This is member episode number 010, and rather than a typical elaboration of a story or progression of history and related maritime topics, today we're going to take a short stroll through a few myths from Greece, all related to dolphins. So, more of a topical approach you might say. There are enough stories and connections between dolphins and the sea and other aspects of Greek culture that we'll look at religious aspects in a different episode. This one looks at how the Greeks (their gods, technically) enshrined the dolphin in the night sky. We also look at a few different takes on a myth that evolved over time in Greece, a story about dolphins and how they saved one of the best musicians in Greek history from sure death at sea. Ovid, Herodotus, Pausanias, and a few other writers form the basis of our looks into that myth.
Sources
- Hall, Edith, Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind (2014).
- Herodotus, The Histories, Book 1.23–1.24.
- Hyginus, Astronomica, Fable 2.17, Dolphin.
- Ovid, Fasti, Book II, lines 79–128.
- Ovid, a story beyond belief: Arion, The Latin reading Blog, 5 December 2015.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 3.25.
