Endymion, Pelops, Daedalus, Pygmalion - what are the stories behind these and the hundreds of other familiar names from Greek mythology - names that recur throughout the history of European culture? In a two-volume work that has become a classic reference book for both the serious scholar and the casual inquirer, Robert Graves retells the adventures of the important gods and heroes worshipped by the ancient Greeks. Drawing on an enormous range of sources, he has brought together all the elements of every myth in simple narrative form, supplying detailed cross-references and indexes. Each entry has a full commentary which examines problems of interpretation in both historical and anthropological terms, and in the light of contemporary research.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most exhaustive comparison of Greek Myth & stories extan,
By Craig Barnes cbarnes355@aol.com (Santa Fe, New Mexico) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Greek Myths (Volume 1) (Paperback)
Robert Graves, like Joseph Campbell, is one of half a dozen mythographers who are in the top rank of this century. His exhaustive research and comparisons of sources are stunning in scope but instead of being bewildering he has captured the themes and synergies between stories and come to some remarkably cogent conclusions. Graves sees history in the myths rather than psychology, primarily, and believes that they tell veiled stories of real happenings that became emotionally and spiritually significant and therefore ripened into the orthodox Greek religion of the millenium B.C.. Just as the stories, therefore, of Jesus and Moses are also cloaked in a real history, he analyzes the probabilities that the coming of Zeus' patriarchy played a huge role in the formation of the Greek myths, and he tells us credibly how this influence clashed with the beliefs of earlier times. Graves has few peers in the depth and scope and detail of his understanding and because his research is so comprehensive, his conclusions must be given great weight.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent reference, very convenient and accessible,
By Matt Hetling "Matt" (Bethel, ME USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Greek Myths (Volume 1) (Paperback)
This is a student's edition, and anyone who is seeking to learn the facts behind the popular stories of Greek Mythology could do a lot worse than to start here. Graves walks through each individual myth, noting alternative tellings, and follows each with a discussion on sources and interpretations. The stories themselves are pleasurable, but the emphasis is on an academic viewing of them. Each paragraph is marked with a letter of the alphabet for easy reference. In my copy, published by Penguin, I thought that the type was a little too small and dense, but the format and authenticity of Graves' work make this book definitive for anyone not studying the original texts themselves.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Free SF Reader,
By Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Greek Myths (Volume 1) (Paperback)
First half of Greek mythology reference and stories.
A swashbuckling adventure story writer Graves most certainly wasn't, but that didn't stop me reading this many times. Of course, in a more reference oriented version as this there are many, many notes etc. to let you delve into this as deeply as you like. 4 out of 5
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
IN the beginning. Eurynome, the Goddess of All Things, rose naked from Chaos. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
oracular hero, oak cult, sacred king, horse cult, chariot crash, moral anecdote, planetary powers, lunar time, sacred year Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Diodorus Siculus, Apollonius Rhodius, Mother Earth, Poetic Astronomy, Asia Minor, Virgil's Aeneid, New Year, Homeric Hymn, Delphic Oracle, Homer's Iliad, Great Goddess, Pythian Odes, Antoninus Liberalis, Great Year, Olympian Odes, Three Fates, Varia Historia, Nemean Odes, Virgil's Eclogues, Black Sea, First Vatican Mythographer, Greek Questions, Isthmian Games, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, May Eve New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
IN the beginning. Eurynome, the Goddess of All Things, rose naked from Chaos. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
oracular hero, oak cult, sacred king, horse cult, chariot crash, moral anecdote, planetary powers, lunar time, sacred year Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Diodorus Siculus, Apollonius Rhodius, Mother Earth, Poetic Astronomy, Asia Minor, Virgil's Aeneid, New Year, Homeric Hymn, Delphic Oracle, Homer's Iliad, Great Goddess, Pythian Odes, Antoninus Liberalis, Great Year, Olympian Odes, Three Fates, Varia Historia, Nemean Odes, Virgil's Eclogues, Black Sea, First Vatican Mythographer, Greek Questions, Isthmian Games, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, May Eve New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 42
books:
See all 42 books this book cites
100
books
cite this book:
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- Works and Days (Oxford University Press academic monograph reprints) by Hesiod on 5 pages
- The Phoenician Women (Greek Tragedy in New Translations) by Euripides on page 209, page 232, and page 260
- Prometheus Bound (Greek Tragedy in New Translations) by Aeschylus on page 145, page 180, and page 192
- Goodbye to All That (Penguin Modern Classics) by Robert Graves in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Trojan Women (Plays for Performance Series) by Nicholas Rudall on page 116, and page 273
See all 42 books this book cites
- Folk Roots and Mythic Wings in Sarah Orne Jewett and Toni Morrison: The Cultural Function of Narrative by Marilyn Sanders Mobley on 6 pages
- Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon by Stephen R. Wilk on 6 pages
- Modernism and the Mediterranean: The Maeght Foundation by Jan Birksted on 5 pages
- Mythic Astrology: Internalizing the Planetary Powers by Ariel Guttman on 5 pages
- Myth and Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology by Scott A. Leonard on 4 pages
See all 100 books citing this book
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