Mythopedia: A Brief Compendium of Natural History Lore

From acclaimed folklorist and historian Adrienne Mayor, an enchanting collection of the ancient myths that emerged out of the wonders--and disasters--of the natural world

Mythopedia is a fun, fact-filled A-Z treasury of myths inspired by natural events. Bringing together fifty legends from antiquity to the present, this delightfully entertaining book takes you around the world to explore sunken kingdoms and lost cities, accursed mountains and treacherous terrains, and lethal lakes and singing sand dunes, explaining the historical background and latest science underlying each tale.

As soon as humans invented language, they told stories to explain mysterious things they observed around them--on land, in the seas, and in the skies. Even though these tales are expressed in poetic or supernatural language, they contain surprisingly accurate insights and even eyewitness descriptions of catastrophic events millennia ago. Drawing on her unique insights as a pioneer in the exciting new field of geomythology, Adrienne Mayor describes how cultural memories of tsunamis, volcanic disasters, and other massive geological events can reach back thousands of years as the stories were preserved, elaborated, told, and retold across generations. She shows how geomythology is expanding our understanding of our planet's history over eons, revealing the human desire to explain nature and weave imaginative stories intertwined with keen observation, rational speculation, and memory.

With captivating drawings by Michele Angel, Mythopedia is a compendium of many marvels, from the Hindu monkey god Hanuman and his army of bridge-building primates to the terrifying sand demon Shensha shen of China, the gnawing glaciers of Austria, and the vengeful fish-headed snake god Nyami Nyami of Africa's Zambezi River.

• Features a cloth cover with an elaborate foil-stamped design

Author: Adrienne Mayor
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 10/07/2025
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 6.80h x 4.60w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780691247861


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/2025 pg. 79
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2025

About the Author
Adrienne Mayor is the author of many books, including The Poison King, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and The Amazons (both Princeton). She is a research scholar in classics and the history of science at Stanford University. Michele M. Angel is an award-winning watercolorist, illustrator, and graphic designer.