Asterix

Asterix the Gladiator

René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, London: Hodder Children’s Books, 1974
On loan from University of Canterbury Library Collection
H 30cm, W 22.3cm
Bib#: 946254

Asterix Gallus

René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, Stuttgart: Ehapa-Verlag GMBH, 1973 
On loan from University of Canterbury Library Collection
H 30cm, W 22.3cm
Bib#: 945678

For many young readers, their introduction to the history of the Roman empire is via the plucky Gaulish hero Asterix and his faithful companion Obelix. First published in 1959 and read by millions worldwide, the Asterix comics follow the fate of a small village in Gaul around 50 BCE struggling to resist the Roman invaders. It would be easy to dismiss Asterix as mere comic humour, but there are many similarities between this modern cartoon and the myths of the Greeks and Romans.

Just like a Greek or Roman hero, Asterix must undertake a range of tasks and quests and he uses his native wit and cunning to achieve his goals, helped by his closest friend Obelix, who possesses superhuman strength. Underlying the adventures of these fearless Gauls is the strong theme of what makes them different – physically, socially and politically. René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the creators of the Asterix comics,made a hero who represented the essential nature of what it means to be French. In a similar way, many Greek and Roman myths describe what those societies believed made them unique.