Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece (Mentor) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "In the beginning there was Chaos, a great hollow Void, in which the seeds or beginnings of all things were mixed up together in a..." (more)
Key Phrases: winged shoes, Mother Earth, North Wind, King Aigeus (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From the strong-arm heroics of Heracles, to the trickery of the Trojan Horse, from the seductions of Circe the sorceress, to the terrors of the Cyclops and Minotaur...

First published in 1934, Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece has become one of the most popular, enduring-and captivating-retellings of the ancient myths for modern readers. Recognizing the sheer entertainment value of these timeless adventures, world renowned classical scholar W.H.D. Rouse delighted his students at the Perse School in Cambridge, England, with a conversational style and childlike wonder that made the legends come alive-a rare storytelling gift that continues to engage young and old alike. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Signet (September 1, 1957)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451628004
• ISBN-13: 978-0451628008
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #775,972 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable, March 12, 1999

By A Customer

This arrangement and translation of the classic Græco-Roman myths is enjoyable, absorbing, and unique. The translator has the rare gift of preserving the poetryof the original but still making the translation adapt to English vernacular. Also, the book is written in the style of a verbal storyteller, and reflects on the riseof Christianity and the subsequent death of the Olympians.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars GODS, HEROES AND MEN OF ANCIENT GREECE by W. H. D. Rouse, March 27, 2009

By	Gandhi the Vile (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece: Mythology's Great Tales of Valor and Romance (Paperback)

Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece: Mythology's Great Tales of Valor and Romance is a 1934 book of Greek mythology by W. H. D. Rouse, who was known for pioneering the Direct Method of teaching Greek and Latin in Britain. This book contains the Greek creation myths, the tales of Heracles, Jason, Theseus, and Perseus, and miscellaneous smaller stories. It is geared to a young adult audience.

Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece has been heavily edited for content and length. The book is only 200 pages, which isn't enough space for half of these stories. Some of the tales are completely butchered; there's so much left out of Odysseus's story, for example, that one wonders why Rouse bothered with it in the first place. At times, Rouse rushes through stories and recounts events in a dry, history book way that completely robs these tales of their charm and appeal.

Rouse doesn't tell the stories in the most coherent fashion - not that the reader can't follow what is going on, but Rouse often leaves out characters' motivations for doing things. He will trudge through a pedestrian narrative only to omit some of the most interesting parts of many of these stories, as well as explanations for why or how things happened. Frequently the reader will reach the part of a story where he expects the payoff, only for Rouse to say, as he often does, "I can't tell you about that now."

This book includes commentary from the author in the text (example: "You see, Achilles and King Agamemnon had both lost their temper. I do not make any excuse for either of them; I am just telling the story."). Few of his observations are particularly astute or clever, and almost none of them would be necessary if he had done a better job telling the story.

In the best books of mythology, a writer breathes life into the ancient stories. Rouse, conversely, has made them dry and tedious. There's no real need to be lenient here because there are a million books on Greek mythology, for every target audience, and it shouldn't be difficult to find a better one than Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece, which is frustratingly poor.

3.0 out of 5 stars good introduction to greek mythology, October 5, 2009

By	whj - See all my reviews

I think this is a good starting book to engage people, like myself that are just beginning to get interested in mythology. Obviously some stories are severely shortened in order to include many stories, but this was a good read and movtivated me to go further--I am re-reading the Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell now.