The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology [Hardcover]

Arthur Cotterell (Author), Rachel Storm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

An A-Z guide to the spellbinding myths and legends of the world! Discover the extraordinary characters, events, locations, symbols, and stories of the world’s most fascinating and beguiling mythologies. This lavish reference features over 1000 full-color illustrations alongside evocative text by two mythology experts, Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm. Includes:

- Profiles of the mythical figures of ancient Greece and Rome
- Information about mystical Celtic heroes and Nordic gods
- Pictorial features of important and recurring mythological themes, such as Oracle and Prophecies, Magic and Enchantment, Sorcery and more!

Universal in theme and timeless in appeal, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology is the most complete reference on the subject.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Anness Publishing (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840385162
• ISBN-13: 978-1840385168
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice reference for selected myth, July 5, 2002

By 

political idiot (california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology (Hardcover)

This is only a partial reference book for fans of myth. For some myth it is hard to keep all the names and relationships in order and this book does a nice of that. Nice graphics and logical flow. The only issue I have is that this book tip toes around the christian, jewish, and islamic myths without proper recognition of the characters and events. Maybe the authors assumed readers would already be familiar with the characters in the bible and koran or the publisher wanted to save paper. In any case it would have been a nice addition making this truely a complete encyclopedia of mythology.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Annwn, Visnu, and Hades - Oh My!, August 12, 2001

By 

Tacie Himelright "Tortuga Tess" (Kennett Square, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology (Hardcover)

This is a delightful book. I can honestly say that this is one of the best whim purchases that I've made. Do you want to know about Annwn, Visnu, Ebisu or even Hades? This is a great book for north eastern hemisphere mythology. It has your standard myths of Greece and Rome and Egypt. It also has Celtic, Norse, South / Central and Eastern Asia. Norse mythology covers the Slavic and Germanic mythology. Celtic covers the British Isles mythology. South and Central Asia cover Buddhism, Hinduism and other mythology from the area in and around India. Eastern Asia cover Japan, China and the various mythologies from the Orient. Egyptian mythology is covered under Eypt and West Asia, which includes Sumeria, Arabia, Mesopotamia and more. This is a well rounded book of mythology.

Originally this was published in two volumes (The Encyclopedia of Mythology and The Encyclopedia of Eastern Mythology), the editors have complied on fabulous book. The preface give you a brief overall introduction and the author's view on why we have myths. Each section starts with an introduction to that particular area. Each myth (the Greek and Roman section starts with Achilles) is listed alphabetically in it section with cross reference (in italics) to other myths in that section. The only thing that is missing is a pronunciation of the myth. The book is rich with pictures showing each myth. The entries are brief, but they are still detailed enough. Each entry has a picture. There are also pictorial features that highlight certain things that the authors thought were important to each of the mythologies. Greek and Rome have Lovers of Zeus, Heroes and more. The Myths of East Asia have Yin & Yang, Chinese Dragons and more. This book is a treasure.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the Ultimate, August 24, 2005

By 

herlibrary - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology (Hardcover)

Not very "ultimate" if there are no references to any African (except Egypt),Austrailian, nor North and South American mythology. The book however gets high marks for the other areas that it covers and for the beautiful illustrations