Adrienne Mayor
Princeton University Press, 2022, 448pp.
Mayor is one of a kind. I’m an avocational historian with some
skill at research and connecting far-flung dots. I mention that only to lend
credence to my evaluation of Mayor as, not merely a professional at the confluence of these and other professions, but someone one on another plane of existence. As in her
previous books (my favorite is Fossil Legends of the First Americans),
Mayor connects stories, artifacts, and cultures in ways that might never occur to
anyone else. We tend to study individual cultures and empires in school, and
Mayor delights in showing how human culture has always been an interactive web shot
through with tiny cross-filaments created by trade, travelers, legends, and the intersection of
ideas and cultures.
The 50 essays contained here skip through eras, civilizations, and continents, bringing us tales of sea monsters, paleocryptozoology, ancient ghost ships, Amazon queens, possible fossil origins for mythical creatures like griffins, and the Golden Fleece. If she can’t always connect an oddity to a possible origin, or a story to a storyteller, she never fails to arouse the reader’s curiosity.
For example, countless storytellers have described their opponents
as giants. It seems that, while the differences between tribes of men were certainly
exaggerated, the way men tended to get larger as forces from the south and east
worked their way towards Scandinavia did lend themselves to a certain
mythologizing, and kings certainly gathered very tall men for royal guards. She
explores countless other questions. Were the Carthaginians taught to be sworn enemies
of Rome from the day they could walk? (There seems to be a propaganda element in
there.) How did Baron Georges Cuvier come
to examine what he said was a fresh mammoth’s foot? (The mystery is unsolved.)
One of my favorite chapters is on the Greek response to
being incorporated into the Roman expire. Such nations often lead a gray,
low-profile existence, but the Greeks were entrepreneurs. Knowing the Roman fascination
with Greek history, culture, and legend, they became rich off Roman tourists.
They sold replicas (or fakes) of great art, reenacted plays, and plastered the
country (really) with “Heracles slept here” signs while guidebook authors and large
intercity cart rental agencies made small fortunes. Commercialization is not a
new concept.
Mayor’s writing moves along at the right pace, never bogging
down and always hinting of “Wait ‘till you see what’s next!” In this cabinet of
curiosities lies something for everyone, whether their interest is the origin
of tattoos or the first foot fetishists.
This is the latest in a serios of marvelous books, and I hope many more
are in the offing.
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