Adrienne Mayor
Adrienne Mayor is a historian of ancient science and a classical folklorist; her recent books are Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World (on the origins of biological and chemical weapons, rev ed 2022), Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities (2022), and Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology (2018). The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World (2014) inspired Smithsonian and Prime Time French TV documentaries; her other books have inspired museum exhibits in the US and Europe. Mayor’s biography of Mithradates VI of Pontus, The Poison King, was a finalist for the National Book Award 2009 and won top honors for Biography, Independent Publishers' Awards 2010. Mayor also investigates natural knowledge contained in pre-scientific myths and oral traditions, to recover "folk science" precursors, alternatives, and parallels to modern scientific methods. Her two books on fossil discoveries and interpretations in classical antiquity and in Native America (First Fossil Hunters and Fossil Legends of the First Americans) opened a new field within the emerging discipline of Geomythology. Mayor's work has been featured on NPR, BBC, and other popular media, including New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and National Geographic; her books are translated into Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Hungarian, Polish, German, Italian, Turkish, Russian, and Greek. She is also a research scholar in the Classics Department.
Books
Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, rev. ed. 2022.
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws, and Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities. Princeton University Press, 2022.
Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology. Princeton University Press, 2018.
The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates the Great, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (Princeton University Press, 2010).
Fossil Legends of the First Americans. Princeton University Press, 2005.
The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times. Princeton University Press, 2000. rev ed 2010, new introduction.
Selected Articles
"Prometheus' Toolbox: Human Life as Technology from Greek Mythology to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," Lapham's Quarterly 14, 1 (Winter 2021).
"Especially in the Use of Weapons: Plato and the Amazons," Antigone, March 26, 2021.
"Robots Guarded Buddha's Relics in a Legend of Ancient India," The Conversation, March 13, 2019.
"Tyrants and Robots," History Today, Nov 2018.
"An Artificial Intelligence Wake-Up Call from Ancient Greece," Project Syndicate, Oct 16, 2018, widely syndicated.
"Bio-Techne Myths: What Can Ancient Greeks Teach Us about Artificial Intelligence, Robots, and the Quest for Immortality?" 2016. Aeon, May 16.
"The Eagle Huntress: Ancient Traditions and New Generations." 2016. Expanded version of article in Ancient Origins, April 5-6 and BUST, April 18.
"Megafauna: Review of The Lagoon, How Aristotle Invented Science by Armand Leroi." 2015. London Review of Books 37 (July 2).
"Warrior Women: The Myth and Reality of the Amazons." 2015. Foreign Affairs (May 6).
"When Alexander Met Thalestris." 2014. History Today 65 (January): 10-17.
"Making Sense of Nonsense Inscriptions Associated with Amazons and Scythians on Athenian Vases," co-authored with J. Colarusso and D. Saunders. Hesperia 83.3 (September 2014).
"Sweating Truth in Ancient Carthage." 2010. Full rev. of R. Miles, Carthage Must Be Destroyed. Abridged version in London Review of Books 32 (June 2010): 30-31.
"Mithradates: Scourge of Rome." 2009. History Today (December, 2009).
"Mythic Bio-Techne in Classical Antiquity: Desire, Hope, and Dread", Biotechnique Exhibit Catalog, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 2007.
"Fossils in Native American Lands, Whose Bones, Whose Story? Fossil Appropriations Past and Present." 2007. Paper presented at History of Science Society annual meeting, 1-2 Nov, 2007, Washington DC, History of Earth Sciences Government and Earth Sciences Panel.
"Place Names Describing Fossils in Oral Traditions." 2007. Myth and Geology, ed. B. Masse and L. Piccardi. London: Geological Society, 273, 245-261.
"Fossielenfolklore en wetenschap." 2006. Intro, Dino's en draken: Fossilien in mythen en volksgeloof, ed. B. Sliggers. Haarlem: Teylers Museum. Catalogue, "Myth & Fossils" Exhibit, based on Mayor's work.
"Tales from the Badlands," Natural History 114 (May 2005): 56-61.
"Ancient WMDs." Archaeology Odyssey (March/April 2005): 26-31, 48-50.
"Ancient References to the Fossils in the Land of Pythagoras." With N. Solounias. Earth Sciences History (2005).
"Toxicology and Ancient Warfare." In Encyclopedia of Toxicology, 2nd ed. Oxford: Elsevier, 2005.
"Geomythology." In Encyclopedia of Geology. Oxford: Elsevier, 2004. 4,000 words.
The Folklore of Footprints in Stone: From Classical Antiquity to the Present." With W.A.S. Sarjeant. Ichnos 8, no.1 (2001): 143-63.
"Killer Khilats: Legends of Poisoned Robes of Honour in India. Parts 1" & "Killer Khilats, Part 2: Imperial Collecting of Poison Dress Legends in India." With M. Maskiell. Folklore 112 (2001): 23-45, 163-82.
"The 'Monster of Troy' Vase: The Earliest Artistic Record of a Vertebrate Fossil Discovery?" Oxford Journal of Archaeology 19 (2000): 57-63.
"Bibliography of Classical Folklore Scholarship: Myths, Legends, & Popular Beliefs of Ancient Greece & Rome." Folklore 111 (2000): 123-38.
"People Illustrated: Tattooing in Antiquity." Archaeology (March-April 1999): 54-57.
"Dirty Tricks in Ancient Warfare." MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History 2 (Autumn 1997):32-37.
"Fiery Finery [Burning Cloaks in Greek Myth]." Archaeology (March-April 1997):54-58.
"The Nessus Shirt in the New World: Smallpox Blankets in History and Legend." Journal of American Folklore 108 (1995): 54-77.
"Mad Honey! [Toxic honey]" Archaeology (November-December 1995): 32-40.
"Ambiguous Guardians: The Omen of the Wolves (AD 402) and the Choking Doberman (1980s)." Journal of Folklore Research 29 (1992):253-68