Johnny's Blog: BULFINCH'S MYTHOLOGY

When you discuss about mythology especially the Greek and Roman one cannot miss Bulfinch's Mythology. The 19th century American writer and banker Thomas Bulfinch's classic is a brilliant work. Bulfinch's Mythology was published combining three of his major works i.e. The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry and The Legends of Charlemagne posthumously.

No new edition of Bulfinch's Mythology can be considered complete without some notice of the American scholar to whose wide erudition and painstaking care it stands as a perpetual monument.

Thomas Bulfinch retold Greek and Roman Mythology with his own comments and illustrations. This is similar to our own reigning Mythological guru Devdutt Pattanaik whose retelling of Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata with his own illustrations and comments available currently in our book stores.

Bulfinch's Mythology is the classic retelling of Greek and Roman myths accompanied by the world's greatest paintings.

While Bulfinch tempered the stories, omitting excessive violence and overt sexual content, his readily accessible collections have provided a consistent narrative of and a broader understanding of the timeless stories and figures that are so intricately woven into our everyday life.

The three works, popularly known as Bulfinch's mythology, were originally written and published separately. The Bulfinch's Mythology is the classic collection of myths and legendary lore.

A brief biography -

Thomas Bulfinch (July 15, 1796 – May 27, 1867) was an American writer born in Newton, Massachusetts, United States best known for the book Bulfinch's Mythology.

An image of Thomas Bulfinch.

Bulfinch belonged to a well educated Bostonian merchant family of modest means. His father was Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the Massachusetts State House in Boston and parts of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. Bulfinch supported himself through his position at the Merchants' Bank of Boston.

Thomas Bulfinch wrote Bulfinch’s Mythology comprised of three volumes: The Age of Fable (1855) in which the myths of Greek and Roman Gods and Heroes Hercules, Orpheus, Pan, Zeus and many others from Ovid and Virgil are retold; The Age of Chivalry (1858) wherein Bulfinch collects the great Arthurian legends in England’s history surrounding King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Richard the Lion Hearted, Robin Hood and many others; and in Legends of Charlemagne (1863) one can read about Charlemagne, his knights the Paladins, Orlando, the Orcs, Ogier the Dane and many others in their exploits in France, Germany, Africa and beyond.

Adding his own commentary, Bulfinch aimed to impart wisdom by retelling these ancient classical and mythological legends of Celtic, Greek, Oriental, Roman, and Scandinavian origin and their relation to the literary world For Mythology is the handmaid of literature; and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness. (from the Author’s Introduction to The Age of Fable). Bulfinch also wanted to provide entertainment to his Victorian era readers, young and old, and these popular works have been standard reference for decades since and still enjoyed today, over a century later.

Thomas Bulfinch was born on 15 July 1796 in the New England town of Newton, Massachusetts, United States of America, the sixth of the eleven children born to Hannah Apthorp (1768-1841) and Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), public official and eminent architect of such buildings as Faneuil Hall in Boston, the Massachusetts State House, and in part, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Charles’ twenty-five year career ended in financial ruin due to a bad investment around the time Thomas was born.

Lack of finances however did not diminish Thomas’ opportunities to attend the prestigious Boston Latin School and Phillips Exeter Academy before entering Harvard, graduating in 1814. His family was well-connected and he had a keen interest in the classics, amassing a large library over his lifetime. He shared the same philosophy as his father, intent to do good works for the public. He taught at the Latin School for a time before he obtained a position as clerk with the Merchant’s Bank of Boston in 1837, which he held until his death. While it was mundane work it gave him a stable source of income and he was able to focus on his writing in the evenings. Thomas lived a quiet life with his parents in Boston until their deaths; he then moved into a rooming house. He never married and regularly attended King’s Chapel where he read the Prayer Book which provided inspiration for his writing. He was a member of the Boston Society of Natural History of which he was secretary in the 1840s.

At the age of fifty-seven, Bulfinch’s first work was published, Hebrew Lyrical History (1853) in which the Psalms are presented in the context of Jewish history. It was followed by The Age of Fable (1855) wherein, similar to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales (1853) and Charles Kingsley’s The Heroes (1856), Bulfinch provides a contextual introduction and explanation of the Greek and Roman myths to make those allusions intelligible which one meets every day (Ch. 1). His next collection was The Age of Chivalry (1858);

In 1863 Whether we regard him as a warrior or as a legislator, as a patron of learning or as the civilizer of a barbarous nation, he is entitled to our warmest admiration…. Legends of Charlemagne was published. All three collections were issued under the title Bulfinch’s Mythology, first in 1881 with dozens of issues since to great success. Although Edith Hamilton’s Mythology has largely super ceded them, Bulfinch’s works have joined ranks with such other classic contributions to literature as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book (1894), Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719), Arabian Nights and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726).

Other works written by Bulfinch include The Boy Inventor (1860), Shakespeare Adapted for Reading Classes (1865) and Oregon and Eldorado or Romance of the Rivers (1866). Thomas Bulfinch died on 27 May 1867 in Boston, Massachusetts. He lies buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery of Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. The Life and Letters of Charles Bulfinch, Architect; with Other Family Papers, published in l896, was edited by Bulfinch’s niece Ellen Susan.

"The Age of Fable" (first published in 1855) or "Stories of Gods and Heroes" has come to be ranked with older books like "Pilgrim's Progress," "Gulliver's Travels," "The Arabian Nights," "Robinson Crusoe," and five or six other productions of world-wide renown as a work with which everyone must claim some acquaintance before his education can be called really complete.

"The Age of Chivalry" which contains King Arthur and His Knights, The Mabinogeon and The Knights of English History was published in 1858.

Whereas "The Legend of Charlemagne" or "Romance of the Middle Ages” was published in 1863.

The combined work of these three known as Bulfinch's Mythology was published after the death of Thomas Bulfinch in the year 1881. Now in the public domain, multiple editions of the combined work are still in print more than 150 years after the three books were published.

It was "one of the most popular books ever published in the United States and the standard work on classical mythology for nearly a century," until the release of classicist Edith Hamilton's 1942 Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes.

The Bulfinch's Mythology is a prose recounting of myths and stories from three eras: Greek and Roman mythology, King Arthur legends and medieval romances. Bulfinch intersperses the stories with his own commentary, and with quotations from writings by his contemporaries that refer to the story under discussion. This combination of classical elements and modern literature was novel for his time.

His other works include -

“If no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then Mythology has no claim to the appellation.”
―Thomas Bulfinch

“It was not till toward the end of the thirteenth century that the prose romances began to appear.”
―Thomas Bulfinch

"Age of Fable," First Edition, 1855; "The Age of Chivalry," 1858; "The Boy Inventor," 1860; "Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages," 1863; "Poetry of the Age of Fable," 1863; "Oregon and Eldorado, or Romance of the Rivers,"1860.

In this complete edition of his mythological and legendary lore "The Age of Fable," "The Age of Chivalry," and "Legends of Charlemagne" are included. Scrupulous care has been taken to follow the original text of Bulfinch, but attention should be called to some additional sections which have been inserted to add to the rounded completeness of the work, and which the publishers believe would meet with the sanction of the author himself, as in no way intruding upon his original plan but simply carrying it out in more complete detail. The section on Northern Mythology has been enlarged by a retelling of the epic of the "Nibelungen Lied," together with a summary of Wagner's version of the legend in his series of music-dramas. Under the head of "Hero Myths of the British Race" have been included outlines of the stories of Beowulf, Cuchulain, Hereward the Wake, and Robin Hood. Of the verse extracts which occur throughout the text, thirty or more have been added from literature which has appeared since Bulfinch's time, extracts that he would have been likely to quote had he personally supervised the new edition.

Finally, the index has been thoroughly overhauled and, indeed, remade. All the proper names in the work have been entered, with references to the pages where they occur, and a concise explanation or definition of each has been given. Thus what was a mere list of names in the original has been enlarged into a small classical and mythological dictionary, which it is hoped will prove valuable for reference purposes not necessarily connected with "The Age of Fable."

Though there are interesting stories and legends in Greek and Roman mythologies nobody in this world are worshipping these deities today. This could have been at the best include in children's story book or Fables. However, this branch of Greek and Roman Mythology is interesting read for young and old alike.

I would like to give below a quote by the great American author Thomas Bulfinch himself-

“Thus we hope to teach mythology not as a study, but as a relaxation from study; to give our work the charm of a story-book, yet by means of it to impart a knowledge of an important branch of education.”

Let me conclude this Blog post with a famous quote by Thomas Bulfinch -

“For Mythology is the handmaid of literature; and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness.”

If the literature is the promoters of happiness, then the myths, legends and lore makes an interesting and satiating read.

My endeavor to post in JOHNNY'S BLOG with vivid subjects finds Bulfinch's Mythology an interesting episode.