Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition

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A little naive maybe, however, given this and the irrevocably atrocious acts of each and every member of the Greek Pantheon, I suggest that there are, in fact, no Gods in Greek Mythology, only reflections of vastly more powerful versions of ourselves, unmasking and exposing all of our most unfavourable attributes. Physically, the Olympians are objectively perfect. I mean this in the sense that whatever your subjective idea of beauty is, that is the form in which the Gods should appear to you. In any case, their beauty, strength and vigour are unmatched but, these things aside, their personalities, temperament and moral compass’ leave much to be desired. The Olympians are unpredictable, unfaithful and consequently jealous, sex fiends. They are self-serving, scheming, apathetic and scornful, and have a major superiority complex! This story, along with a few others, got me wondering why no one has created any horror adaptations of the Greek Myths. Some of the tales have a really insidious tone that I think could make for some chilling cinematics. One that stood out was the Wine God, Dionysus, and his Bacchantes/Maenads (Wine-maddened/berserker women). Pentheus, a King of Thebes, questions Dionysus’ divinity and Dionysus satiates his need for vengeance by placing the women of Thebes into a Frenzy and, long-story-short, Pentheus’ Mother and Aunties tear him limb from limb only to be awakened from their frenzy to look in horror at what they’ve done. Horrifying stuff. If you’re aware of any Greek Myth Horror adaptations, let me know! What stood out for me in this audiobook was the transparency of its sources as it retold the Greek myths. I found this helpful to help me continue to get a handle on how this vast subject is connected to Ancient History and Human History; as I was listening to it I had so many moments where small scraps made a few more things a little bit clearer for me. This book makes me feel smarter," says my GR friend in her review of this book. I worked the same for me.

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes is a book written by Edith Hamilton, published in 1942 by Little, Brown and Company. [1] It has been reissued since then by several publishers, including its 75th anniversary illustrated edition. [2] It retells stories of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology drawn from a variety of sources. The introduction includes commentary on the major classical poets used as sources, and on how changing cultures have led to changing characterizations of the deities and their myths. It is frequently used in high schools and colleges as an introductory text to ancient mythology and belief. This is one only two such books I still have, 15 years out of high school: this and Strunk and White. This is a good book to have lying around the house, not because you need it every day, but because it is a great reference for things like settling family bets and cheating on the brown questions in Trivial Pursuit. Dig it out of the boxes in your basement sometime, under the term paper from freshman comp, and have a look over it. It really is a great reference guide to ancient mythos, it's easily accessible, and well written. Generations of high school teachers can't be all THAT wrong. To sum up the points in its favor: Hamilton does well on the three basic criteria (accessibility, credibility, extent of coverage) the writing is clear, she is commendably rigorous about sourcing, and there are no glaring gaps in the extent of coverage. Both of my "test myths" were covered well; the story of Procne and Philomela particularly so. The family trees for the major Gods and important families of mortals are a really useful feature. I also like how this read includes a big overview of Norse mythology and then very briefly makes a connection to Greek Myths and how both are relevant today. Anyways, mythology is always something I was interested in and loved, it's in so much of our everyday life still in the stories we tell and our history. I know most of my real life friends read this in the 10th grade, but my class read The Odyssey only and I've always meant to get to this book but didn't until now.One thing became clear to me as I read these books. Although the myths remain unchanged, the way that we think about them has evolved considerably over the last 150 years. This is one reason why the bowdlerized myths presented to us by Bulfinch, in which each story is rendered moribund by being stripped of all reference to sex, violence, or any hint of unpleasantness, are so unsatisfactory to a 21st century reader.

I believe, deep in my heart, that everyone who has attended high school in the past twenty to thirty years or so (in the United States, at least) owned a ratty, most likely used copy of this work at one time or another. This book has been on the required reading list of so many schools that nearly everyone has seen it, owned it, and opened it at least twice. Moreover, the one thing I expect at the very least from an encyclopedia of mythology is a good overview. Such an overview MUST include immensely important classics like the Gilgamesh epos! However, this book does not. Other cultures aren't even referenced. If she had titled her book correctly, I really wouldn't mind. It's a nice book about the very much related mythology of the Greeks and the Romans. However, I really need to point this out again: this is supposed to be a comprehensive work of mythology as a whole! Fellow Demi-Gods, heed my words! If I speak falsely, may Zeus’ thunderbolt strike me down where I stand! May Poseidon thrust upon me an irrational desire to undertake coital alignment with a bovine beauty (a horny heifer/arousable angus/titillated toro, if you'd be so kind)! May I dream a most splendid dream in which my lips meet those of the blessed Aphrodite herself, only to awaken and find, in horror, that I am merely tongue-wrestling the three heads of Cerberus! Alas! None of that should be necessary, as I think you’ll find what I have to say most agreeable. While I was pleased to see that Hamilton had included the Volsunga saga in the chapter about Norse mythology (in many books it is replaced by the Nibelungenlied which was penned much later), she dismissed the saga by saying that the story is so well-known thanks to the Nibelungenlied that the original can be told briefly and THAT is an absolute no-go for me. There are two reasons this lost a star from me. The first is that Hamilton’s bias towards particular poets comes through too strongly at times and she can be quite opinionated. Opinions are great, and she often accompanies them with some interesting facts, but I feel like a little more subtlety or, on occasion, impartiality would’ve made it a little less jarring.

Now having said that, I have to note the caveat that this is not a scholarly work. This is a summary, a boiling-down, a sugar-coating of a topic that frankly could have been presented in a much more academic, dry manner. I'm glad it wasn't. These are not cursory run-throughs. They're full of detail and color. Edith Hamilton may have written Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes more than a half century ago and she may have been fairly ancient when she did so, but she still put out one seriously readable book! I was a history major in college, so this was fascinating to me. I get that it's not for everyone, but if you want to learn more about mythology in general, this is the book for you. What I’m not sure about is if I would have found this easy to read when I knew a very tiny amount about Greek and Roman Mythology and Norse Mythology. Though the explanations are clear, I found I got more from this this time as I am more receptive now to the chapters that have more of an encyclopaedic feel. This is not the fault of the book, it’s just the way these myths are, where there are loads of them that are not connected to a myth that is part of bigger story, for example one of the families like the House of Thebes. Edith Hamilton's Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths that are the keystone of Western culture--the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.

She spends the most time on Greek mythology; it seems to be her favorite. And she made the claim in one of the intros that the Greeks' mythology was different from the others, because reasons. At that point I was like, okay lady, but maybe its just your favorite and you're kind of biased. So, I thought I'd throw in these words about this quite wonderful book, most of which I've never read in the decades that I've owned it (basically having used it as a reference book). Fortunately, Edith Hamilton is no prude. Her enthusiasm for the stories in "Mythology" is evident throughout the book. At times, she comes across as a woman on a mission - her conviction about the importance of these myths in Western culture is so passionate that she is determined to spread the message to a broader audience. She is scrupulous about identifying her source materials (on this point Bulfinch is, sadly, more dilettante than scholar). She knows how to structure a narrative. Her prose is clear and reasonably accessible - slightly dated, but largely unburdened by archaic language or academic jargon. "Mythology" even comes with a bunch of nifty illustrations, done by someone with the improbable name of Steele Savage (with a great fondness for winged horses, apparently). Though her first book wasn't published until she was in her sixties, her work achieved great popular success. Book-of-the-Month Club selection in 1957, honorary citizenship of Athens, a highly laudatory obit in the New York Times when she finally died at age 95 - what's not to love? There was once a king who had three daughters, all lovely maidens … Which sounds like Once upon a time there was a …. and fits the fairytale mode with how Psyche finds a perfect love with Cupid but after losing him is put through a series of trials to be reunited with Cupid, and live happily ever after.Aside from the fact that I am probably just too dumb and too uncultured to truly enjoy this thing to it's full capacity...I'm also not a pretentious asshole who is going to pretend I lurved it to pieces just to look smart. (And no, I am not suggesting anyone who says they love this is a liar. One of my BBF GR buds Ana O really does love this. But she's also way smarter and more interesting than me, so there's that). Pindar in the early fifth century tells the tale about the feast Tantalus made the gods and protests that it is not true. The punishment of Tantalus is described often, first in the Odyssey, from which I have taken it. Amphion's story, and Niobe's, I have taken from Ovid, who alone tells them in full. For Pelops winning the chariot race I have preferred Apollodorus, of the first or second century A.D., who gives the fullest account that has come down. The story of Atreus' and Thyestes' crimes and all that followed is taken from Aeschylus' Oresteia. How can you have any pudding, if you don’t eat your kids?” I mean, you can’t fault the logic, dessert’s delicious but not nearly as nutritious as human flesh. Cronus (Saturn), father of Zeus, learned from Gaia and Uranus that one of his own children would overthrow him as he did his own father. So, he devoured them all as soon as they were born to prevent the prophecy, as you would. Anyway, Zeus escaped the same fate as his siblings for… reasons, the prophecy was fulfilled, the kids were regurgitated etc. etc.

To clarify: this book IS better written than the one by Mr. Bulfinch. One reason is that Edith Hamilton was a scholar. The terrifying irrational has no place in classical mythology. Magic ... is almost nonexistent. Ghosts never appear on earth in any Greek story." I was also amazed how listening to this audiobook gave me insight to how the physical book would be organised - later looking at its Kindle samples* I was impressed – and (also to my delight) noticed the book includes illustrations, and so now I’ve added it to my list to buy in the future. Hamilton proves herself extremely knowledgeable, not only with regard to the Greek Myths but, about the times in which they were composed as well. More often than not she shares with us the particular poet’s version she has taken inspiration from in her retelling and any others she has borrowed from as supplementation. You actually finish the book with a pretty good idea of who all the major authors of Greek and Roman Mythology were and some of their storytelling traits. Hm. I declared August "History Month" and read, amongst various others, Bulfinch's Mythology of which I was quite disappointed. In my research of his work and how it came to be I found a reference to this book by Edith Hamilton, who superseded Mr. Bulfinch in most classrooms. Thus I read this book in an attempt to find a better written encyclopedia. Unfortunately, I did not succeed.P.S. This also can serve as a good reference text when approaching Greek Myths, but still by itself it's quite engaging. Greek and Roman myths involving love and adventure, including the tales of Eros and Psyche and Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece We meet the Greek gods on Olympus and Norse gods in Valhalla. We follow the drama of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Odysseus. I have this now on Kindle, I come across this book constantly referenced in other books, so got my own copy. And although each chapter starts with a reference, every now and then I got the sense there were parts missing, like the ending of the story of Arachne, where Edith Hamilton has a happy ending showing Athena regreting her anger to Arachne, but my 3 translations of Ovid’s Metamorphosis shows her wrath is not appeased as she also curses her family.