When we think of the key figures of early American history, we think of explorers, or pilgrims, or Native Americans--not cattle, or goats, or swine. But as Virginia DeJohn Anderson reveals in this brilliantly original account of colonists in New England and the Chesapeake region, livestockplayed a vitally important role in the settling of the New World.Livestock, Anderson writes, were a central factor in the cultural clash between colonists and Indians as well as a driving the landscapes where the myths are set. It then provides a richly detailed timeline of mythic episodes from the origin of the cosmos to the end of the Heroic Age--plusan illustrated mythological dictionary listing significant characters, places, events, objects, and concepts.Whether you wish to explore the world that gave rise to ancient mythology or research a specific piece of the whole, this handbook is the best introduction available to an extraordinary cast of charact ers(gods, nymphs, satyrs, monsters, heroes) and the natural and supernatural stages upon whichtheir fates are played out.FeaturesDT A detailed timeline serves as a convenient "episode guide" chronicling events described in classical mythologyDT A comprehensive A-Z section offers a quick way to identify the gods, mortals, events, and objects that are key to specific myths and legendsHBFA1 |T Ancient Near EastHBBA |T World history: BCE to c 500 CEHRY |T Myths and mytholo Creatures of Empire restores a vital element of our past,illuminating one of the great forces of colonization and the expansion westward.