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Title: Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton, Steele Savage ISBN: 0-452-00985-5 Publisher: Plume Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09 (33 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: oh my gods!
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: Pretty Good Introduction to Classical Mythology
Comment: I've done quite a bit of reading about greek (and roman) mythology and I still enjoyed this book. They way the myths are writen is so good that I could almost feel myself back in ancient Greece, observing the scenes. I also enjoyed the quotes from the original source where the myth was told (e.g. The Odyssey, The Illiad, etc). Overall this is a good basic classical mythology book. Even people who already know these myths should read this book if only for the delightful manner in which they are told. For someone who cannot match a roman god to his greek conterpart this might require flipping back to the first chapter. If you pay attention the first time you read it you shouldn't have any trouble with this.
Near the end of the book there are a couple norse myths. That's it. If your looking for a book that has myths from more than just Greece/Rome you'll be disappointed. However if you looked at the table of contents and noticed the lack of other cultural myths (and still wanted to read the book) you should be extremely satisfied. I know i was...
Rating: 5
Summary: A Great Reading Experience!
Comment: I have been interested in Mythology for quite some time now, and when one of my teachers mentioned a voluntary summer class on mythology with no credit offerred I was quite interested. She said that our primary book would be MYTHOLOGY by Edith Hamilton, a book I was yet to read. I have now completed this book, twice. It is the most complete volume of mythology, greek, roman, and a little bit of norse, that I have ever read. It starts off with a brief description of each of the gods, titans, etc. It discusses at least one story from each of the gods, and most of the lesser gods. It also talks about the creation of the earth, and many other significant events and at the very end of the book there are several charts describing the ancestry of the gods, titans and heroes. Adequate for a textbook, yet I believe this book is much more like a novel. It reads quite quickly and interestingly, yet is quite educational. I was amazed at all the real-life applications that I was able to make from the stories. I plan on reading it several more times, and I hope you will read it as well. A must to understanding some of the significance of names and especially European cities, not to mention a great read. Also recommended: THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez
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Title: Dictionary of Classical Mythology by John Edward Zimmerman ISBN: 0553257765 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 1983 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Mythology by Edith Hamilton ISBN: 0316341517 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 14 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Heroes, Gods and Monsters of Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin ISBN: 0553259202 Publisher: Laurel-Leaf Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1984 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Greek Gods and Heroes by Robert Graves ISBN: 0440932211 Publisher: Laurel-Leaf Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $5.50 |
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Title: Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch ISBN: 0375751475 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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