Bogi i bogini dlja detej (Dei e dee per i fanciulli)

The paper examines two Russian books from the 1770s—1780s, devoted to ancient mythology and intended for children or teenagers. The first is the translated (from the French original, we have clarified, by Jeanne-Marie Leprence de Beaumont) "Brief Mythology with Ovid transformations" (1776) and the second is the "Dictionary of Poetic-historical notes… For the youth studying poetry at the Trinity Seminary" (1781) by Andrey Baibakov (Apollos). Textbooks are compared as two different examples of combining ancient "pagan" and Christian discourse, of various didactic methodologies, and of various approaches to the utilitarian use of mythology