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A review by oz617
Tales of the Greek Heroes: Retold From the Ancient Authors by Roger Lancelyn Green
3.0
I love the attempt at giving Greek myth a chronology - the threads running through the stories make them easier to read and conceptualise, even if it means the writer had to cherry pick quite a bit from the many existing versions.
Some of his views are made very obvious - 50s typical sexism, of course, but also an insistence on interpreting these stories through a Christian lens. The word "god" is avoided wherever possible - Zeus is a Lord, a King, an Immortal, but rarely a God, although the writer does grant that when Greek society "civilised" ("realised" that there can only be one God), Zeus was elevated to that position. Also, every time he has sex with a woman they're referred to as married. This extends to other characters, accused of marrying girls in secret or against their will, to explain a pregnancy. Part of that's just a standard sanitising things for child readers, but it's a really funny way of doing it.
Some of his views are made very obvious - 50s typical sexism, of course, but also an insistence on interpreting these stories through a Christian lens. The word "god" is avoided wherever possible - Zeus is a Lord, a King, an Immortal, but rarely a God, although the writer does grant that when Greek society "civilised" ("realised" that there can only be one God), Zeus was elevated to that position. Also, every time he has sex with a woman they're referred to as married. This extends to other characters, accused of marrying girls in secret or against their will, to explain a pregnancy. Part of that's just a standard sanitising things for child readers, but it's a really funny way of doing it.