Customer Reviews

Greek Mythology: An Introduction

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I'm a bit puzzled by the previous review's claim that this book does not spend much time discussing different approaches to mythology. That's what the first two chapters of this book are all about!. Graf first provides a historical discussion of "myth", "mythology", and their meanings from ancient Greece up throught the end of the 19th century. The second chapter discusses the various approaches to myth that have been dominant in the 20th century-- the myth-and-ritual school, psychoanlalysis, structuralism, etc. For each of these, Graf provides both a discussion of the various approaches, as well as a critical discussion of their merits and shortcomings. (Perhaps the previous reviewer skipped these chapters?)

The remaining chapters of the book offer up a kind of intellectual and cultural history of Greek mythology from the Mycenean Age to the late Hellenistic era, discusing how the various stories that make up what we call "Greek Mythology"
were various understood, approached, told, retold, changed, transformed valued, revalued, etc., from approximately 1200 BC through the Roman era. One chapter deals with Homer, Hesiod, and the early poetic traditions. Another deals with the religious/ritualistic ue of myth, another with tragedy, another with history, and yet another with late "mythography" and criticism.

All in all, I'd say this is an excellent introduction to the study of Greek mythology within the historical, cultural, and literary context in which its stories emerged, were established, and were later fixed. Please be aware, however, that it is not a mere "handbook" (a la Edith Hamilton or the New Larousse Handbook of Mythology). Rather it is an scholarly analysis into the historical cultural function(s) of myth in ancient Greece-- but one which is presented on a general, survey level,.... so that it can easily be read and appreciated by
non-scholars.

Graf's mythology handbook of the Classical world is a great begining text for undergraduates or those merely reading for their improvement. Howeer, he spents little time on comparative approaches between mythology which most textbooks at least pay lip service to.