Customer Reviews

The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)

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Just like the playwrights, Ovid is great in his own sphere (get the Arthur Golding translation--"Shakespeare's Ovid"), but his Metamorphoses are an artistic presentation of a single poet, whereas Apollodorus (though he surely relies on the poets as well) gives the simplest and most demotic/standard versions of the stories. Ovid is Variations on a Theme, while Apollodorus is as close as we get to the theme itself.

Or rather, to the many themes, because his work covers so much more than is in any other work. Some of the more important parts included are: The Theogony (Creation of the Cosmos and Gods), "Rape" (=Abduction) of Persephone, War of Gods and Giants, Prometheus' Fire, the Calydonian Boar, Sisyphus, Jason and the Argonauts, Medea, Bellerophon, Perseus, Hercules (all the great stories) and his children, Europa, Minos, Cadmus, Oedipus and Aftermath, Atlanta and the Apples, Aesculapius and Chiron, Helen's Early Years, the Palladium, Peleus, the Kings of Athens, Theseus, Tantalus, Atreus/Thyestes and all that Mess, Helen and the Trojan War, Achilles and the Iliad, the Odyssey and the other Returns from Troy.

So it's well that this is called The Library, because Apollodorus compresses a huge amount of information into four short books. So rather than being some of the dullest of ancient writing, as one reviewer says, it both treats the greatest stories and does so with economy and swiftness. This is not only a valuable reference book (as is Robert Graves's Greek Myths), but the work I often recommend as the best presentation for anyone who wants a no-nonsense overview of the whole of Greek mythology (and nice because it's one of the ancient Greeks themselves retelling the stories).

Now, if you want a cheap copy, just get the Oxford one. But if you want really excellent notes, get the Loeb edition annotated by Sir James Frazer (author of The Golden Bough), which also has some excellent short essays by him on themes in the stories.

And if you've been studying Greek, get the Loeb one too, which is literal enough to work as a good "pony", though the Greek is quite easy Alexandrian and you won't have any problems with it: My own Greek is not nearly as good as I'd like it to be, but I could read the whole thing in a few days no problem. The only thing I couldn't do is put it down!

The World's Classics sereies has presented a fine new translation of the Mythology Library of "Apollodorus" (a name of convenience for an author we know nothing about). Translator and editor Hard cleanly presents the writer's exhaustive compilation of Greek mythology, and through careful division and labelling of the sections, reveals some of the author's meticulous categorization. For hard-core mythology nuts, this is an indispensible reference: the Greek myths straight from a collector of antiquity, and our only glimpse at some important lost works. But a word of warning to the layman: Apollodorus is possible the most dull writer of the ancient world, and he make no attempts to create an entertaining or even readable work. It's all dry and dense -- nothing a translator can really do about that! If you're looking for a more entertaining ancient compliation of mythology, try Ovid's delightful METAMORPHOSES.

The main literary source for students of Greek mythology is the so-called 'Apollodori Bibliotheca' (Library of Apollodorus).
It was compiled in the first century AD and was the first attempt to unify Greek mythology. It's the only work of his kind to survive from classical Antiquity. The Library of Apollodorus is a unique guide to Greek mythology, from the origin of the Universe to the Trojan war.

It's a pity though that a lot of the myths in this work are a summary of the original story. Nonetheless it's the most important source of Greek mythology and the main source of "The Greek Myths" by Robert Graves.

Bought the book to supplement a DVD course from the Teaching Company for my students.
Reviewed book and is thorough in content. Is to be used as recommended by Prof. teaching
Mythology course. Students seem to like it.

The Oxford History of the Biblical World

This title required by professor for class; refresher to classical greek mythology. Excellent reference with explanations presented in an orderly manner.

After Amazon sending me the incorrect book, and responding quite nicely I might say, I finally got my hands on it. It's really insightful, it even has pages with the family tree. But it's quite boring, interesting only to the curious eye.