Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867) was an American writer, Latinist, and banker who wrote and collected the first popular English-language retellings of Greek, Roman, Eastern, Scandinavian, Arthurian, and medieval myths in his famous three-volume compilation, Bulfinch's Mythology."Without a knowledge of mythology," he wrote, "much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood or appreciated." He added: "We trust our young readers will find it a sou...