The Penguin Book of Classical MythsThe figures and events of classical myths underpin our culture and the constellations named after them fill the night sky. Whether it’s the raging Minotaur trapped in the Cretan labyrinth or the twelve labours of Hercules, Aphrodite’s birth from the waves or Zeus visiting Danae as a shower of gold, the mythology of Greece and Rome is full of unforgettable stories. All the stories of the Greek tragedies – Oedipus, Medea, Antigone – are there; all the events of the Trojan wars and of Odysseus and Aeneas’ epic journeys; the founding of Athens and of Rome... |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 73
... ancient Greece and Rome, though it will soon become clear to the reader that it is the Greek myths which hold the dominant place in this book. One reason for this is simply quantity: there are more Greek myths than Roman in existence ...
... ancient times and down the ages, right up to the present day. More on this in a moment. As for the various theories of myth, none is all-exclusive, since no single theory can cover all myths, be it aetiological, allegorical, ritualistic ...
... ancient literature, and wherever it seems appropriate I quote from the original texts to bring the narrative to life. (The translations are all my own.) Not only that, I bring in occasional pieces of postclassical poetry, to give some ...
... ancient names, which is always a thorny problem. In this book the names of mythological characters and places are usually given their Greek rather than their (perhaps more familiar) Latinized forms. Thus we find a k rather than a c, and ...
... ancient Greek authors retain their Latinized forms, since this is how they are referred to in nonacademic literature, bookshops and library indexes (Homer not Homeros, Aeschylus not Aischylos). As for the names of the gods, I use their ...
Contents
The Gods | |
The First Humans | |
The Quest for the Golden Fleece | |
Theseus Athens and Crete | |
The Theban Saga | |
The Trojan | |
Odysseus and His Odyssey | |
The House of Pelops | |
Dangerous Women | |
Aeneas and the Destiny of Rome | |
The Foundation of Rome | |