Urban Legends in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature: Some Rare Examples

Abstract: The four stories to be presented here are rare examples in ancient Greek and Roman literature of a well-attested kind of modern story called the urban legend. The following discussion begins with brief summaries of the four ancient stories, "The Horse and the Girl" (Aeschines and Aristotle), "Trireme" (Athenaeus), "Werewolf" (Petronius), and "Christian Initiation" (Tertullian and Minucius Felix). After the summaries comes a definition of the urban legend with respect to which the four stories are compared and contrasted. The question of interpretation then arises. Scholars who have interpreted "The Horse and the Girl" have usually focused on a single version of the story or on elements found in one or more versions. In conclusion, one such element in this story is discussed, the place itself, from which the story gets its modern name. Archaeological evidence suggests it might have been the burial site of a high-status woman for whom a horse was sacrificed and then interred along with her.