Mythology: A Visual Encyclopedia [Paperback]

Jo Forty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2001

Epic, complex, contradictory, and utterly beguiling, myths come from every society throughout the world, and never lose their power to stir the imagination. Deeply ingrained in our culture, and forever exploring the mysteries of life and death, love and hatred, they are the backbone of writing, painting, even modern cinema. Illustrated with a wealth of artwork and photography of archeological treasures--masks from the Iroquois, a Spartan theater, depictions of Celtic deities--this visual encyclopedia introduces you to hundreds of timeless characters and transports you into the magical legends of the classical Mediterranean countries, as well as those from Scandinavia, India, China, the Americas, and others. In addition to surveying mythology's symbolic depths, and giving an overview of the diversity and similarities of these tales, individual geographical sections cover the major world cultures and detail alphabetically their gods and goddesses; heroes and heroines; monsters and villains; achievements and adventures, and trials and travels.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Forty (Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs) organizes this survey of mythology by region: Egypt and the Ancient Middle East; India and Sri Lanka; China, Japan, and Southeast Asia; Europe; the Americas; Africa; and Oceania. Each section opens with a brief survey of the culture as a backdrop to that region's mythology and continues with a longer "A-Z Codex" of the gods, goddesses, heroes, and tales significant to each mythology. While these sections offer substantial information, they assume some knowledge on the part of the reader. The encyclopedia is not, therefore, sufficiently in-depth to serve as a sole reference source for mythology. As the title implies, its strength lies in its visual impact; every other page is a stunning, full-size photograph of a related site or artifact. Highly recommended as a counterpart to other sources, many of which rely primarily on text. Katherine Kaigler-Koenig, Ellis Sch., Pittsburgh
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: PRC Publishing (June 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856485862
• ISBN-13: 978-1856485869
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,631,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate, March 15, 2009

By 

Cap'n Crusty (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mythology: A Visual Encyclopedia (Paperback)

Myths vary by culture, even by adherent, yet there are always general characteristics common to every popular belief system, most of which are well-known by experts. Forty, however, is either ignorant of, or else ignores this, as evidenced by too many entries wherein he presents either unsupported suppositions as unquestioned truth (ie, Gimbutas' old "peaceful East European matriarchy was destroyed by evil male-dominated Proto-Indo-Europeans" notion), or out and out misstatements (referring to Papa Legba of Voudoun as being a "sun god", where in fact, according to EVERY OTHER SOURCE I've examined, he is instead the "Opener of Ways", a sort of metaphysical key to the world of the gods). Since I noted these two and a few other errors, I thus find myself questioning his statements on other gods and concepts with which I am less familiar. In fact, the only reason I didn't give this one star is that some of the pictures are excellent.