Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling [Hardcover]

C. Scott Littleton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2002

Myths are the timeless expression of the imagination born out of the need to make sense of the universe. Moving across the centuries, they resonate with our deepest feelings about the fragility and grandeur of existence. Mythology is a comprehensive, richly illustrated survey of the mythic imagination in all its forms around the world, from the odysseys, quests and battles of ancient Greece and Rome to the living beliefs of indigenous cultures in the Americas, Africa and Oceania. Looking at each major myth-making culture in turn, this book retells some of the most significant and captivating stories in a lively, contemporary style. Generously illustrated with more than 700 color photographs, Mythology brings you the vibrant stories that echo time and again in our lives.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 688 pages
• Publisher: Thunder Bay Press (September 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571458271
• ISBN-13: 978-1571458278
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #411,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is HUGE, October 28, 2003

By 

nico_laos "nico" (Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling (Hardcover)

Full color photographs and beautiful artwork adorn each and every page of this massive collection. This book covers nearly every religous culture of the ancient world including: Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Celtic, Nordic, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Native American, Mesoamerican, South American, African, Aboriginal, and Polynesian. Worth far more than what Amazon is selling it for. A terrific reference for all those studying ancient history or comparitive religion.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GODS AND MONSTERS AND HEROES AND HUMANS, March 28, 2003

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling (Hardcover)

Yes, this is a "coffee table book." And yes, it is huge and heavy. But then, it would have to be to cover so much material and to include so many beautiful illustrations.

Before I get into the "meat" of the book, I'd like to discuss the illustrations. It is difficult to imagine the amount of study and research it must have taken to find these illustrations. They range from thousand year old papyrus illustrations to frescoes to ancient pottery, to antique stone and jade carvings to statuary and on and on. They come from a myriad of ancient cultures and sources. If there were no text in MYTHOLOGY, it would be worth owning just for the art work.

But text there is! The text is broken down by geographical area, and by culture within that area. Also included, are maps where appropriate. For instance, the locations of the labors of Herakles (Hercules to the Romans) which I will discuss further later.

From the standpoint of depth of detail, this is not a scholarly reference. Rather, it is the work of good story tellers, for, after all, the ancient myths were good stories. By this I mean that the book is aimed at the layman (like me), and wherever you open it at random, you will find a great tale of ancient gods, monsters, giants, heroes, and just plain humans. These tales have come down through time, some predating the advent of writing.

MYTHOLOGY opens with a general discussion of mythology, comparing myths with magic mirrors which reflect the hopes and fears of ancient civilizations, and often, those of our civilization, today. Mythological tales, we are told, form the basis of much of the world's literature, philosophy and religion.

As I mentioned, MYTHOLOGY makes wonderful reading, last night I opened it randomly to the section on Herakles and spent a wonderful half an hour or so reading about Herakles and his labors, the lustiness of some gods, the pettiness of others, and the good and the deceitful sides of men. All that in thirty minutes.

Pick a mythological character be he god or monster, hero or human, and the chances are good that you will find him here.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of mythology, November 21, 2003

By 

mrliteral - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling (Hardcover)

This massive coffee-table style book gives a good overview of some of the major mythologies in the world. Overall, it has both good and bad points, with the good generally outweighing the bad.

The good points include the wide range of mythological stories that are related. While Greek mythology - certainly the most well-known and influential in Western culture - gets more space than any other culture (over one hundred pages), there is plenty of space dedicated to the whole world of mythology: Egyptian, Babylonian, Norse, Chinese, Indian and Japanese amongst them. A wide range of illustrations and photos help tell the stories.

Although wide-ranging, I think there are some noticeable gaps, both within specific sections (for example, no story of Eros and Psyche in the Greek myths) and significant types of myths that are neglected. It would have been interesting to see a little about the Arthurian legends, which are a big part of British mythology. The other thing that is missing is any sort of comparisons. While many cultures had creation and flood stories, there is little direct commentary on the similarities or differences. It would have also been interesting to see some discussion on parallels between myths and the stories of the Bible.

Of course, this book is big enough as it is, and editing decisions needed to be made. While this book suffers from the flaw of incompleteness, it does not have flawed writing, which makes it a good book although (literally) not a light read.