Apollodorus
Author of the Bibliotheca, the most comprehensive surviving handbook of Greek mythology
The Meaning of Apollodorus
The Bibliotheca attributed to Apollodorus — probably written in the first or second century CE by an unknown author called Pseudo-Apollodorus — is the single most valuable mythographical handbook surviving from antiquity. It systematically catalogues Greek mythology from the creation of the world and the succession of divine dynasties through the great heroic cycles: the Argonauts, the Theban wars, the labours of Heracles, and the Trojan War with its aftermath. The work draws on a vast range of earlier sources, many now lost, preserving variant versions and genealogical details found nowhere else. For modern scholars, the Bibliotheca is indispensable — it provides the skeleton upon which the scattered fragments of Greek myth are reassembled.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Without the Bibliotheca, entire branches of Greek mythology would be known only from scattered fragments
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Bibliotheca
💭 conceptLiterature
An alternative title for the mythological handbook attributed to Apollodorus, cataloguing the full scope of Greek myth
Library of Apollodorus
💭 conceptLiterature
A comprehensive ancient handbook cataloguing Greek myths, genealogies, and heroic narratives
Hyginus
💭 conceptMythography, fables
Roman-era mythographer whose Fabulae preserves hundreds of concise Greek myth summaries
Diodorus Siculus
💭 conceptHistory, universal chronicle
Sicilian historian who compiled a universal history preserving many otherwise lost mythological traditions
Herodotus
💭 conceptHistory, ethnography, Persia
Father of History whose Histories records mythological traditions alongside the Persian Wars narrative
Theogony
💭 conceptLiterature
Hesiod's epic poem describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods
Dionysiaca
💭 conceptLiterature
Nonnus's sprawling epic poem narrating the life and conquests of the god Dionysus in forty-eight books
Ptolemy Hephaestion
💭 conceptParadoxography, obscure myth
Alexandrian writer whose New History preserved bizarre and otherwise unknown mythological variants
Strabo
💭 conceptGeography, ethnography
Greek geographer whose seventeen-book Geography records mythological traditions alongside physical descriptions
Homeric Hymns
💭 conceptLiterature
A collection of thirty-three ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual Olympian and chthonic deities
Plato
💭 conceptPhilosophy, myth, forms
Athenian philosopher who both critiqued traditional myths and created powerful new ones in his dialogues
Nonnus
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Dionysus
Late antique poet who composed the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving epic poem from Greco-Roman antiquity