The Gods of The Greeks

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Pickle Partners Publishing, Oct 21, 2016 - History - 275 pages
Drawing on a wealth of sources, from Hesiod to Pausanias and from the Orphic Hymns to Proclus, Professor Kerényi provides a clear and scholarly exposition of all the most important Greek myths. After a brief introduction, the complex genealogies of the gods lead him from the begettings of the Titans, from Aphrodite under all her titles and aspects, to the reign of Zeus, to Apollo and Hermes, touching the affairs of Pan, nymphs, satyrs, cosmogonies and the birth of mankind, until he reaches the ineffable mysteries of Dionysos. The lively and highly readable narrative is complemented by an appendix of detailed references to all the original texts and a fine selection of illustrations taken from vase paintings.

‘...learned, admirably documented, exhaustive...’—TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

‘...it most emphatically must be the book that many have long been waiting for...’—STEPHEN SPENDER

‘Kerényi’s effort to reinterpret mythology...arises out of the conviction that an appreciation of the mythical world will help Western man to regain his lost sense of religious values....(His) theory of myth and his actual interpretations of mythical themes...help to point the way to...a new kind of humanism.’—A. Altman, Philosophy

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Contents

ILLUSTRATIONS PHOTOGRAVURE PLATES
INTRODUCTION 13
CHAPTER IThe Beginning of Things 21
Deities 32
Companions 73
ORPHIC STORIES 95
CHAPTER VIIMetis and Pallas Athene 99
CHAPTER VIIILeto Apollon and Artemis 111
CHAPTER XIPoseidon and his Wives 150
CHAPTER XIIThe Sun the Moon and their Family 156
CHAPTER XIIIPrometheus and the Human Race 172
PROMETHEUS 183
186
ASCENSION 200
CHAPTER XVDionysos and his Female Companions 206
DIONYSOS 214

CHAPTER IXHera Ares and Hephaistos 129
CHAPTER XMaia Hermes Pan and the Nymphs 137
SOURCESKEY TO ABBREVIATIONS 225
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 232

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About the author (2016)

Károly (Carl, Karl) Kerényi (January 19, 1897 - April 14, 1973) was a native Hungarian who settled in Switzerland during the last war, and became widely acknowledged as a leading humanist and classical scholar. He has a number of important works to his credit, and, in collaboration with C. G. Jung, wrote Introduction to a Science of Mythology (London, 1951). Writing in Philosophy, A. Altman said: ‘Kerényi’s effort to reinterpret mythology...arises out of the conviction that an appreciation of the mythical world will help Western man to regain his lost sense of religious values....(His) theory of myth and his actual interpretations of mythical themes...help to point the way to...a new kind of humanism.’

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