, the god of the underworld, are a couple. During spring and summer she is allowed to live in the upper world. Because of her attempt to kill Kate in the first volume, Hera is punished and banished to Tartarus, the most terrible part of the underworld. After having finished her visit to earth, Kate goes again down to the underworld accompanied by Hermes. Back at the mansion of Hades, the marriage ceremony takes place and Kate is cro(...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: Canada United States of America


Marta Guśniowska, Robert Romanowicz

Goosedammit [A niech to gęś kopnie]

The book tells a story of a Goose who lives on a farm. The protagonist is extremely slim, has a sunken stomach, and her feathers are frayed. This is because the bird suffers from depression – apart from a visible loss of appetite, she has a low self-esteem, cannot sleep, and continuously sighs in sorrow. Therefore, when a Fox enters the farm, she suggests the intruder eat her instead of a Hen. The predator, despite being unable to capture a hen, refuses to comply with the Goose’s req(...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: Poland


Carole Hénaff, Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden

Greek Myths: Three Heroic Tales

Greek Myths: Three Heroic Tales is a highly illustrated retelling of the myths of Demeter and Persephone, Theseus and the Minotaur, and Orpheus and Eurydice. There is at least one illustration on almost every facing pair of pages with the illustrations setting the events in antiquity. Each myth is divided into chapters in the manner of a novel.Demeter and Persephone begins by prompting the reader to imagine a tri-part world, Olympus above, the world of mortals, and the realm of the dead below. P(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Karen Healey

Guardian of the Dead

Part One:Guardian of the Dead is a young adult urban fantasy novel about a New Zealand high school student named Ellie Spencer, who is drawn into a mythological conflict that re-enacts key aspects of Maori spirituality, and that will determine the fate of the North Island.After Ellie bumps into fellow student Mark Nolan, she begins to experience disorientation, fevers, and memory loss. She is disturbed by the serial killer on the North Island of New Zealand called The Eyelasher, who is removing (...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America


Gian-Carla Coppola

Gucci Stories: The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (1. The Wedding, 2. The Bliss, 3. The Descent, 4. The Petition of Hades)

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in its recreated, contemporary form, shows the Gucci’s 2016 pre-fall collection by the Creative Director Alessandro Michele. Retelling of the Greek myth gives a new perspective to the story which is much more understandable for young viewers. This time the story takes place in New York City where late-night dive bars and the lawns of Central Park stand in for the temples of Ancient Greece. The video consists of four sequences (The Wedding, The Bliss, The De(...)

ephemeral

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: United States of America


George O'Connor

Hades: Lord of the Dead (Olympians, 4)

Hades is the fourth instalment in the Olympians series. The graphic novel, told in a style akin to a modern super-hero comic, introduces the Greek Underworld and tells the myth of Persephone. The story opens in darkness, with words announcing that this is what happens when you die. The narrative follows Hermes, who goes on to the banks of the Styx. With the use of a perspective familiar from first-person computer games, the reader can see "their" shadow in the water; their greeny-white(...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: United States of America


Anaïs Mitchell

Hadestown (album)

Track listing: "Wedding Song" featuring Justin Vernon – 3:18"Epic (Part I)" featuring Justin Vernon – 2:22"Way Down Hadestown" featuring Justin Vernon, Ani DiFranco and Ben Knox Miller – 3:33"Songbird Intro" – 0:24"Hey, Little Songbird" featuring Greg Brown – 3:09"Gone, I'm Gone" featuring The Haden Triplets – 1:09"When the Chips are(...)

music

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America


Józef Ciembroniewicz

Hercules: Fights Between the Olympian Gods. A Story for Young People [Herkules: walki olimpijskich bogów. Opowieść dla młodzieży]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.This is an adaptation of Hercules’ myth covering the most important related stories. Among them are Hera’s dislike of Hercules and the story explaining why the Twelve Labours were imposed on the hero. In the first sto(...)

literary

YEAR: 1919

COUNTRY: Poland


Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, Christian Williams

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Series, S00 – Season Zero)

Title of the Works: Hercules: the Legendary Journeys – Hercules and the Amazon WomenHercules: the Legendary Journeys – Hercules and the Lost KingdomHercules: the Legendary Journeys – Hercules and the Circle of FireHercules: the Legendary Journeys – Hercules in the UnderworldHercules: the Legendary Journeys – Hercules in the Maze of the MinotaurThe Hercules: The Legendary Journeys franchise, starring Kevin Sorbo in the titular role, is b(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1994

COUNTRY: New Zealand United States of America


Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, Christian Williams

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Series, S00E04): Hercules in the Underworld

This narrative is based loosely on a combination of several known mythological tales: the rape of Deianeira by Nessus, the labour of Hercules capturing Cerberus in the underworld, the death of Hercules and Orpheus’ catabasis. The film begins in an undisclosed village where the ground opens up to create an eerie fissure from out of which a strange green light and mist emerge, destroying all who come into contact with it. Meanwhile, in Hercules’ own village, the hero is forced out of &(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1994

COUNTRY: New Zealand United States of America


Tom Kindley

Heroes of the Night Sky. The Greek Myths Behind the Constellations

This is a collection of myths told for teenagers, with emphasis on stylised illustration, constellation name aetiologies, and some moral lessons. The myths included are:Ursa Major (The Great Bear)PegasusAndromedaHerculesLyre (The Lyre)Corona Borealis (Northern Crown)Orion and ScorpiusCorvus (The Crow)Centaurus (The Centaur)Ophiucus (The Serpent Bearer)(...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Blair Drawson, Sheldon Oberman

Island of the Minotaur. Greek Myths of Ancient Crete

This is an interesting take on the myth of the Minotaur which places it within a wide context by telling a selection of myths that build up to the Minotaur's demise. This creates a multi-generational story which arcs from the days of Cronos until Phaedra's departure from Crete as the last queen of Knossos. The myths of Medea and Ariadne are told in contrast to each other. The work begins and ends with historicising interpretations of the myths, relating the myths' connections to Mino(...)

literary

YEAR: 2003

COUNTRY: Canada United Kingdom


Arcade Fire

It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus)

The song narrates the story of Orpheus’ attempt to rescue his dead wife Eurydice from the underworld, mostly from the point of view of Eurydice who urges Orpheus not to turn around. The rest of the song appears to be narrated by Orpheus who reassures Eurydice. The song begins at the point in the story where Orpheus is in the process of rescuing Eurydice, with her walking out of the Underworld behind him, and ends with an indirect reference to Orpheus’ failure and Eurydice’s ret(...)

music

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: Canada


Bob Lentz, Kate McMullan , Denis Zilber

Keep a Lid on It, Pandora! (Myth-O-Mania, 6)

Keep a Lid on it, Pandora! Tells the story of Pandora’s box and Prometheus stealing fire with a contemporary twist, narrated by Hades, and is part of a series of Greek myths told from Hades’ point of view. Hades claims that Zeus edited all the original myths in order to make himself look more powerful. He goes on to give a different explanation for the myth of Pandora’s Vase, specifically that he and Zeus had made a bet on whether Pandora would open it or not. Since Zeus b(...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: United States of America


Nintendo Research and Development Team 1 , Project Sora , TOSE Software , Toru Osawa, Masafumi Sakashita, Masahiro Sakurai, Gunpei Yokoi

Kid Icarus (Series): Kid Icarus (Light Myth: Palutena’s Mirror) [Kid Icarus (Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami)] | Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters | Kid Icarus: Uprising ( New Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror) [Kid Icarus: Uprising (Shin Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami)]

Kid Icarus The story begins in a land called “Angel Land” where humans and deities live in harmony. Two goddesses rule the land: Palutena, goddess of light and Medusa, goddess of darkness. The goddess of light liked the humans and helped them flourish, but the goddess of darkness hated them, so dried up their crops and turned them into stone. Palutena transformed Medusa into a monster and banished her to the underworld. Once there, Medusa gathered monsters and demons and assembl(...)

electronic

YEAR: 1986

COUNTRY: Japan


Egbe Ifie

Kruku

The original version of this myth appears in Egbe Ifie's Marriage with Gods and Goddesses: In Classical and African Myths published by End-time Publishing House Ltd, Ibadan, 1999: pp. 30–34. This is a summary of the myth. The full text can be read in the book cited above.A long time ago, in the region of Aka, in the Delta State of Nigeria, a young man named Kruku embarked on a journey to the land of immortals or Erivwin after the sacrificial death of his parents. Overwhelmed (...)

african

YEAR: 1999

COUNTRY: Nigeria


Clyde W. Ford

Kwasi Benefo

The full text of this myth is found in: The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa by Clyde W. Ford, in the United States and Canada by Bantam Books, 1999, pp. 21–27). This is only a brief summary of the story. The full text of the myth and others can be read in the book cited above.Kwasi Benefo, a young Asante man in Ghana, by dint of hard work has acquired a lot of wealth but is unable to find a wife and have children. Finally, after a long search all over the vil(...)

african

YEAR: 1999

COUNTRY: United States of America


Jennifer Adams, Alison Oliver

Little Master Homer. The Odyssey

The Little Master Homer: The Odyssey takes nine episodes from Homer's Odyssey and distils each into a picture/caption/speech-bubble unit. The illustrations cross two pages; they are bold and stylised, designed to capture the attention of very young children. The first character introduced is 'Calypso, the Nymph'. She is saying, I keep Odysseus here with me since I saved him from the wine-dark sea. Next, 'Ino, the Sea Nymph', says, Take my veil and tie it around your(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United States of America


Colin Thompson

Looking for Atlantis

Looking for Atlantis is a picturebook featuring a boy and his grandfather. As he is dying, Grandfather tells his grandson that he must look for Atlantis, a reference to the famous lost city of antiquity. Rather than being a story or a faraway place, Atlantis is all around you, or so Grandfather says. When Grandfather dies, the boy searches through his wooden chest and finds a door to Atlantis, pictured here as a surreal, magical seascape. The boy then tries to see the world with his grandfather&(...)

literary

YEAR: 1993

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Thiago de Moraes

Myth Atlas: maps and monsters, heroes and gods from twelve mythological worlds

With its high quality production values, including lavish, detailed illustrations, a hardback cover and generous 33 cm tall pages, de Moraes’ Myth Atlas has the dimensions and desirability of a coffee table book. The title page "The Worlds of Myth" uses a map of the world to introduce and geographically locate the twelve cultures which are showcased in the text: the Native North Americans, the Aztecs, the Irish, the South American Yanomami, the Yoruba of Western Africa, the (...)

literary

YEAR: 2018

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Anatole Ikuana

Myth of Dzàna Ngazok

In the beginning, there was a man called Dzàna Ngazok, who had a very beautiful wife called Angonomane. He loved and cherished her with all his heart and with all his soul. Unfortunately, Angonomane died. After her funeral, Dzàna Ngazok decided to follow her to the world of the dead in order to bring her back to the world of the living. He prepared himself; took his machete, his lance and his dog. He walked for days and nights traversing hills, forests and bushes. When he was tired(...)

oral

COUNTRY: Cameroon


Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere

Richard Mayhew is a young businessman recently moved to London where his job is almost as dull as his fiancé, a demanding and over-bearing social climber. One night he stumbles over a girl lying injured on the sidewalk. When he stops to help her, he inadvertently opens himself up to a second fantastical world – London Below, an underworld city that shadows the real London. Neverwhere involves a character descending into the Underworld, Odysseus-like, to see what lies beyond the ever(...)

literary

YEAR: 1996

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Peter Tancho

Nifo'o

Once upon a time,At nkwih tinso’o*There lived an old man,Who owned a raffia bush.His name was Asa’ankieh,This man was an excellent tapperNobody in the village could tapThe type of wine he was producing,He could tap more than,The present chief’s tapper.THE RAFFIA BUSH HE HADCOULD COVER MORE THANFIVE MOUNTAINS.Since the raffia bush was too large,And he had numerous palms to tap a day,He was forced to construct a small hutNear the Nifo’o,Where he could stay,And carry out his(...)

oral

COUNTRY: Cameroon


Adam J. B. Lane, David Slavin

Odd Gods: The Oddyssey

The publisher identifies this series as Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Percy Jackson. This is the second book of the series, which follows the adventures of Oddonis. Oddonis and his twin brother, Adonis, are the twin sons of Zeus and his Norse goddess wife, Freya. While Adonis and his friends, Poseidon and Heracles, are considered in the Gods group, due to their looks and powers, Oddonis and his friends are in the Odd gods group. His friends include Mathena, goddess of math and poultry, Gaseous (his(...)

literary

YEAR: 2020

COUNTRY: United States of America


Simon Spence

Odysseus

This is a retelling of Homer's Odyssey with myths based on the Epic Cycle used for additional material. The narrative order of the Odyssey is rejected in favour of a chronological approach. Most of the gods are helpful in this retelling. The "sea-god" alone persecutes Odysseus, and as Odysseus is not shown to be responsible for what incurred the sea-god's wrath, Odysseus appears a highly sympathetic figure. The story includes violence, but extreme violence and sex are avoided t(...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Natalia Kapatsoulia, Filippos Mandilaras

Odysseus' Journey [Το ταξίδι του Οδυσσέα (To taxídi tou Odysséa)]

The author and the illustrator offer an entertaining account of a well-known story about Odysseus, his companions, and their travels to foreign lands. Ancient figures are made accessible by resembling personas from modern popular culture.The account begins with the fact that Odysseus sailed from Troy with 12 ships and reached the land of Kikones. Subsequently, Mandilaras writew about the land of the Lotus Eaters, Odysseus’ dealings with the Cyclops Polyphemos, and the damages to the fleet (...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: Greece


George O'Connor

Olympians (Series)

Olympians is a series of graphic novels that takes one deity per volume as the focus, retelling numerous myths related to that god.Volume 1. Zeus. King of the Gods. Featuring creation myths and the war between the Titans and Olympians. Narrator unspecified.Volume 2. Athena. Grey-Eyed Goddess. Featuring the myth of Athena's conception and birth; Pallas; the attack of the Giants; Medusa and Perseus; Arachne. Narrated by the Moirae (The Fates). Volume 3. Hera. The Goddess and her Glory. Fe(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America


Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis

Once Upon a Time… (Series, S05E12–21)

The second volume of season 5 (episodes 12–21) features characters from Greek mythology, these episodes are entitled: Souls of the Departed, Labour of Love, Devil’s Due, The Brothers Jones, Our Decay, Her Handsome Hero, Ruby Slippers, Sisters, Firebird, Last Rites. The last episode of the season (23), The Untold Story, is not included in the summary, as it is a recap of the whole season, mentioning a single object inspired by Greek mythology, the Olympic crystal which plays(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: United States of America


Aleksandra Witkowska (Danecka)

Orpheus and Eurydice [Orfeusz i Eurydyka]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.Orpheus, a famous ancient poet and musician from Thrace, was given the lyre by Apollo himself who made him a master of the arts of music and poetry. The beauty of Orpheus’ wife – the nymph Eurydice, turned out to be t(...)

literary

YEAR: 1988

COUNTRY: Poland


Adam Kilian, Edward Sturlis

Orpheus and Eurydice [Orfeusz i Eurydyka]

The animation starts with Orpheus, his head bowed in grief, wandering through a wasteland which symbolically represents a graveyard. The names of Orpheus and Eurydice are engraved on a tombstone in Polish and Greek. Orpheus calls upon the Earth to open up and let him in to find “her”. The ground cracks and the protagonist enters the Underworld where he has to face Cerberus. He plays his lyre and the music calms down the dog. He passes by Sisyphus on his way to Charon, who, once Orphe(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1961

COUNTRY: Poland


Luke Jurevicius, Nathan Jurevicius

Orpheus and the Underworld (I Love You to Bits)

In the animation’s opening scene, teenage Orpheus sits on a beanbag, strumming his lyre and singing. It is simultaneously an interior and external space, featuring a TV and overhead lighting as well as trees and wildlife. A host of strange creatures are gathered around him, enchanted by his music. Orpheus and Eurydice are a young emo couple, depicted with elongated heads and sad, tired eyes. He has red hair, a five o’clock shadow, and wears jeans, hoodie and headphones. Eurydice&rsqu(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2002

COUNTRY: Australia


Weng Chen (Jade), Carolyn Hennesy

Pandora Gets Angry (Mythic Misadventures, 5)

The fifth instalment in a series of books takes the classic story of Pandora's box and gives it a young, adventurous, partly contemporary twist – Pandora is Prometheus' thirteen-year-old daughter. In this book, Pandora and her friends encounter a new set of powers in Persia as they cross the desert on camels, but are obstructed by mysterious sandstorms and frightening strangers on the way. This time they are assisted by a cute Persian boy who helps Pandy and her friends search for (...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: United States of America


Chris Columbus , Rick Riordan, Chris Titley

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Series): The Lightning Thief

The film opens with a meeting between Poseidon and Zeus on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Zeus reveals that his lightning bolt has been stolen and believes Poseidon’s son to be the thief. It must be returned within fourteen days in time for the summer solstice or Zeus will declare war. During a school trip to a museum, Percy Jackson is attacked by his English teacher Mrs Dodds, who transforms into a Fury and demands that Percy return the lightning bolt. Percy&rsquo(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America


Simon Spence

Persephone

The Early Greek Myths series of children’s books presents myths for very young readers. The books tell the myths in simple language. Each double page includes a full-page illustration on the left page and a page of text on the right. Stephen Fry provides a forward to Persephone. He explains that myths tell us the stories of inspirational characters and of the way things came to be. Persephone is "one of the most delightful" myths, relating "how young Persephone got lost and (...)

literary

YEAR: 2018

COUNTRY: Ireland


Eric Freeberg, Diane Namm

Roman Myths

Retelling of classic Roman myths meant for ages 7–9 with one illustration per story. Following the stories, the author includes questions for discussion about each story. The stories in the book:The Oak and the Linden TreePrometheus and IoAtlas and the Eleventh Labor of HerculesRomulus and RemusEscape from TroyThe Golden BoughCupid and PsycheMinerva and ArachneOedipus and the SphinxOtus and Ephialtes(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: United States of America


Aleksei Bitskoff, Maz Evans

Simply the Quest (Who Let the Gods Out?, 2)

Simply The Quest picks up the story of Elliot and his mortal and immortal companions, a few months after the end of Who Let The Gods Out. In this instalment, the English boy Elliot Hooper’s troubles seem to haunt him still. Thanatos reawakens and wishes to get the Earth stone Elliot managed to take a hold off last time. Elliot’s mother is still sick, his history teacher is still out to get him and a mysterious incident on Christmas Eve has left the gods on house arrest. The Olym(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Dave Filoni, George Lucas

Star Wars (Series, S01–S05): The Clone Wars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a 3D CGI animated television series set during the period between the Star Wars films Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005). The Star Wars stories are set in a distant galaxy which includes a great number of planets and which is inhabited by an enormous range of sentient, non-sentient, and robotic life-forms. A powerful energy known as "the Force" binds the galaxy together and can be channelled by "Force sensitive" living(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2008

COUNTRY: United States of America


Marc Cerasini , Isidre Mones

Step Into Reading: The Twelve Labors of Hercules

This is an illustrated depiction of Hercules’ labours. The book opens with the infant Hercules and the snakes. Then we see Hercules as a young man who fights others and seeks counsel from the oracle. The book focuses on the 12 labours which also end the book. There is a depiction of each labour separately.(...)

literary

YEAR: 1997

COUNTRY: United States of America


Lisa Jane Gillespie , Emi Ordas

Sticker Greek Myths

Each 1 or 2-page section of Sticker Greek Myths presents a scene of figures within an ancient environment, accompanied by approximately fifty words of explanatory text. The child reader/viewer is invited to use stickers that are specific to that section to build-up the scene. The stickers typically feature clothing and accessories such as weapons and ropes, and scene-specific items such as Heracles' lion-skin cloak and the Chimera's heads.1. Mount Olympus: This section introduces th(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Terry Denton

Story Maze. The Eye of Ulam (Story Maze, 2)

The second in the "Storymaze" series follows the surfing adventures of Nico, Claudia, and Mikey through parallel worlds and across the universe. Nico is competing in the World Surfing Championships against a surfer named Hercules when help is requested by their Duryllium friend Icon, who is in the midst of a battle with his brother Vidor over the throne of their kingdom. They find and save Icon, who has been blinded and left for dead on the battlefield and take him to a gingerbread cot(...)

literary

YEAR: 2001

COUNTRY: Australia


Terry Denton

Story Maze. The Golden Udder (Story Maze, 4)

The fourth in the "Storymaze" series follows the surfing adventures of Nico, Claudia, and Mikey through parallel worlds and across the universe. This time they continue their attempt to help Ulysses to win the Queen of Fresia with The Golden Udder. However, when they attempt to retrieve the Udder, they discover it has been stolen by Amycus (along with Nico’s surfboard) and lost in a bet to Limousin, a surfing champion. They begin a quest to retrieve it. Their time-travel device M(...)

literary

YEAR: 2002

COUNTRY: Australia


Terry Denton

Story Maze. The Obelisk of Eno (Story Maze, 6)

The sixth book in the "Storymaze" series follows the surfing adventures of Nico, Claudia, and Mikey through parallel worlds and across the universe. The story begins with yet another attempt by protagonist Nico to win the surfing world championship on the planet Ganymede. This time he is confident of victory given that his main rival, Hercules, has been sent to the Underworld to retrieve Cerberus. By some twist of traveling fate, they accidentally arrive on the reverse of Ganymede, the(...)

literary

YEAR: 2003

COUNTRY: Australia


Terry Denton

Story Maze. The Ultimate Wave (Story Maze, 1)

The Ultimate Wave is a comic adventure story, told in graphic novel format. It is the story of Nico, Claudia, and Mikey, described by the Narrator as humans from the planet Ithaca (although the characters are drawn as a monkey, a duck, and a rhinoceros and are referred to as such repeatedly). These three love to surf, a note to Australian surfing culture, and meet Icon, a “pencil-headed mutant” from another dimension and a place called Duryllium. The story is told by a Narrator chara(...)

literary

YEAR: 1999

COUNTRY: Australia


Robert Baxter, I. M. Richardson

The Adventures of Hercules

This is a picture book for an older audience. On each page we have a labour of Hercules with a water-color like illustration, thus we have a narration and illustrations of all 12 labours. The language is aimed at young adults rather than small children. The illustration are also not naïve but in a more adult style. The story follows Hercules from his infantry and the killing of the snakes, then we arrive at his adulthood (killing a lion, helping the king of Thebes, and killing his family) a(...)

literary

YEAR: 1983

COUNTRY: United States of America


Stephen Cartwright, Claudia Zeff

The Amazing Adventures of Hercules

This illustrated storybook is written with deliberately simple language for those learning to read. It belongs to a series that contains many examples of traditional myths and simplified versions of classic literature. The books tells the story of Hercules' youth and the famous Twelve Labours, divided into chapters as follows:Chapter 1. The Jealous Goddess. Chapter 2. The Tasks Begin. Chapter 3. A Stag and a Boar. Chapter 4. Rivers and Birds. Chapter 5. Bulls and Hor(...)

literary

YEAR: 1982

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Carson Ellis, Cynthia Rylant

The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greek Myths, Retold

Attractively presented as a small, square hardback book, The Beautiful Stories of Life is a compendium of six well known classical myths: the stories of Pandora, Persephone, Orpheus, Pygmalion, Narcissus, and Psyche. The stories are lyrically told, with an alternating pattern of longer descriptive passages followed by single sentences that underscore the important messages of each story. Aphorisms feature throughout the book, presented as "the stories of life" in the book’s title(...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Daniela Ohms

The Blood of the Harpy [Harpyienblut]

The eighteen year old girl Lucie was abandoned in infancy by her mother Aello, who as a harpy was afraid that her baby – half harpy, half human – would be killed by other harpies. Luckily, Lucie was found by Maria, a hermit who lost her own child, and brought her up in a hut at the edge of the woods. After the sudden death of Maria, Lucie found shelter with the family of Maria’s sister in Berlin. There, Lucie goes to school and plays in a local volleyball team. She becomes acqu(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Germany


Margaret Mahy

The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance

In The Changeover, 14-year old Laura Chant is the child of divorced parents who are finding new partners. Babysitting her 3-year old brother, Jacko, she goes into the shop of Carmody Braque, an antique dealer who is a lemure, an Ancient Roman vampire. The lemure stamps his image on Jacko’s hand, and takes possession of him, draining him of his life-blood. To defeat the lemure and save her brother, Laura seeks the help of a boy at school whom she knows is interested in her, 17-year-old Sore(...)

literary

YEAR: 1984

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Sarah Diemer

The Dark Wife

The Dark Wife is the first full length novel by Sarah Diemer who had previously self-published short stories under this name. It retells the myth of Hades and Persephone with a few twists; in Diemer’s version Hades is a woman and the story follows the development of a consensual romantic relationship between her and Persephone.The book itself focuses on Persephone who has lived her entire life thus far on earth with her mother Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Persephone’s life thus f(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: United States of America


Yann Le Bras, Jean Paul Mongin

The Death of Socrates [La mort du divin Socrate]

The Plato and Co. publications explore the lives and works of ancient and modern philosophers in highly illustrated slim volumes. This contribution to the series addresses the trial and subsequent death of Socrates following Plato's account and in doing so presents a number of Socrates' ideas as a narrative of this period of his life. The Death of Socrates opens with an enquiry, apparently from the narrator, to the Delphic Oracle as to who is the wisest man in Greece. The oracle ans(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: France


Rick Riordan

The Demigod Files (Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Guide)

The Demigod Files is a selection of three short stories and ‘fact files’ which acts as a companion to the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The ‘fact files’ provide brief bibliographies of the main demigod characters and gods in the series. Each ‘file’ gives details on strengths and weaknesses, as well as personality traits of the individual. When discussing a god, the fact file refers to them in their ancient and modern incarnations. In the fi(...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: United States of America


Aimée Carter

The Goddess Inheritance (The Goddess Test, 3)

After Aphrodite betrayed her in the second volume of the Goddess Test series, Kate has to remain captive held by Cronus and Hera and gives birth to her son Milo in the fortress of Tartarus. Cronus offers her several times to rule the Underworld at his side, because he considers this solution as the only one allowing Kate to keep the baby with her. Kate is very much against this proposal, but she wants to prevent Cronus from attacking the Pantheon. Shortly afterwards Kate is rescued by the Olympi(...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: Canada United States of America


Aimée Carter

The Goddess Test (The Goddess Test, 1)

In this fantasy-romance novel for young readers, on her eighteenth birthday Kate moves to a small town in Michigan with her mother Diana, who is suffering from cancer, and wishes to be buried at home. Diana is in fact the goddess Demeter. At her new high school Kate gets to know the very popular and attractive Aphrodite and her friend Ares. Aphrodite lures Kate into a big old house called Eden Manor to introduce her to the powerful owner, an attractive and brooding man, Henry. Later it turns out(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Canada


Patricia Miles

The Gods in Winter

The Gods in Winter draws on the retelling of the myth featured in Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which recounts Persephone’s abduction by Hades and the establishment of the seasonal cycle. While searching for her beloved daughter, Demeter disguises herself and takes on the role of nursemaid to the child of the royal family of Eleusis. Miles’ text alludes to these events taking place in 1970s England, witnessed by the Brambles, an ordinary, middle class family with a scientist father, teach(...)

literary

YEAR: 1978

COUNTRY: United States of America


Rebekka Pax

The Heart of the Harpy [Das Herz der Harpyie]

The teenage girl Milena Weyergräber suffers every night from nightmares, in which she transforms into a harpy and guides the souls of the dead into the Underworld. One night, she watches a young man John Ossin dying. He is killed by a Mafia clan called Tsirpas. Although he is already dead, Milena manages to save his soul and bring him back to life. So the supervisor harpy Aello, who has big black wings, punishes her, because Milena has frustrated the rules of the Olympians. The gods do not (...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Germany


Gillian Cross, Neil Packer

The Iliad

Gillian Cross' The Iliad opens with events prior to the Trojan War, starting with the three goddesses arguing over the apple. The text then moves on to a retelling of Homer's Iliad itself, before concluding with an "Afterwards" chapter relating Achilles' death, the quarrel over his armour, the wooden horse, Cassandra's insight (Virgil, Aeneid, 2.246), the fall of Troy, Diomedes' and Odysseus' post-Troy journeys, and Agamemnon's murder (see esp. Aeschylus, Ag(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Daniela Ohms

The Isle of Nyx. The Children of Shadows [Insel der Nyx. Die Kinder der Schatten] (The Isle of Nyx, 2)

In this second volume of the Isle of Nyx, the teenage girls Eleni and Philine learn that some orphans of Agia Vasiliki, their village on the isle of Crete, disappeared. In accordance with a prophecy of the Fates, Eleni and Philine travel once again to the isle of Atlantis, where the underworld is located. During their scouting, they manage to find the missing children, but at the same time they discover that the children were enchanted by Nyx, the goddess of darkness and death. Through that ench(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: Germany


Daniela Ohms

The Isle of Nyx. The Prophecy of Gods [Insel der Nyx. Die Prophezeiung der Götter] (The Isle of Nyx, 1)

In this fantasy novel for young adults, 13-year old Eleni, who owns the strange gift to prophesy about other people’s future in her sleep, moves with her mother, Arjana, and half-sister, Leandra, from Berlin to Crete. Arjana is an archaeologist in charge of archaeological excavations of a temple of Zeus there. Soon after their arrival at the island Zeus himself appears to Eleni at night and reveals to her that she will save many people thanks to her courage. She gets to know the mysterious(...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: Germany


Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & The Olympians, 1)

Percy Jackson is the twelve-year-old protagonist of the series and narrates the events of the book. Percy is dyslexic and has ADHD, and his behaviour leads to his expulsion from a number of schools. His life changes dramatically after his maths teacher transforms into a fury during a school trip demanding Percy return something that has been stolen. This leads to Percy discovering that he is a demigod and that the gods, heroes and monsters of Ancient Greece are in fact real and that they inhabit(...)

literary

YEAR: 2005

COUNTRY: United States of America


Nick Cave

The Lyre of Orpheus

Attention: age restriction 18+With a discordant, seesawing melody and four-line verses organised into an ABCB rhyming scheme, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform a grim and grisly retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in The Lyre of Orpheus. Orpheus is a depressive figure, sitting ‘gloomy in his garden shed’ when by chance he arranges ‘a lump of wood, and a piece of wire’ into a musical instrument. But while his rudimentary lyre sounds beautiful to him, it is abho(...)

music

YEAR: 2004

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


The Wachowskis

The Matrix (The Matrix, 1)

Thomas Anderson, a programmer by day and a computer hacker by night is given a chance to see his ‘reality’ for what it is, a computer simulation. When alone at his computer one evening, Thomas Anderson (Neo as he is known by the hacker community), falls asleep at his computer only to be awakened by a message typed on his screen that reads “Wake up Neo” sent by the elusive ‘hacker’ Morpheus who Neo is searching for. Morpheus then sends Neo instructions tha(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1999

COUNTRY: United States of America


Gillian Cross, Neil Packer

The Odyssey

Gillian Cross' Odyssey is an abridged retelling of Homer's Odyssey, set in Greek antiquity. It is a retelling of ancient myth with an emphasis on striking visualisation. Chapter headings:The WarTravelling into DisasterThe Giant in the CaveAeolus and CirceGhosts and MonstersStranded on Calypso's IslandNausicaaOdysseus the BeggarA Husband for PenelopeHomer's Odyssey is retold, rearranged into more chronological order. The introduction explains the Trojan War briefly by way of (...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Dakota Lane

The Orpheus Obsession

The Orpheus Obsession is the coming-of-age story of sixteen-year-old Annoshka Stargirl. She loves photography, and has a habit of imagining her life as a movie. She lives in upstate New York with her mother, who is depressed and remote, and her beloved budgie Zach. Her father moved out years ago and rarely makes contact. Anooshka’s stylish older sister, Zoetrope Zallulah Moon (known as ZZ Moon), has already left home and rents an apartment in New York City. At the start of the summer holid(...)

literary

YEAR: 2005

COUNTRY: United States of America


Margaret Atwood

The Penelopiad

The Penelopiad is part of the Canongate Myths Series, which ‘brings together some of the world’s finest writers, each of whom have retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way.’ Though marketed for adults, the text is accessible to mature teenage readers, and features on secondary school reading lists.Atwood allows Penelope to tell her own story, drawing upon Homer’s Odyssey but also on material from beyond this dominant source. Penelope, who has been in Ha(...)

literary

YEAR: 2005

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Paul Shipton

The Pig Who Saved the World

This comic adventure novel is a sequel to The Pig Scrolls, starring a pig named Gryllus. Gryllus was one of Odysseus’ crewmen who was transformed into a pig by Circe. When the rest of the sailors were returned to their human form, he hid in the bushes, and after being found by Sibyl, a courageous prophetess, and Homer, an awkward teenage poet, goes on to (unwittingly and unwillingly) save the world.In the sequel, The Pig Who Saved the World, Gryllus and his friends go back to the isla(...)

literary

YEAR: 2006

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Anne Ursu

The Shadow Thieves (The Cronus Chronicles, 1)

The Shadow Thieves is the first volume of Anne Ursu’s The Cronus Chronicles trilogy. It revolves around thirteen-year-old Charlotte Mielswetski who is in the throes of teenage anxiety and self-doubt when it is announced that her cousin from England, Zachary (who prefers to be called Zee) will be coming to live with the Mielswetski family and attend school with Charlotte. At first a horrifying prospect to Charlotte, the readers shortly find out that this international move is under ominous (...)

literary

YEAR: 2006

COUNTRY: United States of America


Pauline Baynes, Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis

The Silver Chair (The Chronicles of Narnia, 4)

The Silver Chair, the fourth book published in the Narnia Chronicles by C. S. Lewis, introduces us to Jill Pole, a girl who attends Experiment House. She is cruelly bullied by some of the children there. At the beginning of the book she is found crying behind the gym by Eustace Scrubb. Eustace – who had appeared in the previous installment of the Narnia Chronicles, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – comforts Jill and confides in her about his adventures in Narnia. As they flee fro(...)

literary

YEAR: 1953

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Roshani Chokshi

The Star-Touched Queen (Series)

The Star-Touched Queen is a young adult romantic fantasy novel that follows 17-year old Princess Maya of the Bharata Dynasty through her marriage to the Lord of “death and destruction”, and her subsequent quest to restore her fallen husband to his throne. The overarching plot mirrors the Persephone and Hades myth, while a modern update gives the Persephone figure of Maya agency and power, and transforms the Hades figure of Amar from a captor role to that of a liberator. Additionally,(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United States of America


Remus San Diego , Marivi Soliven Blanco

The Subway Cyclops (A Jenny and Jay Mystery, 4)

This is the fourth of a series of educational readers about the experience of Filipino immigrants in the United States. In it, Jenny and Jay, whose parents are doctors, have recently moved from the Philippines to the United States, and are living in Boston. They find its weather cold and daunting. One day, on the subway, they believe they see a shadowy shape in the dark, one with a "single glow-in-the-dark eye" (p. 11). They describe what they have seen to their housekeeper, Cordelia, (...)

literary

YEAR: 1995

COUNTRY: Philippines


Robert Newman

The Twelve Labors of Hercules

This is a retelling of the myth of Hercules, aimed at teenage children, in novel format. At the end of the book there is an alphabetic list of characters of humans/non-humans and a short explanation of each.The story begins with Hercules’ birth and Hera tricking Zeus to bless Eurystheus instead of Hercules with the reign over Mycenae. Having realized that he was trapped, Zeus promises that nevertheless “Hercules will perform deeds so glorious that his name will be remembered forever.(...)

literary

YEAR: 1972

COUNTRY: United States of America


Mark Bergin, Sue Reid, David Salariya

The Voyages of Odysseus

This book depicts Odysseus' travels and various adventures: meeting with Polyphemus, the Cyclops; visiting the court of King Aeolus and on the island of Circe; Odysseus' descent to the Underworld; meeting dangerous sirens, and escaping Scylla and Charybdis. After all the adventures, Odysseus comes home to Ithaca, and there is danger there as well - the palace is occupied by suitors trying to marry Odysseus’ wife, Penelope. Odysseus defeats the suitors.In this book, the illus(...)

literary

YEAR: 2004

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Colm Lawton , Simon Spence

Theseus

Theseus is part of a series of storybook myths aimed at very young readers. Each two-page spread combines a full-page illustration and a page of text. The text is presented in an informal style, in a Comic Sans-like font, while the illustrations present the characters as wide-eyed and childlike. The story begins with an introduction to Theseus, including the information that ion that he grew up without his father. We learn that Theseus eventually became strong enough to lift the rock that covere(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United Kingdom


Philippe Béha, Glen Huser

Time for Flowers, Time for Snow. A Retelling of the Legend of Demeter and Persephone

Time for Flowers, Time for Snow is a book and CD version of an opera staged in Canada in which 180+ school children performed accompanied by The Orchestre Symphonique Pop Montréal with narration from UK comedian Terry Jones. The opera was composed by Greek national Giannis Georgantelis, and was run as a community project under the auspices of the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec, the cities of Montreal and Laval, the Embassy of Greece to Canada, and the Embassy of Canada to (...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: Canada United Kingdom


Jean Chalopin, Yoshitake Suzuki, Nina Wolmark

Ulysses 31 [Ulysse 31]

Ulysses 31 was created by a Japanese animation company for a French audience, conceived as a way to use modern Japanese cartoon work to introduce a young audience to the myths of Odysseus within a futuristic sci-fi environment. The series is based on Homer's Odyssey, set in the 31st century. Some additional Greek myths and, to a much lesser extent, myths from further cultures, are woven into the narrative, including Native American. The premise of the programme and of individual episode(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1981

COUNTRY: France Japan


Aleksei Bitskoff, Maz Evans

Who Let the Gods Out? (Who Let the Gods Out?, 1)

Who Let the Gods Out? is the story of an ordinary boy, Elliot Hooper, who discovers that all of the Greek myths are true and that he is the only person who can save the world. Elliot has a secret: his mother, Josie, is unwell. She has trouble remembering things and is often confused. Sometimes she goes missing and Elliot finds her doing strange things, like planting vegetables in the middle of the night. And on top of it all, Virgo, the youngest member of the Zodiac Council, crash lands in the c(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United States of America


George O'Connor

Zeus. King of the Gods (Olympians, 1)

Zeus – King of the Gods is the first instalment of the Olympians series. The series comprises stylish looking graphic-novels created in the superhero comic-book tradition. Each volume is dedicated to retelling myths about individual Greek gods, with the gods appearing in each other's volumes much as superheroes overlap in the DC or Marvel universes. While the title of this volume is Zeus – King of the Gods, the volume also establishes the Olympians universe by retelling Greek cre(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America