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The Heroes of the Greeks Paperback – August 1, 1978

by Carl Kerenyi (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 4 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 440 pages
  • Publisher: Thames & Hudson; New edition edition (August 1, 1978)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 050027049X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0500270493
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,148,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Resource for Greek Myth
By Muttley on September 11, 2010
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This book is packed with material to delight the serious student or enthusiast of Greek myth. Kerenyi had vast academic knowledge of the field and was also a key figure in the "psychological" approach to the Greek Gods in terms of archetypes (He worked and corresponded with Jung). In this and GODS OF THE GREEKS he seeks to lay out the basic raw material of the mythology as it's come down to us. The text may come across as dry or even obscure to some modern readers, but this is also its strength. In many other presentations of Greek myth it's often hard to tell where the original material ends and the scholarly interpolation begins (I'm looking at YOU, Robert Graves)... In sum, if you want an entertaining storyteller, Kerenyi might not be your guy (try Gustav Schwab maybe); but if you want to get close to the original mythology this and GODS OF THE GREEKS should be among your primary resources.
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4.0 out of 5 starsReliable reference for Greek myths, but not fun to read
By Jordan Bell on January 15, 2015
Format: Paperback
This book has too much scholarly equipment to be pleasant to read in the way that Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" is pleasant to read. Kerenyi tells us the variants of each story, and does not add to stories to make them more enjoyable to us. Thus, for example, in Kerenyi's account of the hind of Keryneia (hind=old female deer), much of the text tells us about the origin of the hind and the places through which the chase went, and the action amounts to Herakles chasing the hind for a year and then grabbing it when it was swimming across a river.

Do not buy this book to read stories from, but rather buy it as a reference both to find variants of stories and as a reliable text to cite in your own writing. Everything Kerenyi tells us is cited explicitly from ancient authors. Hamilton's book of mythology is enjoyable to read, but does not cite where each detail is from and therefore is inadequate for use as a scholarly reference.

Mythology is a good region to prospect for ideas about how the world works. Some of these ideas are rich veins, like Herakles' fighting death, and some are lone nuggets, such as statements about Zeus making the sun rise in the west and set in the east when Thyestes becomes king of Mycenae rather than Atreus (III.VI). All, or at least almost all, of the myths refer to places with names, and are a useful source to sort out ancient Greek ideas of geography and cosmology. In particular, we are told in the story of Perseus that the home of the Gorgons, near the Garden of the Hesperides, can be reached both from the west and from the east. There are also curiosities that may have significance, like assigning to Palamedes the creation of letters, numbered dice, and counting (like Dionysus being the first to make wine).Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsPrequel to The Iliad and more.
By s. berger on February 23, 2016
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
A classic by Kerenyi and a must if you are planning to read The Iliad as it gives you background that you won't really find elsewhere. Well written and engrossing.
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5.0 out of 5 starsexcellent
By A Customer on May 31, 2000
Format: Paperback
This is a great story which help to understand about the Greek gods. It is great for beginners. It helps explain about them and what they mean. I would recomend this to anyone interested in Greek Mythology.
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