The Greek and Roman world is often noted for the rationalism of a few outstanding thinkers. This book is about the traditional superstitions, beliefs, taboos, folk-remedies, ghost stories, and folk tales that haunted the rest. Along the way it considers such questions as, Do modern approaches help or hinder our attempts to see ancient superstition from the inside? Can we break down the barriers between folk tales and myths? Did it really matter whether a healing herb was picked by moonlight or not? Was there a Cinderella tale in the ancient world? The volume begins by asking how we can attempt to define folklore in the first place, and how we can make sense of the vast amount of materials available. It examines the prejudices of writers who report folkloric information and explores the cultural contexts that shaped their materials. It includes numerous examples and texts, such as tales, legends, proverbs, jokes, riddles, and traditional customs. The volume overviews critical approaches to the study of ancient folklore, and it surveys the presence of Greek and Roman folklore in classical culture. Because of the tremendous interest in the ancient world, this volume will meet the needs of high school students and general readers.

Fantasy in Greek and Roman Literature offers an overview of Greek and Roman excursions into fantasy, including imaginary voyages, dream-worlds, talking animals and similar impossibilities. This is a territory seldom explored and extends to rarely read texts such as the Aesop Romance, The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice, and The Pumpkinification of the Emperor Claudius. Bringing this diverse material together for the first time, Anderson widens readers' perspectives on the realm of fantasy in ancient literature, including topics such as dialogues with the dead, Utopian communities and fantastic feasts. Going beyond the more familiar world of myth, his examples range from The Golden Ass to the Late Antique Testament of a Pig. The volume also explores ancient resistance to the world of make-believe. Fantasy in Greek and Roman Literature is an invaluable resource not only for students of classical and comparative literature, but also for modern writers on fantasy who want to explore the genre's origins in antiquity, both in the more obvious and in lesser-known texts.

Graham Anderson provides a comprehensive view of the Second Sophistic, the single most important movement in second century literature. Texts from this period, unlike most contemporaneous prose, came to be written as entertainment literature rather than being confined to historical subjects.
Anderson describes the cultural aspirations sought by Greek sophists in the Roman Empire as well as their skills in public speaking which enabled them to broaden their areas of artistic activity. He presents the sophists' multiple roles as civic celebrities, transmitters of Hellenic culture and literary artists. Although he confirms the image of sophists as vain, contentious, and sometimes superficial, he shows that they were no less fascinating for it. Anderson also emphasizes the integrity of their attempts to preserve the idea of an independent Greek past.

This original and compelling study argues against the traditional identification of Arthur as a king in Celtic Britain. Instead, Graham Anderson explores the evidence for two much older figures, known to classical writers as kings of Arcadia and Lydia, over a millenium before. He shows how these kings can be clearly connected with traditional Arthurian characters and adventure, including an ancient Gawain, a Lady of Shallott, and a predecessor of Excalibur, and shows that the Arthurian universe found in Welsh tales and French romances is already anticipated in these earliest of Arthurian materials. This radical reassessment of the Arthurian legends provides a new perspective on on age-old historical puzzle, and will provoke debate amongst Classical and Medieval scholars and Arthurian enthusiasts.

In this, the first modern study of the ancient fairytale, Graham Anderson asks whether the familiar children's fairytale of today existed in the ancient world. He examines texts from the classical period and finds many stories which resemble those we know today, including:
* a Jewish Egyptian Cinderella
* a Snow White whose enemy is the goddess Artemis
* a Pied Piper at Troy.
He puts forward many previously unsuspected candidates as classical variants of the modern fairytale and argues that the degree of violence and cruelty in the ancient tales means they must have been meant for adults.

In this, the first modern study of the ancient fairytale, Graham Anderson asks whether the familiar children's fairytale of today existed in the ancient world. He examines texts from the classical period and finds many stories which resemble those we know today, including:
* a Jewish Egyptian Cinderella
* a Snow White whose enemy is the goddess Artemis
* a Pied Piper at Troy.
He puts forward many previously unsuspected candidates as classical variants of the modern fairytale and argues that the degree of violence and cruelty in the ancient tales means they must have been meant for adults.

Holy men, both pagan and Christian are persistent and puzzling figures in the religious life of the Roman Empire. In this first historical study of Holy Men for more than half a century, Dr Anderson applies techniques of literary analysis to throw light on the lifestyles and behaviour of these figures, from Jesus Christ to Peregrinus Proteus to dio Chrysostom, stressing their individuality as much as their common features.
Sage, Saint and Sophist examines the variety of services, real or imaginary, that these colouful figures had to offer and how they maintained their credibility to become the objects of successful religious cults.

Sophism was the single most important movement in second century literature. Prose of that period came to be written as entertainment rather than confined to historical subjects. This book provides a broad view of the cultural outlook of the second sophistic. Graham Anderson suggests the cultural aspirations which Greek sophists in the Roman Empire were able to cherish, and shows how their skills in public speaking could enable them to adjust their horizons to the variety of activities in which they could engage. He presents the sophists' roles as civic celebrities, side by side with their roles as transmitters of Hellenic culture and literary artists. While studies of early Imperial culture and society have proliferated, many simply touch on the Second Sophistic or concentrate on only single aspects of a complex phenomenon. This work presents a series of overlapping perspectives and illustrations to enable the reader to form a more co-ordinated view. Original and comprehensive, this book should be of great interest to those concerned with the history or literature of the Roman Empire.

Holy men, both pagan and Christian are persistent and puzzling figures in the religious life of the Roman Empire. In this first historical study of Holy Men for more than half a century, Dr Anderson applies techniques of literary analysis to throw light on the lifestyles and behaviour of these figures, from Jesus Christ to Peregrinus Proteus to dio Chrysostom, stressing their individuality as much as their common features.
Sage, Saint and Sophist examines the variety of services, real or imaginary, that these colouful figures had to offer and how they maintained their credibility to become the objects of successful religious cults.

This anthology explores the multitude of evidence for recognisable fairy tales drawn from sources in the much older cultures of the ancient world, appearing much earlier than the 17th century where awareness of most fairy tales tends to begin. It presents versions of Cinderella, The Emperor's New Clothes, Snow White, The Frog Prince and a host of others where the similarities to familiar 'modern' versions far outweigh the differences. Here we find Cinderella as a courtesan, Snow White coming to a tragic end or an innocent heroine murdering her sisters. We find an emperor's new clothes where the flatterers compare him to Alexander the Great, or a pair of adulterers caught in a magic trap. Tantalising fragments suggest that there is more to be discovered: we can point to a Sleeping Beauty where the girl takes on the green colouring of the surrounding wood, or we encounter a Rumpelstiltskin connected to a mystery cult. The overall picture suggests a much richer texture of popular tale as a fascinating new legacy of antiquity. This volume breaks down the traditional barriers between Classical Mythology and the fairy tale, and will be an invaluable resource for anyone working on the history of fairy tales and folklore.

Fantasy in Greek and Roman Literature offers an overview of Greek and Roman excursions into fantasy, including imaginary voyages, dream-worlds, talking animals and similar impossibilities. This is a territory seldom explored and extends to rarely read texts such as the Aesop Romance, The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice, and The Pumpkinification of the Emperor Claudius. Bringing this diverse material together for the first time, Anderson widens readers' perspectives on the realm of fantasy in ancient literature, including topics such as dialogues with the dead, Utopian communities and fantastic feasts. Going beyond the more familiar world of myth, his examples range from The Golden Ass to the Late Antique Testament of a Pig. The volume also explores ancient resistance to the world of make-believe. Fantasy in Greek and Roman Literature is an invaluable resource not only for students of classical and comparative literature, but also for modern writers on fantasy who want to explore the genre's origins in antiquity, both in the more obvious and in lesser-known texts.

Offers an excellent introduction to the work currently and historically being done on fairy tales by folk-lorists. MEDIEVAL REVIEW Introduction by Derek Brewer. This book discusses the characteristics of the traditional fairy tale in Europe and North America, and various theories of its development and interpretation. The book deals with the main collections - the Grimm brothers, Hans Andersen, Perrault and Afanes'ev - and with the development of tales in various regions of Europe, including Ireland, Wales, Scandinavia, Germany and Russia, as well as India, where it was once claimed that they originated. The subject of the fairy tale is a controversial one: problems discussed here include the relationship between tales recorded from story-tellers and literary works, the importance of printed worksfor the spread of the tales, the growth of recent examples with a feminine approach, the spread of popular tales like Cinderella, special types like the cumulative tales, possible effects of TV, and the nature of traditional plots and characters. Above all, the collection is concerned with the distribution and long survival of these tales, and the nature of their appeal. SHORTLISTED FOR THE KATHARINE BRIGGS FOLKLORE AWARD 2004. Contributors: GRAHAM ANDERSON, DAVID BLAMIRES, RUTH BOTTIGHEIMER, DEREK BREWER, MARY BROCKINGTON, ANNA CHAUDHRI, HILDA ELLIS DAVIDSON, ROBIN GWYNDAF, BENGT HOLBEK, DAVID HUNT, REIMUND KVIDELAND, PATRICIA LYSAGHT, NEIL PHILIP, JAMES RIORDAN, PAT SCHAEFER, TOM SHIPPEY, JOYCE THOMAS.

This anthology explores the multitude of evidence for recognisable fairy tales drawn from sources in the much older cultures of the ancient world, appearing much earlier than the 17th century where awareness of most fairy tales tends to begin. It presents versions of Cinderella, The Emperor's New Clothes, Snow White, The Frog Prince and a host of others where the similarities to familiar 'modern' versions far outweigh the differences. Here we find Cinderella as a courtesan, Snow White coming to a tragic end or an innocent heroine murdering her sisters. We find an emperor's new clothes where the flatterers compare him to Alexander the Great, or a pair of adulterers caught in a magic trap. Tantalising fragments suggest that there is more to be discovered: we can point to a Sleeping Beauty where the girl takes on the green colouring of the surrounding wood, or we encounter a Rumpelstiltskin connected to a mystery cult. The overall picture suggests a much richer texture of popular tale as a fascinating new legacy of antiquity. This volume breaks down the traditional barriers between Classical Mythology and the fairy tale, and will be an invaluable resource for anyone working on the history of fairy tales and folklore.

Having been forced to leave the United States by Senator McCarthy and J Edgar Hoover, Elijah returns to his beloved estancia in the remote Argentine Pampas to lick his wounds. From there he plots his return to power, and his retribution. Entering the armaments trade, he supplies both sides in the Six Day War along with uranium to South Africa, becomes involved in the Australian mining boom, and organises for his employees to be rescued from the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Vehemently intolerant of drugs, when he discovers one of his closest confidantes has become a supplier against his explicit instructions, he views this as the ultimate betrayal him. A complex character as his many wives and children can attest to, Elijah has not yet played his last hand. As the tension mounts, so too do the rivalries and hatred as Elijah's children restlessly await his death and their share of his wealth. For them the waiting has already stretched far too long, as finally the day dawns for the reading of Elijah's Will.

2012 - In a world where money is everything, and corporate profits mean exploiting the natural resources of the outback, Nanderra Station in far western Queensland is under threat from the coal seam gas miners who covet the vast riches that lie deep beneath the remote cattle station. When environmentalist Libby Farnham is enlisted to help stop them, she's quickly drawn into the story of the mixed-blood boy, removed from Nanderra over a hundred years before and left with a Catholic mission. An epic story of power and passion, greed, loyalty and betrayal unfolds as The Half-breed Boy traces Elijah Hocking's escape from the depravity of the priests to finding love on a remote estancia on the Argentine pampas. When his wife and son are brutally slain, something snaps and Elijah embarks on a mission of retribution on all those who made his life a living hell. But who is Elijah Hocking? As he struggles to resolve the mystery of his ancestry, he must also come to grips with just who he can really count on.

When Elijah Hocking's life is changed forever by the brutal murder of his first wife on their remote estancia, he decides the only way ahead in the world is to use and manipulate others, by force if necessary. Fall from Grace, the second book in The Elijah Trilogy, follows Elijah's relentless climb to power as he returns to the United States to live. With the help of his lawyer and business partner Jorge and with his child-hood mate Johnny as his minder, he sets about building his empire. Along the way he mixes with a diverse phalanx of characters such as Joseph Kennedy, Franklin D Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, Hermann Goring and Folke Bernadotte amongst others. While trading with the Nazis in World War Two he simultaneously assists Jewish refugees to escape from Germany. He purchases looted art works, whilst carrying out espionage on behalf of the Americans. But in the fifties, he falls foul of J Edgar Hoover. The FBI Director combines forces with Senator McCarthy's vendetta against supposed U.S. enemies. His affair with Australian born Maureen Baverstock is publicly exposed leaving his marriage to Nancy in tatters. As friends and colleagues dessert him, and facing a possible summons forcing him to testify about his wartime activities before McCarthy's Senate hearings, Elijah elects to leave America in virtual exile. Twice widowed, it seems Elijah is incapable of forming lasting relationships with the women in his life - the beautiful Agnota, the manipulative Kyra, the sophisticated Sophia or Nancy who helped solve the mystery of his parents. And then there's his children...

Although King Arthur's identity is so frequently debated, he is almost always set somewhere in the Celtic Britain of the Early Christian Era. This original and wide-ranging study argues that the roots of the Arthur legend are to be found in classical antiquity and that the traditional British Arthur is a much later imitation. Graham Anderson examines hitherto neglected evidence for two much older figures, known to classical writers as early kings of Arcadia and Lydia, who supposedly flourished more than a millennium earlier than traditional accounts suggest. He outlines the correspondence between these ancient kings and the traditional Arthurian characters and adventures, exhuming an ancient Gawain-figure, an ancient Lady of Shalott and a predecessor of Excalibur. These earlier Arthurs indicate a wide range of traditional features already in place: hero of 'bear's son' type, rescuer of damsels in distress, transmitter of divine agriculture, 'greatest of knights', founder of a 'Table', king and national icon, and survivor after death. We also learn that the wider world of Welsh tales and French romances is already anticipated in our earliest Arthurian materials. This radical reasses