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Easy Reading Passages:
Fables and Myths

In general, these passages assume that you have completed the grammar listed for each group, but occasionally they use a form you may not be familiar with. Don't panic. Keep your wits and make an educated guess. Then go on.

If you want to review some endings before tackling the passages, visit Smythe's Greek Grammar. Feel free to skip over the explanations to find what you are looking for. If you are looking for help with Greek syntax (e.g., the meaning of the cases), click on Rydberg-Cox, Overview of Greek Syntax.

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Group 1. Easiest

Grammar Required:
Nouns: all cases, first declension, second declension, third declension, masc & fem, neuter
Verbs: present tense, active and middle; present imperatives
Pronouns: personal pronouns, interrogatives

Fables from Aesop

Zeus' unions and offspring: Apollodorus 1.3.1

Group 2. Pretty Easy

Grammar required:
Verbs: present, imperfect, and aorist tenses; present and aorist participles
Pronouns: relative pronoun

Prometheus and the gift of fire: Apollodorus 1.7.1

Group 3: Not Difficult

Grammar Required:
Verbs: future tense, mi-verbs, verbs with irregular 2nd aorists (e.g. baino, gignosko, histemi)
Adjectives: comparison of adjectives
Participles: genitive absolute

Deucalion and Pyrrha and the Flood: "A child Deucalion was born from Prometheus," Apollodorus 1.7.2

The Castration of Ouranos: "Earth, disturbed at the loss of her children thrown into Tartarus [i.e., the Hundred-Handers]," Apollodorus 1.1.4

The Contest of Athena and Poseidon: "Cecrops, sprung from the land itself, having the body of a man and a dragon," Apollodorus 3.14.1

Group 4: Very Do-able

Grammar Required:
Verbs: subjunctive mood; future and aorist passive
Indirect Statement

Orpheus and Eurydice: "From [the union of] Calliope and Oeagrus or, nominally, from Apollo, was a son Linus," Apollodorus 1.3.2

Demeter searches for her daughter Persephone: "Hades, being in love with Persephone, abducted her," Apollodorus 1.5.1

Demeter gives Triptolemos the gift of wheat: "For Triptolemos, the elder of Metaneira's children," Apollodorus 1.5.2

Persephone eats the pomegranate: "When Zeus ordered Pluto to send Persephone back," Apollodorus 1.5.3

Alcestis dies for her husband Admetus: "While Admetus ruled Pherae, Apollo was a slave to him," Apollodorus 1.9.15

Oedipus unknowingly kills his father Laius: "After Amphion's death, Laius took over the kingdom," Apollodorus 3.5.7

Oedipus solves the Riddle of the Sphinx: "Damasistratus, King of the Plataeans, buries Laius," Apollodorus 3.5.8

Oedipus is banished from Thebes: "Once the secrets later came to light, Jocasta hanged herself from a noose," Apollodorus 3.5.9

Atalanta's Birth and Upbringing: "From Lycurgus and either Cleophyle or Eurynome [were four sons]," Apollodorus 3.9.2 (up to page 400)

Atalanta, the Suitors, and the Race: "Later, having discovered her parents, when her father was persuading her to marry," Apollodorus 3.9.2 (from page 400 - end of screen)

Contact Information

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John Gruber-Miller
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