Lari’s Writing blog

I’ve promised to tell a Roman myth next week to a group of school kids, but I don’t know any Roman myths which I love enough to share!

I always tell myths in my author sessions, because I use mythological beasts in my adventure books, and this class particularly requested a Roman myth to link with their project on the Romans. So I said yes, no problem, even though most of the myths I love are Greek or Viking or Sumerian. I didn’t think it was a rash promise, because I have a tatty old illustrated hardback book called “Roman Mythology.”

Having started twittering yesterday, I thought I’d get back to paper and ink basics this morning, so I opened Roman Mythology, and found a lot of history, a fair amount of archaeology, dozens of pictures of statues and a few oblique mentions of myths, but no actual stories. Nothing with a beginning, a middle and an end. No monsters defeated, no heroes or heroines created.

Leaving me with only a few Roman possibilities: the wolf suckling the twins (which doesn’t take that long to tell), Horatio on the bridge (which glorifies very stupid bravery) and the loss of the Ninth Legion in the mists of Scotland (which is apparently not true any more, even though it was true when I was wee). So have you got any better ones? Any genuinely exciting and surprising Roman myths?

The Romans did nick most of their gods, goddesses and myths from the people they conquered. So getting ideas from everyone out there seems rather appropriate. And I won’t even have to invade …