Adrienne Mayor

MYTHOPEDIA | Kirkus Reviews Exploring the borderlands between myth, history, and science.

thrilled to have this enthusiastic review of my new book Mythopedia from Kirkus Reviews!
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

thank you!

Very much looking forward to this one. Adrienne's books are always excellent

living and fossil birds and reptiles have sclerotic plates around the eye--this is but one of the many hybrid features of this monster

as I have said in my book, articles, and lectures about the Monster of Troy skull, like any good monster it is a composite of many different species, living and extinct, mammal, reptile, bird, crocodile, lizard, shark, megafaunal fossil, even insect features are visible in the image.

18/28 This Greek vase represents the Trojan monster: the fossilized skull of a prehistoric animal - perhaps a Samotherium. It is also the cover of "The First Fossil Hunters" by Adrienne Mayor, which greatly helped me build this thread.

11/28 these fossilized bones combining to form the image of the griffin, as described by the Scythian nomads, then by the Greeks, Romans, and other later cultures.

10/28 20th-century palaeontologists like Roy Chapman Andrews then followed caravan routes through China to the Gobi Desert and discovered fossilized remains of Protoceratops (lion-sized) and Psittacosaurus ("parrot-beaked lizard"),

9/28 Similarly, in the 13th century, the Chinese in Turfan and Lop Nur also feared the surrounding deserts (formerly Issedonian lands), believed to be haunted by demons and dragons.

8/28 In 675 BCE, when Aristaeus of Proconnesus, a Greek traveller, visited the Scythian nomads in the Gobi Desert, they told him about a region beyond Issedonia where griffins, lion-sized creatures with curved beaks like eagles, were guarding a treasure.

1/28 New thread ! This time we discuss the connections between my various passions: palaeontology, archaeology, and history, or how ancient civilizations (Pharaonic Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman period) dealt with fossils and extinct animal bones

#Paleosky ⚒️🧪🏺

Significance of fossils in Roman times: the first trilobite find in an early Empire context - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Although the collection of fossils by humans is known from the Palaeolithic, the occurrence of trilobite remains in archaeological contexts is particularly rare worldwide, previously documented by spe...

Original study:

A. Fernández-Fernández et al., Significance of #fossils in #Roman times: the first #trilobite find in an early Empire context, Archaeol Anthropol Sci 17, 166 (2025). 🔓

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The First Fossil Hunters The fascinating story of how the fossils of dinosaurs, mammoths, and other extinct animals influenced some of the most spectacular creatures of classical mythology

And, as always in such cases, here is the obligatory reference to @amayor.bsky.social's essential book on the subject:

press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

A Trilobite Fossil Used as an Amulet in Roman Hispania: The First of Its Kind in the Classical World A team of Spanish researchers has made an extraordinary discovery at the Roman site of A Cibdá de Armea, near Ourense (Galicia, Spain): a trilobite fossil, a marine animal extinct for millions of year...

At the Roman site of A Cibdá de Armea (in Galicia, Spain), archaeologists found "a trilobite fossil, a marine animal extinct for millions of years, that was modified and likely used as an amulet or piece of jewelry b/w the 1st & 3rd centuries [CE]." Note Dr. @amayor.bsky.social's prior work on this!

MYTHOPEDIA | Kirkus Reviews Exploring the borderlands between myth, history, and science.

thrilled to have this enthusiastic review of my new book Mythopedia from Kirkus Reviews!
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Astounding Griffin with astragalus, ankle bone, like the
sheep ankle bones used in ancient Greek games.
Gold and crystal ring 5th c BC
Suggests one might be extra lucky with a Griffin knucklebone?

Astounding Griffin with astragalus, ankle bone, like the
sheep ankle bones used in ancient Greek games.
Gold and crystal ring 5th c BC
Suggests one might be extra lucky with a Griffin knucklebone?

thank you!

Can Geology Explain the Deadly Reputation of the Styx River and Shed Light on the Death of Alexander the Great? - Geoheritage Geoheritage - Modern discoveries of two naturally occurring toxins that thrive in limestone-rich environments offer clues to understanding how the Styx (Mavroneri) River received its nefarious...

Check out the original article (Open Access) in Geoheritage link.springer.com/article/10.1... and watch for her new book this Fall.

Was Alexander the Great really poisoned? Science sheds new light on an age-old question. The young conqueror fell suddenly and fatally ill at an all-night feast. Now, a Stanford historian has found a potential culprit.

My latest for National Geographic on @amayor.bsky.social's excellent article on toxins in the Styx and the rumors Alexander the Great was poisoned.

www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...

Library Journal Archives & Preservation

Mythopedia is “[an] engaging & accessible volume” of @amayor.bsky.social’s favorite myths & legends from around the world, “coupled with scientific & historical discoveries that explain the phenomena in the tales.” Read more in @libraryjournal.bsky.social: www.libraryjournal.com/review/mytho....

Amazons about to kill a Greek warrior
note shield and cap on ground to indicate heated battle
Full frontal face of Greek is rare, signals imminent death
ancient Greek vase, Baltimore Painter

Can Geology Explain the Deadly Reputation of the Styx River and Shed Light on the Death of Alexander the Great? - Geoheritage Geoheritage - Modern discoveries of two naturally occurring toxins that thrive in limestone-rich environments offer clues to understanding how the Styx (Mavroneri) River received its nefarious...

Can Geology explain why the Styx River was so deadly
& suggest why Styx poison was associated with the death of Alexander the Great?
you can now read my article in Geoheritage
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Punic people were genetically diverse with almost no Levantine ancestors - Nature Levantine Phoenicians made little genetic contribution to Punic settlements in the central and western Mediterranean between the sixth and second centuries bce; instead, the Punic people derived most ...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cc: @amayor.bsky.social

YouTube video by Caleb Howells Was the Legendary Griffin Inspired by Fossils of the Protoceratops?

This latest video takes a look at the fascinating theory that the legend of the griffin originated with sightings of protoceratops fossils in Asia: youtu.be/INU6QnIclsw?...

The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times. By Adrienne Mayor. Paperback cover with a stylized griffin skeleton

Reading "The First Fossil Hunters" by @amayor.bsky.social and it is a blast. She studies the Classical myths about giants and legendary creatures like griffins, and shows convincingly how real fossils were almost certainly the basis for these stories.

Pausanias is fun because he is both a skeptic and a believer. As @amayor.bsky.social says in her book, he is sure that the bones found in what's now modern Turkiye are not the bones of mythical monster Geryon. But only because he knows for sure that Geryon's bones were found in Spain!

Reading in "The First Fossil Hunters" how eagerly Greek towns fought for "relics" from the Heroic Age. Including fossils taken to be the bones of heroes and demigods. Like the whitened "ivory" shoulder blade of Pelops, probably a mammoth bone.

All fascinatingly Medieval & Saint-y.

Back into @amayor.bsky.social's "First Fossil Hunters" after a long weekend out of town.

I love her central premise/challenge -- the overwhelming evidence that ancient Greeks found, collected, & revered huge fossils was missed by Classicists for so long because they worked in academic silos.

@weescottishchemist.bsky.social of possible interest