Customer Reviews

The Complete World of Greek Mythology

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Somewhere amid the oodles of glossy photos of athlete-festooned kraters and oinochoes, I was hoping to discover some well narrated myths. My quest was frustrated. Not only does the book provide, at best, sketchy coverage of the thrilling heroic epics (e.g., Theseus, Perseus, Herakles), but one must hunt around for a sentence here and a paragraph there--even to reconstruct something as basic and tightly definable as the "birth of Zeus and overthrow of Kronos" story. That said, I feel strongly obliged to assign three stars merely because the volume is so overwhelmingly physically beautiful. Give this book wide berth and reach for either Schwab (a narrative cyclopedia) or D'Aulaire (a fun, richly illustrated--if purportedly juvenile--panorama). Graves isn't bad, either, but it's oriented toward the scholar of comparative evolution of mythosystems or some such, not for the seeker of glorious old tales, spicily woven; nor can you go wrong with Bulfinch, though that's clearly showing its age.

I've been picking through the gamut of Greek myth texts for an introductory course, and I was fortunate to come across this beauty. It's not just a mythology text that the art historian can use, it's the ONLY classical myth "textbook" I have encountered that could legitimately appeal to art history classes. There are illustrations (usually color photos) on every page. The quality of the pages and binding itself is also really quality stuff. The narration is pretty standard. It's more of a summary text kind of thing than the various excerpts you find in other classical myth texts. I wouldn't use any of the other mythology texts, but this one makes a wonderful supplement to primary source material such as Homer, Hesiod and/or the tragedians. This thing raises the bar for the presentation of classical myth books.

An enormously engaging and highly explanatory work which details ancient greek religious beliefs and the works of the major playwrights and poets alike. What is of particular interest is how Gods and the stories of Myths of Gods and Godess's helped to explain the surrounding world to the people of the time. What is remarkable is these stories really were the first kind of documented evidence of humanity making sense of it's exsistance, purpose and meaning. A phenomena which has been occuring in revised and multi-cultural forms ever since.
The Myths are surprising, intelligent and familair at once, they are remarkable informative and have much contemporary resonance. A classic work on a classic subject.

Not only does The Complete World of Greek Mythology give the reader a panoramic view of the major motifs of ancient Greek mythology, but there are breath-taking illustrations on every page. It is a magnificent book! And what a bargain. The publishers could easily charge twice as much. Tom Browder

Good book for young children interested in this subject since pictures abound and captions tell a clear story. the text is more for late teens and above so the book has a good shelf life if bought when kids are young.

I recieved my copy of this book today and spent several hours reading and taking in its beautiful pictures. This book is absolutely marvelous!!!Granted it may not be the perfect study text to Greek Mythology but it is very informative and provided me with the history and pictorial information I was looking for. This book has family trees, maps, beautiful artwork, many artifacts and great insight to the Greek mythical world. Some of the chapters I was completely enthral with were myths origin, heroic exploits and family sagas. All in all it is well laid out and very easy to understand. I highly recommend this book.

This book is by far the best I have ever read in the field of Greek Mythology, even when the author takes the time to mention that no book can be truly complete this ones is as close as you can get in a single volume. Every theme is discused and explained, from archeology, topography, social customs and overall hystory and how they affected the creation and expansion of this stories. It is a joy to read, absolutely excellent, buy it now.

I think this book is beautiful! I love the pictures and the layout of this book. It doesn't have any stories written as such, but it provides basic information about different gods and goddesses and their history, trying to pull together different sources. It wasn't what I originally thought it would be, but is very enjoyable and worthwhile none the less!

This is a truly beautiful book, placing Greek myth in context. Well worth the price. The author's voice comes through quite nicely, and I do feel like I'm attending a lecture series at an art museum.

After looking at Egyption Gods & Myths, I decided to check out the Greek ones. This was my first book on the subject and as such I found it a really good start.
The book is very classy with respect to both the layout and photos. The mix of text, maps, photos and side boxes made it, for me, easy to read through (not a text book slog).
There may be critical comments from those purporting to be experts, but as an introduction, no complaints and I can readily recommend.