"Griffins, Centaurs, Cyclops, and Giants - there fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? This is the arresting and original thesis that Adrienne Mayor explores in The First Fossil Hunters. Through careful research and meticulous documentation, she convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact - in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans.

Adrienne Mayor, a classical folklorist, investigates the historical and scientific realities embedded in Greek and Roman myths." - publishe

Language: English

ISBN: 0-691-05863-6