A review by utah_mustacheman
Classical Mythology by Mark P.O. Morford

4.0

In less than 600 pages Morford and Lenardon skillfully with entertainment and adequate translation of the original Greek and Latin passages adequately summarize a tremendous amount of Greek mythology. Starting with the beginning and interpretation of myth and ending with the current impacts of Greek mythology on music and film they are able to shove in the origin of the Gods, a sufficient description of each God, and a summarization of multiple Greek sagas such as Heracles, the Argonauts, and Perseus.

Where Morford and Lenardon shine most in their scholarship is rooting the etymologies of names, places, or events of gods’ interactions to their socio-cultural location to find the origin of the myth. I greatly appreciated their attempt to explain the beginnings of Greek mythology with invaders from the north and local Cretans in the bottom. Also, their description of the saga of Theseus to depict the orderliness of Athens’ laws and culture shines tremendously in the textbook.

What I found most interesting and stimulating this book is the paradoxes that abound in Greek mythology. Whereas in Christianity the paradox is a holy God interacting with unholy or sinful people, Greek mythology is much more anthropocentric instead of theocentric. Hephaestus’ struggle to cope with his disability in comparison to Aphrodite’s beauty depicts the struggle of human fragility and vulnerability with great vanity. Apollo and Dionysius are clearly opposite each other in their rational and antirational salvific methods. Perseus’ and Odysseus’ feats abroad but struggles at home demonstrate the cost of sacrificing for a quest only to be tricked in our origins. Greek mythology does not provide a more accurate human experience but describes the phenomenological state of humans more accurately.

I struggle to see eye to eye with Morford and Lenardon as their liberal scholarship forces them to not believe the myth but to deconstruct it. Myths are more than the amalgamations of great heroes, psychology, and linguistic patterns espoused through human lips. If that is all our beginnings are, then where is our hope for the now? We will only create new human heroes to be deified—ones that have not been tested through history, mythology, and tradition.

However, I hold a similar fear to Lucius who despises the cult of religion that drives people mad. Where do we draw the line between Bacchic worship scenes and the death of Pentheus. Where do we not let our human love be confused for divine and cause us to be turned into a tree? Greek mythology does not provide an impetus for morality, it just describes the complexities in the messiness of human nature.