Mythology : Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

Rating:
Summary: All You'll Likely Need
Review: "Mythology" covers all the major and most minor Greek, Norse and Roman gods, goddesses, stories and locales. Edith Hamilton makes no pretenses that this is all there is to say on mythology, but she gives a reader a fine start.

Hamilton puts them into sensible structures so beginners can learn in a context which are easy to understand. She provides major section titles helping readers get straight to the required story, like "Stories of Love and Adventure" You'll find "Cupid and Psyche" as a chapter.

Chapters are named mostly by story like, "The Trojan War."

She quotes from the sources, so the reader knows how it is she got her information.

Character-driven in format, readers can look up a name, find the subtitle with that name, and read why that character matters. She writes narratively, sounding a little like "Cliff's Notes." This is a good thing, because the poetry from which these myths are drawn can be overwhelming.

Nicely organized is the geneological table section. It looks like a family tree, in a English royalty kind of way.

As a writer, I use it for a quick reference guide. I usually only need a few nuggets of information, and she gives me plenty. I first acquired it high school, using it to get out of those tough jams when I did not understand books like "The Odyssey," by Homer.

More than mere reference, "Mythology" is good reading for no other purpose than serendipitous curiosity.

I fully recommend it.

Anthony Trendl

Rating:
Summary: Big Thumbs Up
Review: A must read if you enjoy Greek mythology. Hamilton presents each character in both their Greek & Roman titles so you can cross-reference from the various mythology books out there. It's an easy read, and very enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Meaningful Introduction to Mythology
Review: A very meaningful and enjoyable book. I had to read this book twice to increase my memory on all the gods, heroes, gods, monsters and mortals related to one another and stories that intertwine with one another. This really opens you up to the later play writers and the birth of the ideas that later came about in the rational thinking of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. I couldn't help partiality to the story or character is of Thesus and the city of Athens, the birth of equal justice and government of the people; democracy, which is far removed from the so-called pseudo forms of today.

What is really beneficial about this book is that Hamilton takes the well known writers from the different centuries, those who repeat, elaborate, embellish and abridge the same and relational stories and then puts each story down in its full summarized form. In this she takes her information from the famous Roman writers Ovid and Virgil, from the Greek poet, Homer, from the poor farmer in favor of justice and questioner of nature, Hesiod, the lyric poet, Pindar, the tragic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus, the comic poet Aristophanes, the Alexandrian poets; Apollonius of Rhodes and others, the pastoral poets Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, the Latin poet, Apuleius and the Greek poets, Lucian, Apollodorus and Pausanias. Some of these poets took their stories seriously, while others were not, such as Ovid, who was excellent at details, appreciative and thorough, yet he considered much to be nonsense, his work simply art form.

It was in the fifth century where much of the Greek mythology was being replaced by rational thinking as in Euripides story of Creusa where he says to his audience, "Look at your Apollo, the sun-bright Lord of the Lyre, the pure God of Truth. This is what he did. he brutally forced a helpless young girl and then abandoned her." the end of Greek mythology was at hand where such plays drew full houses in Athens. The same can be said for the Judeo God Yahweh who suffered and starved his own peoples that dared disobey and slayed his enemies with no compassion, taking the virgin women, livestock and valuables as spoil.

Some of the books stories do lack details. For instance, in the story of Odysseus, who revenges with murder of the gallant men that abused his estates assets in their desire to marry his widow. Here Hamilton does not mention the murdering punishment of hanging applied to the abusive maidens that were in his household that can be found in the Odyssey. Also, in Hamilton's book, as in the move TROY, she describes the death of Patroclos as a surprise, his armour removed at death revealing his true identity. Yet the Iliad does not support this. On page 200 it states that only at first did the Trojans believe this, then soon realizing though Patroclos own words and actions that it was him and not Achilles fighting. For instance, Apollo disguised as Hector's young uncle, Asios, speaks to Hector saying, "Hurry, make for Patroclos, and you may get him, Apollo may give you victory!"

So much for fine details, this is an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Solid Introduction to Mythology
Review: Being a mystery writer, I find that reading a wide variety of materials assists me in my work. Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY is one of those books I keep close by my desk as I am writing. In MYTHOLOGY, Ms. Hamilton presents an excellent introduction to the topic you expect. I've also found that it comes in handy as a reference work. Excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Mythology
Review: Despite the fact that Hamilton barely discusses North mythology, this book is a must read for anyone interested in myths, especially those who have a fondness for the myths of the Greek and Romans. This is not only very entertaining and enjoyable, but informative as well. This is a fabulou novel.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Greek Myth Encyclopedia
Review: Edith Hamilton's "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" is a very easy to access reference to most of the myths of Ancient Greece. The big ones are all here; the Creation, Hercules, Theseus, the Trojan War, and a lot of many lesser myths. All the classics like Apollonius of Rhodes, Sophocles, Euripides, and of course Homer are discussed in an easy to understand form; the story. The myths arn't discussed in esseys, they are told like someone is sitting there telling it to you. If there is a flaw, it is that the German myths are out of place. It is so brief, there's really nothing to it. They shouldn't be there. Over all, though, it's a good and very useful guide to the Greek Myths; above all, we may not believe in the gods anymore, but it's entertaining, and isn't that what it's all about.

Rating:
Summary: Edith Hamilton's classic introduction to classical mythology
Review: Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" tell the "Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" of classical mythology and this volume, first written in 1942, is now a timeless classic itself. This was the first book of mythology that I ever read and it is still the best. When Hamilton retells the love story of Cupid and Psyche or the tragedy of Agamemnon and his children, she does so with a full sense of what it meant when first told by Apuleius or Aeschylus. These are not children's tales, but the heroic legends and religious beliefs of the ancient Greeks. Furthermore, the illustrations by Steele Savage have the elegance of wood block prints, which, for all I know, is exactly what they are. I appreciate Hamilton's choice to avoid relying on Ovid, for while the "Metamorphoses" is the most comprehensive ancient text dealing with the classical myths, Ovid is an unbeliever. For Hamilton the writings of Homer, Hesiod and Pindar are more abbreviated in terms of providing details for the myths, but at least they take the tales seriously.

Another strength of the book is how she organizes the myths in her seven parts: (1) Covers the complete pantheon of deities, including the lesser gods of Olympus and Earth and the later Roman additions, as well as the earliest heroes. (2) Retells the various tales of love, between mortals and the gods or each other, along with the Quest for the Golden Fleece and other early heroic adventures. (3) Focuses specifically on the greatest heroes, Perseus, Theseus and Hercules, with Atalanta thrown in the mix in a curious but understandable editorial decision by Hamilton. (4) Puts together Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid into a giant epic stretching from the Judgment of Paris to the founding of Roman, with the Odyssey and the tragedies of Euripides. (5) Tells about the great mythological families, namely the House of Atreus (Agamemnon), the Royal House of Thebes (Oedipus and Antigone), and the Royal House of Athens. (6) Covers all of the lesser myths, most notably Midas. (7) Goes off in a new direction, providing a very brief introduction to Norse mythology that seems woefully inadequate given the comprehensive compilation of classical mythology that precedes it.

I looked over other possibilities as a basic textbook for an introductory mythology course, but I keep coming back to this one. If you want analysis of these myths, then you certainly want to look elsewhere. But if you want a solid retelling of virtually every tale of classical mythology, then Edith Hamilton's volume is still at the top of the list.

Rating:
Summary: Abbreviated myths
Review: Edith Hamilton's Mythology provides a large survey of almost every myth imaginable, but this is also where the text is lacking. Many of the tales are so abbreviated that they tend to read more like reference pieces than actual stories. As a high school English teacher, I found that my students found Hamilton's book challenging. They often did not understand the myth due to the lack of detail (the abbreviation) or due to the diction she chose in order to express the myth. Hamilton's Mythology is an excellent source and I will continue to use it, but if you're looking for a relatively easy read of Greek myths in story form, I would recommend Bernard Evslin's Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths. My students had no problem with this novel and I found it an extremely enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Humanistic
Review: Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY will give you a good overview of the Greek Gods and heroes as well as a smattering of some of the great writers of Greek and Roman culture, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Ovid, as well as others. The book will also validate the contention that if God did not exist, man would have invented him. The Greek gods are portrayed with human foibles: jealousy, anger, trickery. No god was all-powerful. Zeus, for instance, is depicted as being fallible in many ways. Hera was constantly getting the best of him.
When Hamilton turns to the Greek heroes, we once again see how these characters were fashioned according to prevailing value system. Theseus shuns the kingdom of Athens for that of commander-in-chief. He wants to people to be free. We see him in action when the Athenians invade Thebes to force them to bury the five remaining champions who had died trying to elevate Polyneices to Oedipus's vacated thrown. When the King of Argos asks for his help, he calls an assembly to decide. When they conquer the city, he will not let his soldiers sack the city, insisting that the army came only to bury the dead. He then prepares the bodies for burial with his own hands.
Two of the most interesting of the gods are Dionysus and Demeter, the two gods most concerned with humanity. Hamilton uses them to show how winter came about. Demeter's daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, God of the Underworld. When Demeter brought blight to the world, Zeus negotiated a deal whereby for a third of the year Persephone would live in the underworld. In Dionysus's case winter is that time of the year when the God of the Vine was pruned, only the bare stalk remaining. In the springtime, he would revive. He was the assurance that death does not end all. His worshippers believed that his death and resurrection showed that the soul lives on forever after the body dies.
In the last two chapters, Hamilton turns to Norse mythology. The most fascinating thing about them is that they were so fatalistic. The Gods knew that in the end evil would win out and they would be destroyed. The most important thing to the Norse was that they show courage in the face of death.

Rating:
Summary: oh my gods!
Review: Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes is a very basic, very popular and very good text for the introduction of Greek and Roman mythology. In our Western culture, the term 'mythology' is most often equated with these tales, and this book, first written before World War II, has helped to reinforce that equation with the current generations of readers.

Those looking for the mythological stories of other cultures will be disappointed -- with the exception of a brief section on Norse mythology at the end (about five percent of the entire volume), it covers nothing outside the Greek and Roman pantheons. Of course, part of the difficulty of approaching mythology of other cultures is that, in many instances, it is not mythology to them; or, in the case of mythology, one needs a firmer grounding in the culture and religious aspects of that culture before the mythology becomes accessible.

Hamilton (raised, as I was astonished to discover, in Indiana, where I currently reside) studied at Bryn Mawr, and had a distinguished teacher career in addition to writing this useful text. Hamilton's writing is not complicated and very easy to follow -- this has made this text one used in high school and undergraduate courses in Greek and Roman mythology more frequently perhaps than any other text produced in this century.

Hamilton begins the text with an essay giving an overview of what mythology is, and what the purpose of it was.

'Through it,' she wrote, 'we can retrace the path from civilised man who lives so far from nature, to man who lived in close companionship with nature; and the real interest of the myths is that they lead us back to a time when the world was young and people had a connection with the earth, with trees and seas and flowers and hills, unlike anything we ourselves can feel.'

She proceeds with a brief history of the development of Greek mythology, the origins of the stories lost in the mists of time. She tells of the influences of Greek thought on subsequent developments in thought and religion: 'Saint Paul said the invisible must be understood by the visible. That was not a Hebrew idea, it was Greek.' Unlike most religious constructs, the Greek mythological world tried to make sense of the greater life of the universe in terms that were very human indeed, with a minimum of mystery. 'The terrifying irrational has no place in classical mythology.'

This is not to say, of course, that there were not terrible stories and fantastic creatures -- indeed, the mythological stories are full of them -- Gorgons and hydras and chimaeras dire. But these are mostly metaphorical (and were understood as such), and primarily used for a hero to be made (this same idea has pervaded to the most recent Mission Impossible movie).

Hamilton proceeds after this essay to describe the members of the pantheon, the major and minor gods and goddesses, the ideas of creation, the heroes (human, semi-divine and divine), stories of love and devotion, justice and injustice, and, of course, of warfare, victory, defeat, and courage. Those heroes before the Trojan War, perhaps the Greek-mythological-equivalent of a world war, had battles and dire circumstances to fight and overcome. The Trojan War figured largely in the mythological frameworks of Greece and Rome -- all the gods and goddess were involved in this conflict, it seemed, as were many of the heroes of Greek mythology.

Hamilton, writing in a fairly conservative period of time, and in a fairly conservative culture, sanitised the mythological stories to a large extent. The Greeks were a very human and often rather bawdy bunch; the Romans were even moreso. Much of the sexuality in the mythological stories is omitted, save to demonstrate the less-desirable aspects. Quite often, undergraduates who study mythology are astonished to discover, if they had used Hamilton's text in an earlier high school setting, that there is a lot more sex and violence in the 'real' stories than they had been previously exposed to.

Of course, one of the primary aspects of the mythological tales was not to explain the cosmos or to build complex theological constructs (reason did these, often with help from the myths, but not using the myths as the basis), but rather the illustration of moral truths -- those of honesty, virtue, and courage as primarily valued in Greek and Roman society. Evil befalls those who do not lead a moral life; rewards come to those who do. Of course, there is a bit of whimsy in the cosmos -- bad things happen to good people, etc., even in ancient Greece. The fluctuating personalities of the gods (and the number of them) ultimately gives a satisfying explanation (if not a satisfying reason) why such things might occur.

Hamilton's book is a good one to use in teaching, but it must not be considered the final authority on any of the topics it addresses. Nonetheless, it has earned its place in the pantheon of influential books, and will most likely continue to be so for some time to come.