This book contains the text of the Gray Lectures delivered in 1932 on the influence of Indo-European legend on Greek myth.

Georgios Vizyenos (1849-1896) is one of Greeces best-loved writers. His stories, written in 1883-4, are set in his native Thrace, a corner of Europe where Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey meet. Each title poses an enigma: Where did Yorgis grandfather travel on his only journey? What was Yorgis mothers sin? Who was responsible for his brothers murder? At the end of each story the narrator possesses some knowledge that forces him and his readers to revise their earlier assumptions, which were based on incomplete knowledge. Because Vizyenos wants us to experience the difficult transition from ignorance to knowledge, he leaves us in suspense until the very end.

Deals with the reality of the indigenous peoples of Europe - Thracians, Scythians, Celts, Germans, Etruscans, and other peoples of Italy, the Alps, and beyond.

Cameos showcase Tiberius in private and Augustus in court, with Pompey the Great on campaign and Phaedrus himself struggling against prejudice and persecution, and tales feature all sorts - a toadying slave, wicked servant, vain musician, effeminate soldier, sexy poet, and rogue quack. These forgotten tales tell short and clear Roman parables of power and powerlessness. Humorous and acute, they explain, and protest at, the Caesars, and they sit perfectly among Aesop's sadistic lions, murderous wolves, and apes in purple."--Jacket.