About D’Arcy Thompson

D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860-1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician, and Classics scholar. Thompson saw no contradiction in pursuing all these interests. On the contrary, he felt that science and the Humanities informed one another. For him, myths illustrate how natural phenomena shape human thought and spirituality; mathematics bring an understanding of the patterns that shape natural objects; and biology explains the phenomenon of adaptation that drives evolution.

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Throughout his life, Thompson studied all living creatures passionately, in particular birds. He was fascinated by their diversity and beauty, as well as their remarkable adaptation to their environment. Thompson’s Glossary of Greek Birds , which he took fifty years to write, bears the mark of his endless wonder at nature and his scientific rigor. In the book, Thompson explores the writings of ancient naturalists, especially Aristotle, and offers a reference collection of the birds described by ancient naturalists. For most birds, Thompson reviews the identification proposed by the naturalists of his time and proposes his own, which is usually driven by the habits of the bird as described in ancient lore and observed by the scientists of his day.

Perhaps surprisingly, the book is riddled with mythological stories. Far from discrediting stories of birds metamorphoses and other myths, Thompson records them carefully and adds stories from all around the world which he collected from his own inquiry as well as letters from friends and bird enthusiasts. In general, he interprets those myths as astronomical allegories, saying that the ancients created stories that illustrated the movement of celestial bodies. For instance, he writes that the twelve labors of Heracles follow the order of various constellations, such as Leo, which in the story corresponds to Heracles’ defeat of the Nemean Lion.

In the pages below, you will find entries selected from Thompson’s Glossary, enhanced with links to the ancient texts on which Thompson based his work and commentary dealing with both modern biology and Greek mythology. We hope that you will share Thompson’s enthusiasm for birds, nature, and above all, a good story. Happy explorations, and please feel free to get in touch with the Perseids team via Twitter, @PerseidsProject.