Why read The First Fossil Hunters?

Book cover of The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times

Book description

Griffins, Cyclopes, Monsters, and Giants--these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? What if monstrous creatures once roamed the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The First Fossil Hunters as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Stephen R. Wilk

Author

Adrienne Mayor, a historian of ancient science and folklorist at Princeton University, looks at classical myths that ultimately owe their inspiration to fossils found and interpreted by the Greeks and Romans.

Stories of Giants and Monsters grew up around the giant and mysterious fossil bones that resembled nothing they knew. In particular, she relates the image and stories of griffins to ceratopsian fossils, like those of Protoceratops and Psitticasaurus.

She also shows how dwarf elephant fossils may have inspired the myth of the Cyclops. An excellent read.

From Stephen's list on the unexpected truths behind myths.