Best Selling Books by Adrienne Mayor

A gripping and groundbreaking history of how ancient cultures developed and used biological, chemical, and other unconventional weapons of war Flamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease: are these terrifying agents of warfare modern inventions? Not by a long shot. In this riveting history of the origins of unconventional war, Adrienne Mayor shows that cultures around the world have used biological and chemical weapons for thousands of years—and debated the morality of doing so. Drawing extraordinary connections between the mythical worlds of Hercules and the Trojan War, the accounts of Herodotus and Thucydides, and modern methods of war and terrorism, this richly illustrated history catapults readers into the dark and fascinating realm of ancient war and mythic treachery.

The burnt-red badlands of Montana''s Hell Creek are a vast graveyard of the Cretaceous dinosaurs that lived 68 million years ago. Those hills were, much later, also home to the Sioux, the Crows, and the Blackfeet, the first people to encounter the dinosaur fossils exposed by the elements. What did Native Americans make of these stone skeletons, and how did they explain the teeth and claws of gargantuan animals no one had seen alive? Did they speculate about their deaths? Did they collect fossils? Beginning in the East, with its Ice Age monsters, and ending in the West, where dinosaurs lived and died, this richly illustrated and elegantly written book examines the discoveries of enormous bones and uses of fossils for medicine, hunting magic, and spells. Well before Columbus, Native Americans observed the mysterious petrified remains of extinct creatures and sought to understand their transformation to stone. In perceptive creation stories, they visualized the remains of extinct mammoths, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine creatures as Monster Bears, Giant Lizards, Thunder Birds, and Water Monsters. Their insights, some so sophisticated that they anticipate modern scientific theories, were passed down in oral histories over many centuries. Drawing on historical sources, archaeology, traditional accounts, and extensive personal interviews, Adrienne Mayor takes us from Aztec and Inca fossil tales to the traditions of the Iroquois, Navajos, Apaches, Cheyennes, and Pawnees. Fossil Legends of the First Americans represents a major step forward in our understanding of how humans made sense of fossils before evolutionary theory developed.

A compelling biography of the legendary king, rebel, and poisoner who defied the Roman Empire Machiavelli praised his military genius. European royalty sought out his secret elixir against poison. His life inspired Mozart''s first opera, while for centuries poets and playwrights recited bloody, romantic tales of his victories, defeats, intrigues, concubines, and mysterious death. But until now no modern historian has recounted the full story of Mithradates, the ruthless king and visionary rebel who challenged the power of Rome in the first century BC. In this richly illustrated book—the first biography of Mithradates in fifty years—Adrienne Mayor combines a storyteller''s gifts with the most recent archaeological and scientific discoveries to tell the tale of Mithradates as it has never been told before. The Poison King describes a life brimming with spectacle and excitement. Claiming Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia as ancestors, Mithradates inherited a wealthy Black Sea kingdom at age fourteen after his mother poisoned his father. He fled into exile and returned in triumph to become a ruler of superb intelligence and fierce ambition. Hailed as a savior by his followers and feared as a second Hannibal by his enemies, he envisioned a grand Eastern empire to rival Rome. After massacring eighty thousand Roman citizens in 88 BC, he seized Greece and modern-day Turkey. Fighting some of the most spectacular battles in ancient history, he dragged Rome into a long round of wars and threatened to invade Italy itself. His uncanny ability to elude capture and surge back after devastating losses unnerved the Romans, while his mastery of poisons allowed him to foil assassination attempts and eliminate rivals. The Poison King is a gripping account of one of Rome''s most relentless but least understood foes.

Follow along as research scientist Adrienne Mayor searches for the origins of the mythical griffin - could such a creature be based in reality? While studying the classics in Greece, Adrienne came across accounts of an ancient creature, sometimes called bird-monster, griffin, or minotaur. Adrienne travels from Greece to the Gobi Desert in search of where an ancient race of fair-haired and pale nomadic horsemen called the Scythians hid their gold - gold that was rumored to be guarded by griffins.

From acclaimed folklorist and historian Adrienne Mayor, an enchanting collection of the ancient myths that emerged out of the wonders—and disasters—of the natural world Mythopedia is a fun, fact-filled A-Z treasury of myths inspired by natural events. Bringing together fifty legends from antiquity to the present, this delightfully entertaining book takes you around the world to explore sunken kingdoms and lost cities, accursed mountains and treacherous terrains, and lethal lakes and singing sand dunes, explaining the historical background and latest science underlying each tale. As soon as humans invented language, they told stories to explain mysterious things they observed around them—on land, in the seas, and in the skies. Even though these tales are expressed in poetic or supernatural language, they contain surprisingly accurate insights and even eyewitness descriptions of catastrophic events millennia ago. Drawing on her unique insights as a pioneer in the exciting new field of geomythology, Adrienne Mayor describes how cultural memories of tsunamis, volcanic disasters, and other massive geological events can reach back thousands of years as the stories were preserved, elaborated, told, and retold across generations. She shows how geomythology is expanding our understanding of our planet’s history over eons, revealing the human desire to explain nature and weave imaginative stories intertwined with keen observation, rational speculation, and memory. With captivating drawings by Michele Angel, Mythopedia is a compendium of many marvels, from the Hindu monkey god Hanuman and his army of bridge-building primates to the terrifying sand demon Shensha shen of China, the gnawing glaciers of Austria, and the vengeful fish-headed snake god Nyami Nyami of Africa’s Zambezi River. Features a cloth cover with an elaborate foil-stamped design

The real history of the Amazons in war and love Amazons—fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world—were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons. But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China. Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons—Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China. Driven by a detective''s curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic.

The fascinating untold story of how the ancients imagined robots and other forms of artificial life—and even invented real automated machines The first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called Talos. This wondrous machine was created not by MIT Robotics Lab, but by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention. More than 2,500 years ago, long before medieval automata, and centuries before technology made self-moving devices possible, Greek mythology was exploring ideas about creating artificial life—and grappling with still-unresolved ethical concerns about biotechne, “life through craft.” In this compelling, richly illustrated book, Adrienne Mayor tells the fascinating story of how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese myths envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices, and human enhancements—and how these visions relate to and reflect the ancient invention of real animated machines. As early as Homer, Greeks were imagining robotic servants, animated statues, and even ancient versions of Artificial Intelligence, while in Indian legend, Buddha’s precious relics were defended by robot warriors copied from Greco-Roman designs for real automata. Mythic automata appear in tales about Jason and the Argonauts, Medea, Daedalus, Prometheus, and Pandora, and many of these machines are described as being built with the same materials and methods that human artisans used to make tools and statues. And, indeed, many sophisticated animated devices were actually built in antiquity, reaching a climax with the creation of a host of automata in the ancient city of learning, Alexandria, the original Silicon Valley. A groundbreaking account of the earliest expressions of the timeless impulse to create artificial life, Gods and Robots reveals how some of today’s most advanced innovations in robotics and AI were foreshadowed in ancient myth—and how science has always been driven by imagination. This is mythology for the age of AI.

Originally published in 2000 with the subtitle: Paleontology in Greek and Roman times.

A treasury of astonishing mythic marvels—and the surprising truths behind them Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from ancient, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries. The book explores such subjects as how mirages inspired legends of cities in the sky; the true identity of winged serpents in ancient Egypt; how ghost ships led to the discovery of the Gulf Stream; and the beauty secrets of ancient Amazons. Other pieces examine Arthur Conan Doyle’s sea serpent and Geronimo’s dragon; Flaubert’s obsession with ancient Carthage; ancient tattooing practices; and the strange relationship between wine goblets and women’s breasts since the times of Helen of Troy and Marie Antoinette. And there’s much, much more. Showcasing Mayor’s trademark passion not to demythologize myths, but to uncover the fascinating truths buried beneath them, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a wonder cabinet of delightful curiosities.

"Battle mysterious monsters, join a quest with a courageous hero, and feast and frolic with the gods [in this introduction to mythology around the world]"--Page 4 of cover.

Las amazonas, esas fieras mujeres que habitaban en los confines del mundo conocido, fueron en los mitos griegos guerreras archienemigas de héroes como Aquiles o Hércules. Pero, ¿es adecuado emplear «míticas»? ¿Quiénes fueron en realidad esas intrépidas luchadoras que se entregaban a la guerra, la caza y la libertad sexual? ¿Existieron realmente o fueron solo un arquetipo de la otredad en la cosmovisión griega? En este extenso y profusamente ilustrado libro, Adrienne Mayor, finalista del National Book Award por su apasionante biografía de Mitrídates el Grande –también publicada por Desperta Ferro Ediciones– revela detalles íntimos y sorprendentes, así como nuevas hipótesis acerca de las mujeres de carne y hueso de las estepas que el mundo clásico conocería como amazonas, para demostrar que estas guerreras no eran tan solo fruto de la imaginación helénica. Combinando el análisis de los mitos clásicos con las tradiciones de la estepa euroasiática y la arqueología, el libro Amazonas. Guerreras del mundo antiguo es el primer relato integral acerca de estas aguerridas mujeres, plasmadas en la mitología y la historia a lo largo y ancho del mundo antiguo, desde el mar Mediterráneo hasta la Gran Muralla china. En su criba entre realidad y mito, Mayor sigue todas las pistas posibles, desde examinar las tumbas de mujeres cuyos cuerpos momificados conservan tatuajes y heridas de guerra, hasta escrutar decenas de representaciones artísticas en cerámica griega, esculturas o monedas. ¿Quién estuvo detrás de las Hipólita que batalló contra Hércules o de la Pentesilea que se batió con Aquiles? ¿Existió la reina Talestris, que según algunos relatos esperaba concebir un hijo de Alejandro Magno? ¿Y Hipiscratea, que comandó ejércitos acompañando a su esposo Mitrídates? Una obra que rompe estereotipos vivos hoy en día, pero también los de hace más de dos milenios. 2014, Preseleccionado en London Hellenic Prize. 2014, Seleccionado por la American Scientists Science Book Gift Guide. 2015, Ganador de Silver Medal, Independent Publisher Book Awards, World History category. 2016, Reseñado por The New York Times Book Reviews "The Year in Reading". 2016, Ganador del Sarasvati Award for Best Nonfiction Book in Women and Mythology, Association for the Study of Women & Mythology.

Adrienne Mayor, autora de obras como Mitrídates el Grande , Amazona s o Fuego griego, flechas envenenadas y escorpiones se atreve ahora con la fascinante y jamás contada historia de cómo el mundo antiguo imaginó robots y otras formas de vida artificial, e incluso de cómo inventó autómatas. Autómatas míticos aparecen en las leyendas de Jasón y los argonautas, Medea, Dédalo, Prometo y Pandora, y, al menos ya desde Homero, los griegos imaginaron sirvientes robóticos y estatuas animadas, y también versiones de nuestra inteligencia artificial. Según las leyendas indias, las reliquias de Buda eran custodiadas por guerreros androides, que sabemos copiaban diseños grecorromanos de autómatas reales. De hecho, muchas máquinas animadas, ciertamente sofisticadas, fueron construidas en la Antigüedad, alcanzándose el clímax de su invención con toda una serie de autómatas diseñados en Alejandría, el primer Silicon Valley. Dioses y robots es un relato pionero sobre las más tempranas expresiones del impulso humano para crear vida artificial y jugar a ser dioses, que demuestra, además, que detrás de la ciencia siempre ha estado la imaginación.

Maquiavelo alabó su genialidad militar, su biografía inspiró la primera ópera de Mozart y durante siglos se buscó su elixir contra el veneno. Pero pocas han sido las narraciones completas acerca de la vida de Mitrídates el Grande, el rey despiadado y visionario que desafió el poder de Roma en el siglo I a. C. De ahí la relevancia de este libro, en la que Adrienne Mayor combina sus dotes narrativas con los más recientes descubrimientos arqueológicos y científicos para contar la historia de Mitrídates como nunca antes se había hecho. Queriéndose descendiente de Alejandro Magno y de Darío III de Persia, Mitrídates heredó un próspero reino en el mar Negro a los catorce años, después de que su madre envenenara a su padre. A partir de este núcleo, concibió un gran imperio oriental que rivalizara con Roma y, tras orquestar la matanza de 80 000 romanos en un solo día, se anexionó Grecia y Anatolia. Protagonista de algunas de las batallas más espectaculares de la Historia antigua, pugnó durante décadas con una Roma que se tomó muy en serio el peligro de este nuevo Aníbal, que amenazaba incluso con atacar la propia Italia. Su asombrosa capacidad para evitar ser capturado y rehacerse de devastadoras derrotas desconcertaba a los romanos. Su habilidad para las intrigas y su dominio de los venenos frustraba los intentos de asesinato y servía para deshacerse de cualquier rival. El rey del veneno. Mitrídates el Grande, enemigo implacable de Roma es una emocionante biografía de uno de los enemigos más implacables pero menos comprendidos de Roma. Finalista de National Book Award ( nonfiction) Uno de los mejores libros del año ( Washington Post) Ganador de Gold Medal in Biography ( Independent Publisher Book Award)

Weapons of biological & chemical warfare have been in use for thousands of years. This is the first book to trace biological & chemical warfare to its ancient roots. Drawing on sources ancient & modern, Mayor describes ancient recipes for arrow poisons, booby traps rigged with plague, petroleum-based combustibles, choking gases, & the deployment of dangerous animals & venomous snakes & insects. Also explores the ambiguous moral implications inherent in this kind of warfare: are these nefarious forms of weaponry ingenious or cowardly? Admirable or reprehensible? A highly readable page-turner that will catapult readers into the dark & fascinating realm of ancient war & mythic treachery -- & their devastating consequences.Ó Illustrations.

La 4e de couv. indique : "Depuis l''Iliade (VIIIe siècle av. J.-C.) jusqu''à Pompée et ses expéditions militaires en Orient (Ier siècle av. J.-C.), en passant par Alexandre le Grand, les mythiques Amazones ont toujours fasciné les Grecs, puis les Romains : des guerrières qui rivalisaient avec les héros grecs par leur courage et leurs prouesses militaires, mais qui ressemblaient aussi aux Barbares - la légende disait qu''elles se coupaient le sein gauche pour tirer à l''arc et qu''elles se débarrassaient de leurs enfants mâles. Mais les Amazones sont-elles seulement un mythe, un fantasme terrifiant inventé par les Grecs et les Romains ? Que peuvent-elles nous apprendre sur la réalité des civilisations avec lesquelles les Grecs étaient en relations commerciales ou guerrières ? Dans ce livre qui fera date, Adrienne Mayor révèle que les Amazones trouvent leur origine dans la réalité historique et met à bas le mythe selon lequel il n''y aurait jamais eu de femmes guerrières. Les découvertes archéologiques faites dans ces immenses étendues où nomadisaient les Scythes - et donc les Amazones décrites par Hérodote - ont permis d''identifier sans doute possible les restes de guerrières mortes au combat. On a longtemps cru qu''un squelette accompagné d''armes était celui d''un homme. Les analyses modernes (en particulier génétiques) montrent que c''est faux dans un nombre considérable de cas ! Il n''y a jamais eu de guerrières se mutilant la poitrine ou tuant leurs fils, mais il y a eu des tribus scythes où les femmes combattaient à l''égal des hommes. Adrienne Mayor se lance à leur poursuite et nous invite à un fabuleux voyage historique jusqu''aux confins de la Chine."