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ianmrowland's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.0
Graves work is a go to for academic understanding but he does this by removing the lustre of the myths and leaving them as lifeless pieces of aggregated texts. It may be the go to text but not if you want to experience the myths as myths.
wickedwitchofthewords's review against another edition
1.0
It was not for me.
Started with the highest of hopes, but was gravely disappointed (or sth).
Started with the highest of hopes, but was gravely disappointed (or sth).
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
3.0
A myth is like a sponge for it soaks up centuries worth of material into it. The kernel of the story would be transformed into only a faint resemblance of its original as the years pass it by. If we were to imagine a character like Heracles to come alive today, he might listen to his own story in incredulity and say but that was not how it happened ! The factors of social, economic, environmental and demographic changes seep into the tales and make them more suited as moral fables with each succeeding societies and their norms. What Robert Graves has done here is to gather (in two volumes), a sweeping recollection of the myths of the Greeks. The collection is brilliant in its scope and breadth and a magisterial one.
The stories follow a logical pattern starting right from the creation myths and proceeding to the stories of the Titans. The Titans are eventually cast into Tartarus and the Olympians led by Zeus rise to take their place. The meat of the book is made up of the exploits of Zeus and his Olympians. We are then treated to the story of Prometheus and how fire came to the realm of the mortals, of Pandora and her opening the jar ( not a box, a jar !) and letting loose the evils into the world. The first of heroes in the form of Perseus then enters the fray and slays Meudsa and he is followed by Bellerophon who rides the Pegasus to slay the Chimera. Through the stories of a multitude of smaller yet well known characters ( Midas, Sisyphus and others) we finally reach Theseus and the first part of the collection ends with the life and times of Theseus. Following a short skeletal overview of each story, Graves gives a detailed break down of the symbolism behind the tales and his views on what the tales actually stand for. I could not but marvel at the amount of research and reading that Graves would have done for coming up with these inferences. This would undoubtedly be one reason why these books figure in the list of the best mythological references of all times.
Let's imagine the myths to be a beehive dripping with sweet and intoxicating nectar. Graves would pick this hive up and show it to us and we the readers would stare slack jawed and salivating at the honey that oozes down his hands. Graves then proceeds to take a good, clean jar and squeeze every bit of honey into it and keeps the husk aside. Once this is done, he takes and locks up the honey and gives us the husk for consumption. Like this analogy and in terms of this book, Graves is a master researcher but a horrible storyteller. His stories lack a heart and a soul and are treated only as dull and dreary research subjects. I love a good story when told in the right fashion but here the soul of the stories are missing. Greek myths are fantastic material for stories : violence, jealousy, greed, sex and high octane action abound in them but Graves discards them all for academic interest. I read a review on the site where a reader opined that his young son now thinks that all Greeks are drunkards who pick fights for the smallest of reasons after reading this book. He has a point there for in these stories, the Gods are almost all of them drunk most of the time, fornicate with anything that moves and start bloody wars for the smallest of reasons. In the hands of a better story teller, this could have taken a fairy tale sort of hue but Graves is determined to hold his interest only to the academic sphere of things and thereby reducing the stories to exploits of characters who behave like thugs.
Then again are Graves's theories of how a matriarchical society was later subjugated by a patriarchical one and thereby the cult of the goddess was overrun by a plethora of male gods. Almost 85% of the summations that Graves produces carry this result that the cult of the goddess was behind the origination of the myths. Most of these theories were later proved wrong by researchers. So it would also benefit any future reader to do some background reading prior to arriving at conclusions about these tales. Another part is that most of the assertions offered by Graves is against many a localized tribe or group which is next to unknown for a person who in unschooled about the terrain of Greece. This tended to throw my interest off big time. You need a map of Greece from the earlier times handy when you are reading this book.
If you are looking for an introduction into Greek myths, start with something lighter. If however, you are interested in a deep dive into how these myths came to fore then this is the book for you.
The content and material is worth four stars but the rating system is more a selfish one and I can only rate this against my interest level which is a solid three stars.
The stories follow a logical pattern starting right from the creation myths and proceeding to the stories of the Titans. The Titans are eventually cast into Tartarus and the Olympians led by Zeus rise to take their place. The meat of the book is made up of the exploits of Zeus and his Olympians. We are then treated to the story of Prometheus and how fire came to the realm of the mortals, of Pandora and her opening the jar ( not a box, a jar !) and letting loose the evils into the world. The first of heroes in the form of Perseus then enters the fray and slays Meudsa and he is followed by Bellerophon who rides the Pegasus to slay the Chimera. Through the stories of a multitude of smaller yet well known characters ( Midas, Sisyphus and others) we finally reach Theseus and the first part of the collection ends with the life and times of Theseus. Following a short skeletal overview of each story, Graves gives a detailed break down of the symbolism behind the tales and his views on what the tales actually stand for. I could not but marvel at the amount of research and reading that Graves would have done for coming up with these inferences. This would undoubtedly be one reason why these books figure in the list of the best mythological references of all times.
Let's imagine the myths to be a beehive dripping with sweet and intoxicating nectar. Graves would pick this hive up and show it to us and we the readers would stare slack jawed and salivating at the honey that oozes down his hands. Graves then proceeds to take a good, clean jar and squeeze every bit of honey into it and keeps the husk aside. Once this is done, he takes and locks up the honey and gives us the husk for consumption. Like this analogy and in terms of this book, Graves is a master researcher but a horrible storyteller. His stories lack a heart and a soul and are treated only as dull and dreary research subjects. I love a good story when told in the right fashion but here the soul of the stories are missing. Greek myths are fantastic material for stories : violence, jealousy, greed, sex and high octane action abound in them but Graves discards them all for academic interest. I read a review on the site where a reader opined that his young son now thinks that all Greeks are drunkards who pick fights for the smallest of reasons after reading this book. He has a point there for in these stories, the Gods are almost all of them drunk most of the time, fornicate with anything that moves and start bloody wars for the smallest of reasons. In the hands of a better story teller, this could have taken a fairy tale sort of hue but Graves is determined to hold his interest only to the academic sphere of things and thereby reducing the stories to exploits of characters who behave like thugs.
Then again are Graves's theories of how a matriarchical society was later subjugated by a patriarchical one and thereby the cult of the goddess was overrun by a plethora of male gods. Almost 85% of the summations that Graves produces carry this result that the cult of the goddess was behind the origination of the myths. Most of these theories were later proved wrong by researchers. So it would also benefit any future reader to do some background reading prior to arriving at conclusions about these tales. Another part is that most of the assertions offered by Graves is against many a localized tribe or group which is next to unknown for a person who in unschooled about the terrain of Greece. This tended to throw my interest off big time. You need a map of Greece from the earlier times handy when you are reading this book.
If you are looking for an introduction into Greek myths, start with something lighter. If however, you are interested in a deep dive into how these myths came to fore then this is the book for you.
The content and material is worth four stars but the rating system is more a selfish one and I can only rate this against my interest level which is a solid three stars.
shannasbookshelf's review against another edition
5.0
Full review in [b:The Greek Myths: 2|833495|The Greek Myths 2|Robert Graves|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347308768l/833495._SY75_.jpg|8810030] (not yet finished)
redbluemoon's review against another edition
4.0
I took a very long time to read this book, because I read it bit by bit, when I wanted to. As I borrowed it from the library, I was "obliged" to finish it soon, and so hurried for the last part of it.
I didn't know that The Greek Myths was, not only a book about the myths AND their variations, but also a commentary by Robert Graves, explaining from where they come from, what they are really, historically, about. It was really interesting, but quite confusing - mostly because of the variations and the names -, and quite annoying because the author clearly explains how Greek society was misogynous. The number of rapes, ravishments and replacements of women cults by men cults ...
I have probably not understood it all, and I won't read the second volume soon, but I think about getting the whole version, and reading it latter, more slowly!
I didn't know that The Greek Myths was, not only a book about the myths AND their variations, but also a commentary by Robert Graves, explaining from where they come from, what they are really, historically, about. It was really interesting, but quite confusing - mostly because of the variations and the names -, and quite annoying because the author clearly explains how Greek society was misogynous. The number of rapes, ravishments and replacements of women cults by men cults ...
I have probably not understood it all, and I won't read the second volume soon, but I think about getting the whole version, and reading it latter, more slowly!
ashleighm11's review against another edition
4.0
I've always been a big 'fan' (for want of another word) of ancient mythology and I've been looking for the 'perfect' book that just has them all together for quite a while. One that has it all neatly wrapped in a bow and I genuinely cannot believe it took me so long to find this!
I enjoyed the collection of these myths, some were familiar, some were really unfamiliar - which was brilliant, because though I really love the familiar myths, it was really good to read those that were unfamiliar and new to me. I also enjoyed Graves' interpretation and comments after each myth, though I didn't always agree with his take on several of them. Some of the interpretations of the imagery of these stories seemed strongly influenced by his own thought and opinion rather than based on historical sources.
However, though a really good anthology, I felt that the stories themselves were quite lacking. Really it was 'bam, bam, bam' with all the information and I was hoping for a little more glorification (more like children's mythology collections I suppose!). This particularly felt really heavy in places. I think this book is worth having more as a reference work, thanks to what seems like a thorough index and the very frequent occurence of references to these stories in other writings, rather than as something to read straight through. I will read Volume 2 one day, which means I liked this quite well - I just found it really, really tough in places!
I enjoyed the collection of these myths, some were familiar, some were really unfamiliar - which was brilliant, because though I really love the familiar myths, it was really good to read those that were unfamiliar and new to me. I also enjoyed Graves' interpretation and comments after each myth, though I didn't always agree with his take on several of them. Some of the interpretations of the imagery of these stories seemed strongly influenced by his own thought and opinion rather than based on historical sources.
However, though a really good anthology, I felt that the stories themselves were quite lacking. Really it was 'bam, bam, bam' with all the information and I was hoping for a little more glorification (more like children's mythology collections I suppose!). This particularly felt really heavy in places. I think this book is worth having more as a reference work, thanks to what seems like a thorough index and the very frequent occurence of references to these stories in other writings, rather than as something to read straight through. I will read Volume 2 one day, which means I liked this quite well - I just found it really, really tough in places!