Traditionally ascribed to the mythical figure Yu the Great, The Classic of Mountains and Seas (third century B.C. to second century A.D.) brings together a treasure trove of rare data and colorful fiction about the mythical figures, rituals, medicine, natural history, and ethnic peoples of the ancient world. The Classic narrates episodes of 204 mythical figures, notably the gods Foremost, Fond Care, and Yellow, and goddesses like the fearsome Queen Mother of the West and the doomed Girl Lovely, the nurturing solar and lunar goddesses, and many others unknown outside this text. This eclectic work also contains crucial information on early medicine (with cures for impotence and infertility), omens to avert catastrophe, rites of sacrifice, and familiar and unidentified plants and animals. In sum, the Classic is a spectacular guided tour of the known world in antiquity, moving outward from the famous mountains of central China to the lands "beyond the seas."
