Re: Greek Mythology
 

I've tried to get into Mythology a few times as well, unfortunately the idea of it seems to be more interesting than the fact of it in many cases. A lot of the books are full of dry facts and just not enough interesting information for my MTV brain. The Hamilton book isn't that bad but I'm not sure I've read all of it.

I've just ordered a load of Joseph Campbell books and books like the Seven Basic Plots to see if that will expand my interest and knowledge in the area without boring me.

BTW: the books I've ordered are below.
1. "Myth and the Movies: Discovering the Mythic Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films" Stuart Voytilla;
2. "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers" Christopher Vogler;
3. "Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation" J. Campbell
4. "The Hero with a Thousand Faces " Joseph Campbell
5. "The Power of Myth" Joseph Campbell
6. "The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories" Christopher Booker
7. "Myths to Live by " Joseph Campbell

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Homer's Iliad. seriously.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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Homer's Iliad. seriously.

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The question was "where do I start?"

The Iliad does not answer the question of who the hell are Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athene etc. Why would it? Homer's intended audience was people who already knew who the gods were, what they ruled over, their personalities and relationships to each other. None of that is covered in the Iliad. You can gather a lot from context clues, but why not start elsewhere and read Homer after learning the basics?

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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A lot of the books are full of dry facts and just not enough interesting information for my MTV brain.

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Your MTV brain at least had the attention span to read GRRM. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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A lot of the books are full of dry facts and just not enough interesting information for my MTV brain.

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Your MTV brain at least had the attention span to read GRRM. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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Yep, I think I'm expecting something like a modern fantasy epic when I read mythology and instead get something like a medical encyclopedia.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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A lot of the books are full of dry facts and just not enough interesting information for my MTV brain.

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Your MTV brain at least had the attention span to read GRRM. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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Lisa: We're the MTV generation, we feel neither highs nor lows.
Homer: Really? Whats it like?
Lisa: eh...

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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[ QUOTE ]
Homer's Iliad. seriously.

[/ QUOTE ]

The question was "where do I start?"

The Iliad does not answer the question of who the hell are Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athene etc. Why would it? Homer's intended audience was people who already knew who the gods were, what they ruled over, their personalities and relationships to each other. None of that is covered in the Iliad. You can gather a lot from context clues, but why not start elsewhere and read Homer after learning the basics?

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im not even going to respond to this until you think about it a bit more.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

smokingrobot you are f'ing terrible at this thread.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

ovid has a fun roman take on greek myths

Re: Greek Mythology
 

if the question was merely: i need factual information gleaned from original sources watered down by someones opinion on the greek gods, where do i find them?

Answer: Wikipedia, or how about a children's book which is very easy to read.

Therefor - pointless question.

If the question was: I would like a more in depth understanding of where these traits came from/how they developed/what they actually mean to the greeks themselves/and perhaps more than just some text book answer

Answer: Read the iliad, it's pretty much the earliest work that contains a miriad of information on the topic. Draw your own conclusions, they will probably make more sense to you than some stuffed shirt scholars trickled down list of information, plus, you'll retain this knowledge moreso than if you just read some kind of cliff notes on the greek gods.

seriously, you're either terrible at asking questions, or you are too willing to write off building your own conclusions based upon clear evidence presented to you, or you just dont want to read the Iliad.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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Read the iliad, it's pretty much the earliest work that contains a miriad of information on the topic. Draw your own conclusions, they will probably make more sense to you than some stuffed shirt scholars trickled down list of information, plus, you'll retain this knowledge moreso than if you just read some kind of cliff notes on the greek gods.

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This is just stupid. The Iliad is a bad introduction to Greek mythology. Period. If he reads the Iliad without any background, he's going to think there's a guy named Atrides running around. He won't know anything about the Judgment of Paris or the abduction of Helen because, guess what, those aren't in the Iliad. He'll have no idea why Hera hates Troy, why Aphrodite likes it, or why Ares sides with Aphrodite.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Read the iliad, it's pretty much the earliest work that contains a miriad of information on the topic. Draw your own conclusions, they will probably make more sense to you than some stuffed shirt scholars trickled down list of information, plus, you'll retain this knowledge moreso than if you just read some kind of cliff notes on the greek gods.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is just stupid. The Iliad is a bad introduction to Greek mythology. Period. If he reads the Iliad without any background, he's going to think there's a guy named Atrides running around. He won't know anything about the Judgment of Paris or the abduction of Helen because, guess what, those aren't in the Iliad. He'll have no idea why Hera hates Troy, why Aphrodite likes it, or why Ares sides with Aphrodite.

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im pretty sure you can figure all that out contextually though. did you read the prose/abridged version or something?

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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why on earth is this interesting? everything in the world interests me

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Including lame flames about posts that don't interest you, which is probably the most boring thing of all.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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[ QUOTE ]
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Read the iliad, it's pretty much the earliest work that contains a miriad of information on the topic. Draw your own conclusions, they will probably make more sense to you than some stuffed shirt scholars trickled down list of information, plus, you'll retain this knowledge moreso than if you just read some kind of cliff notes on the greek gods.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is just stupid. The Iliad is a bad introduction to Greek mythology. Period. If he reads the Iliad without any background, he's going to think there's a guy named Atrides running around. He won't know anything about the Judgment of Paris or the abduction of Helen because, guess what, those aren't in the Iliad. He'll have no idea why Hera hates Troy, why Aphrodite likes it, or why Ares sides with Aphrodite.

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im pretty sure you can figure all that out contextually though. did you read the prose/abridged version or something?

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It's extremely difficult to figure this out contextually if you have no background in Greek mythology. It might be possible to start with the Iliad/Odyssey if you were reading along with an English commentary like A Companion to the Iliad, something that's useful for readers with any level of familiarity. But why would you want to start from scratch like that when there are so many simple and unbiased sources of pertinent background information?

The purpose of the two epics are not be introductions to mythology, and just because by the vagaries of time they happen to be the "first" examples we have doesn't make them the logical start. Furthermore, the large majority of those works have nothing to do with mythology. If you really want to go along those lines, why not just start with Hesiod's Theogony - which is not only contemporaneous with at least the Odyssey (slightly younger than the Iliad), but also starts at the "beginning" of Greek mythology.

With all that being said it is still worthwhile to just dive right into the Iliad/Odyssey; they're incredible works of art and arguably the foundation of the entire western literary tradition. Just don't expect an easy introduction to mythology and be prepared for a lot of hard work.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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I know very little about it. Like pretty much nothing beyond 4 or 5 obvious 'who was the God of xxxx?'. I'm interested in learning all about it, not only because it seems interesting, but also because I'm a big fan of quiz shows and it seems to pop up daily.

But where do I start?

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Just wanted to say I aced the Jeopardy final question just now (only 1 of 3 contestants got it, but it wasn't too hard)

What poisonous substance is named after a goddess of love?

<font color="white"> Venom from Venus. </font> (amswer in white)



I think you should read

Lattimore's translation of Homer's Iliad

along with a companion such as this one


That way you get the poetry, the story, and the background.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Any on got more recommendations?
I'm looking for dvd's about the mythology of acnient Greece.