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Zusatztext “A superb volume! the keystone for any home library.” — The New Yorker “A book to be grateful for. . . . Schwab retells the legends of ancient Greece with splendid vigor and charm.” — Commonweal Informationen zum Autor GUSTAV SCHWAB (1792–1850) was a German writer, educator, pastor, and publisher. Born in Stuttgart, he studied philology, philosophy, and theology at the University of Tübingen. Schwab’s collection of myths and legends of classical antiquity was published in 1838 and was widely used in German schools. Klappentext From fire-stealing Prometheus to scene-stealing Helen of Troy, from Jason and his golden fleece to Oedipus and his mother, this collection of classic tales from Greek mythology demonstrates the inexhaustible vitality of a timeless cultural legacy. These stories of heroes and powerful gods and goddesses are set forth simply and movingly, in language that retains the power and drama of the original works by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Homer. Introduction by Werner Jaeger With black-and-white illustrations throughout Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library PROMETHEUS Heaven and earth had been created. The sea ebbed and flowed between its shores, and fish frolicked in the waters; in the air sang winged birds, and the earth swarmed with animals. But as yet there was no creature in whose body the spirit could house and from there govern the world around it. Then down to earth came Prometheus, “Forethought,” a descendant of the ancient race of gods which Zeus had dethroned, a son of Iapetus, whom Gaia had borne unto Uranus. Now Prometheus was crafty and nimble-witted. He knew that the seed of heaven lay sleeping in the earth, so he scooped up some clay, moistened it with water from a river, kneaded it this way and that, and shaped it to the image of gods, the lords of the world. To give life to his earth-formed figure he took both good and evil from the core of many animals and locked them in man’s breast. He had a friend among the immortals, Athene, the goddess of wisdom, who marveled at what this son of the Titans had created, and she breathed the spirit, the divine breath, into his creature which, as yet, was only half alive. In this way the first men were made, and soon they filled the far reaches of the earth. But for a long time they did not know what to do with their noble limbs or the divine spirit which had been breathed into them. They saw, yet they did not see; they heard, yet they did not hear. Aimlessly they moved about, like figures in a dream, and were ignorant of how to profit from creation. They did not know the art of quarrying and cutting stone, of burning bricks from clay, or carving out beams from the trees they hewed in the forest, or of building houses with all these materials. Like scurrying ants they thronged in sunless caves beneath the surface of the earth. They did not discern the sure signs of winter, of spring decked with flowers, of summer rich in fruits. There was no plan in anything they did. Then Prometheus came to their aid. He taught them to watch the rising and setting of the stars, discovered to them the art of counting and of communicating by means of written symbols. He showed them how to yoke animals and make them share in man’s labor. He broke horses to the rein and wagon and invented ships and sails for journeying over the sea. And he concerned himself with all the other affairs of human life also. Formerly, a man who fell ill knew nothing of herbs, of what to eat or not to eat, what to drink or not to drink, nor did he have salves to ease his pain. For lack of physic men had perished wretchedly. But now Prometheus showed them how to compound mild remedies that would dispel every kind of disease. Then he taught them to foretell the future and interpreted dreams and signs for them, the flight of birds and t...
