Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Rosemary Sutcliff

Frontier Wolf is the third book in a series of novels that recount the adventures of various generations of the Aquilii family down to the Norman period. In each case, one of the protagonists owns a Dolphin Ring, which has been passed on through the family. The publishers, Oxford University Press, state that the primary audience for the Dolphin Ring saga is an age-range of 11-16 (Meek 1962, p. 39).At the opening of Frontier Wolf, set in the early 340s, the twenty-three-year-old centurion Alexios(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Christianity Hadrian Mithras Roman Army Roman Britain Roman Empire Roman history

Eleni Svoronou , Mark Weinstein

Shall we go to Athens? [Πάμε στην Αθήνα;]

The book’s purpose is to offer young children an overview of Athens’ history and monuments. The author and the illustrator invite children to walk through Athens, to observe sights and architecture, and to think logically and creatively via the book’s exercises. The front cover depicts the Parthenon and the New Acropolis Museum. These two buildings appear on more pages of the book. Readers will likely form an impression, and with good reason, that this guide is mostly abou(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Acropolis Agora Apeliotes Athena/ Athene Glafki Hadrian Hephaisteion Kekrops Kerameikos Kleisthenes Muses Nymphs Peisistratus Pericles Pheidias Pnyx Poseidon Temple of the Olympian Zeus Theatre of Dionysos Theatre of Herodes Atticus Theseus Tower of the Winds

Marisa De Castro, Mark Weinstein

Shall we go to Delphi? [Πάμε στους Δελφούς;]

Here we have a guide to Delphi in central Greece, "one of the most sacred locations for the ancient Greeks" (my translation), as we read in the opening page. Mythology, archaeology and art history feature prominently in this booklet, accounting for the site’s significance. (...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Antinoos Apollo Artemis Asclepius / Asklepios Biton Charioteer Daphne Hadrian Kastallia Spring Kleobis Korai Kouroi Leto Oedipus Omphalos Orpheas Pan Phaethon Polyzalos Pythia Sphinx Stadion Temple of Athena Polias Theatre Themistocles Tholos Zeus

Charles Keeping, Rosemary Sutcliff

The Capricorn Bracelet

The Capricorn Bracelet was originally written as a series of scripts for the series "Stories from Scottish History", broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland. However, frustrated by the limitations imposed by the twenty minutes allocated to each episode, Sutcliff subsequently rewrote them as series of short stories. Each episode focussed on a member of the Calpurnii family, the first of whom, Lucius Calpurnius, fled London during the Boudiccan revolt and joined the Roman army. Lucius' desce(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Boudicca Hadrian Roman Britain Roman Empire Roman history

Cyril Walter Hodges, Rosemary Sutcliff

The Eagle of the Ninth

The Eagle of the Ninth is the first in a series of novels that recount the adventures of various generations of the Aquilii family down to the Norman period. In each case, one of the protagonists owns a Dolphin Ring, which has been passed on through the family. The publishers, Oxford University Press, state that the primary audience for these novels are 11–16-year-olds*.The Eagle of the Ninth, set in the first half of the second century CE, begins with the nineteen-year-old centurion Marcu(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Hadrian Mithras Rituals Roman Army Roman Britain Roman Empire Roman history Slavery

Mari Yamazaki

Thermae Romae [テルマエ・ロマエ] (Series)

Lucius, a second-century Roman architect who specializes in designing public bathhouses, is experiencing a career crisis. His old-fashioned style of bathhouses is no longer suitable to Rome’s craze for novelty. During a bath in a public bathhouse, he is accidentally transferred to a bathhouse in 21-century Japan through a mysterious process in the water. Astonished by the advanced innovations and gadgets found there, Lucius brings the new ideas of contemporary Japanese bathhouses back to a(...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: Japan

TAGS: Antoninus Pius Hadrian Roman Empire Roman history Roman mythology Rome