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A review by hjswinford
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton
4.0
Informative, interesting and straight-forward telling of the greatest myths. Hamilton is marvelous and breaking down the characters (giving you both Greek and Roman info) and making their often crazy and elaborate stories and histories concise, yet thorough enough to give the readers a clear idea of the personalities and motivations. Something I also particularly like is her brief introductions to each section where she not only cites her sources (be it Homer, Ovid or Euripides) but gives the reasons for her using their specific versions and the characteristics of their work. The book also has a splendid tone-and-context setting introduction.
Anyone who has been interested in learning a little about mythology, but has been a little intimidated by the many pages of the Iliad or the epic poetry of most Grecian writers would find this book useful and an entirely agreeable alternative. Or for the readers like me, who have read Homer, Aeschylus and Sophocles but wants a much more modern break-down of the complex works, this book will happily suit your needs as well.
In the end, she even covers stories and legends outside the canon of Greek and Roman mythology, including some of the stories of the constellations known so well today. She also briefly covers Norse mythology which, while lesser known, is still kind of interesting.
Anyone who has been interested in learning a little about mythology, but has been a little intimidated by the many pages of the Iliad or the epic poetry of most Grecian writers would find this book useful and an entirely agreeable alternative. Or for the readers like me, who have read Homer, Aeschylus and Sophocles but wants a much more modern break-down of the complex works, this book will happily suit your needs as well.
In the end, she even covers stories and legends outside the canon of Greek and Roman mythology, including some of the stories of the constellations known so well today. She also briefly covers Norse mythology which, while lesser known, is still kind of interesting.