The Greek myths

Product Information

Books: The Goddess & the Poet". TIME. 18 July 1955. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008 . Retrieved 5 December 2010. Sadly, the shop is no more. The corporation demolished it - rightly - because it was unsafe. They now have an air-conditioned store where the books are arranged alphabetically in neat rows, and you can enquire for a particular tome and it will pop up on the computer. All the luxuries of modernity, but it does not work for me; no sirree.)

Gibson, A.G.G. (2015). Robert Graves and the Classical Tradition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p.165. ISBN 9780198738053. In two volumes (Penguin Books nos 1026 and 1027), 370 pp. and 410 pp. respectively, with maps in each volume and an index in Vol. 2; Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1955; reprinted with amendments 1957; revised edition 1960; numerous reprintings Kevin Herbert: review of TGM; The Classical Journal, Vol. 51, No. 4. (Jan. 1956), pp. 191–192. JSTOR 3293608.Graves seems to lean heavily on saga, which I appreciated since I recently read the Iliad and the Odyssey. He also fills in the gaps those two poems leave, letting us know how the Trojan War began and what happened to some of the key players such as Achilles, who is alive in the Iliad, but already dead in the Odyssey. The Folio Society edition is quarter bound in (real?) leather with a Greek inspired graphic on the rest of the covers, inside are maps of the Greek islands and Mediterranean region – a little crowded but still good for helping you to narrow down the places of interest. Herodotus wrote The Histories before the 'rules' of prose-writing had been established, and intended it for live public recitation as much as for private reading. Robin Waterfield's acclaimed translation is widely regarded as the authoritative modern rendering, balancing fluency with fidelity to the original text, capturing Herodotus' distinctive authorial voice while keeping him highly readable, and allowing ancient characters to talk directly to us across the millennia. This engaging text was originally published with an introduction by Professor Carolyn Dewald, and this is included here too along with a judicious selection from her notes and a helpful timeline by Peter O’Neill. I do not know if Robert Graves has a certain predilection towards the salacious (his books, I, Claudius and Claudius the God were pretty lewd) or if he is simply preserving a faithful translation of the stories. He has been criticized for relying too heavily on Suetonius' histories, who is also known for creating scandals that are not as historically reliable as they should be.

In this category, we have Virgil’s Aeneid, published in 1993. This volume is translated by John Dryden, introduced by Peter Levi, and illustrated by Francis Cleyn. A full-leather limited edition (not part of this series) of the same volume was later released in 2010. The female goddesses were not much better than the gods. Both male and female gods' sense of justice was based largely on caprice and selfish ambition. There seemed to be very little reason other than a cruel nature behind any of their actions. Be warned, there is a whole lot of incest going on and rape. It's weird and it will never not be weird. Non so se ci sia qualcuno che conosca la mitologia greca meglio di Graves; dubito però che ci sia un miglior divulgatore.

Customer reviews

The first volume contains three of the big five with Egil’s Saga, Eyrbyggia Saga and Njal’s Saga, along with other gems including the stories that relate to the discovery and attempted colonization of the Americas in the 10 th century, and one of the Sagas of the Poets which features two poets in love with the same woman. It’s not a happy ending. This volume is illustrated by Simon Noyes. Another way to use this book is to simply read it to gain an overall understanding of Greek myths. I would say this book doesn’t work as well in this way as it does in the prior ways. The myths are intentionally split apart to better focus on the individual parts and so it doesn’t flow. In addition, many of the myths have multiple versions and Graves discusses many of these variations which also interfere with treating this book like a story book. In addition the links to references and the material added to better understand the myths which are so useful for treating this as a reference, definitely get in the way of telling the story. All that being said, you can still use the book in this way, it is just not the optimum format and there may be better books out there for this purpose. So really all one can do about this rather complicated book as I’ve done is to concentrate on for example, Pandora, as she fascinates me, to begin with and find out who she’s related to (which in itself is like being on an odyssey) and working out from there as if I were a spider on the web awaiting my next “kill”. This was such an opportune find. I did not know who the hell Robert Graves was at the time - I was captivated by the covers of the Penguin India edition (it was in two volumes), and I was nuts over mythology, so I immediately bought it. It opened a whole new vista for me. Each chapter consists of three parts: the first part contains a retelling of a myth (sometimes multiple version thereof) divided into paragraphs that are labelled alphabetically; the second part contains references that appeared as numbered footnotes in the first part; the third part contains Graves’s commentary, also divided into paragraphs, though labelled numerically.

These women were not only the victims of this heinous crime but they also got to be punished for it by the ever jealous Hera. Each chapter is about 50% myth and 50% Robert Graves' analysis of the myth. Robert Graves believes in some really weird things, like that pre-Hellenic Greece was a matriarchal society that believed in a "Mother Goddess" or "Triple Goddess" that was common to all Eastern Mediterranean worship. Most of the rapes of early Greek myth can be explained by the invading Hellenes conquering goddess shrines, according to Graves. Graves also claims that in pre-Hellenic Greece, kings' rules were limited to solar cycles (such as one year, or 'great years' of 4 or 19 years, when the moon and sun are in greater alignment), and rule was divided between a sacred king and a 'tanist' (an earthly king), who were often in competition. And at the end of their reign, the sacred king had to be sacrificed (there was apparently a lot of human sacrifice in pre-Hellenic Greece); eventually, substitutes were found for the king (such as his children). This book is great for someone who's interested in Greek myths, as the title may imply (or scream). This book is not a commentary on or a history of the myths. It is simply the myths, wonderfully organized and beautifully told.It was a great adventure, because – whatever you think of Graves’s obsessive myth interpretations – his work on the actual body of Greek mythology is absolutely stunning. Thanks to his extensive readings in Classical literature, he brought together a great wealth of knowledge and provided detailed references to his sources. If you want to know your Greek mythology but don’t feel like learning ancient languages and reading all Classical writings, this is your next best thing to go to. Graves analyses mythology in strict historical context. No psychological or philosophical musings here. But his depth and breadth of coverage are fantastic. Each short chapter first presents the story, then analyses it in detail through notes, with secondary references provided wherever required. It is a book to savour at leisure, and justifies multiple readings if you want to get the maximum out of it. G.S. Kirk, Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures, Cambridge University Press, 1970, p. 5. ISBN 0-520-02389-7 Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. All four 1992 issues of this literary magazine from The Folio Society. The Spring issue contains: William C. Spengemann on Columbus; Giles Gordon on the short story; Philip Hyman on medieval cookery; Graham Handley on Trollope; and Peter Levi on Sir Richard Fanshawe. The Summer issue contains: Julian Symons on Erskine Childers; Philip Hoare on Nancy Mitford and Stephen Tennant; Celia Lamont-Jones on Jerome K. Jerome; Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe on Humphrey Repton; and Peter Levi on sea poems. The Autumn issue includes: Andrew Birkin on Peter Pan; Peter Khoroche on Sanskrit writings and Sakuntala; Paul Roberts on Kenneth Hopkins; G.H. Bunting on James Woodforde's "Diary of a Country Parson"; and Peter Levi on Anthony Hecht. The Winter issue includes: Kenneth McLeish on Greek myths; Stephen Goddard on Guy de Maupassant; and Peter Levi on youth and poetry. Three of the issues contain David Holloway's column "Talking About Books". Four journals stapled into printed wrappers. All near fine. Why are there so many sets of 50 siblings? (The Danaids, the Nereids, and the Menae are three examples). Because there were colleges of 50 priestesses, who represented something like the 50 months of a "great year" of a king's term in office... yep.

Why are there so many examples of people dying by drowning in water? (King Aegeus, father of Theseus, jumping into the Aegean Sea and Icarus falling into the Icarian Sea are two of MANY examples). Of kings being killed by their son with a discus (Perseus is one of several). Of kings being bitten by serpents on the heel (Achilles is one of many)? Why are so many children sacrificed or killed? (Heracles murdering his 6 children by Megara; Agamemnon sacrificing Iphigenia; Cepheus and Cassiopeia sacrificing Andromeda; and about a million other examples). Why are so many kings killed by their sons? (Odysseus by Telegonus, Agamemnon by Orestes, and Laius by Oedipus are just the tip of the iceburg). It was a trial, because it is by no means a piece of light literature. Of course, certain amount of gore is to be expected, but my early age experiences with Irena and Jan Parandowski’s renderings of Greek myths into Polish did not fully prepare me for the extent, intensity and denseness of violence, incest, torture, betrayal, and general human irrationality that is present in Graves’s detailed compendium. But when you think about the Greek Myths, it wasn’t until I went through this introduction that I found out the following: Questo voluminoso libro è uno studio sistematico dell'evoluzione della mitologia presso l'antica cultura greca. Opera affatto didascalica o pedante, è corredata da note preziose che uniscono la mitologia greca a quella micenea ed aria.

Reviews

Credo che nessuna parola in nessuna lingua possa/debba esprimere un concetto ma anche, veltronianamente, il suo contrario. Casomai la versione colta, direi unica, dell' utilizzo di questa parola è (vedi sotto) come rafforzativa; è "volgare" (nel senso di non colto), se non sbagliato, l'utilizzo in forma negativa, perché implica l'accettazione nel tempo di un errore di interpretazione, da parte di chi colto non è, di una espressione, al contrario, colta, in combinazione con una negazione sottintesa. In poche parole credo sia accettabile, solo per prassi, nel parlato, e in una sola forma; ma credo si possa altresì concludere che sia sbagliato nello scritto. One last comment, I found it interesting to think about whether or not these myths influenced morality - or at least tried to influence it. Certain stories seemed to be pushing a certain point of view (as many stories do) on the reader. Just some food for thought. Robert Graves “The Greek Myths” is a wonderful resource for learning about the myths of ancient Greece. Originally published in 1955, it was updated for the last time in 1960. There are two volumes, but they are often available in a single book, which makes it easier for the reader to handle. Graves does a wonderful job of making the myths easy to read and understand, and discusses the variations which often occurred in the myths. His interpretation of the myths is a bit subjective, so the reader needs to treat that aspect as such.