Greek Mythology
 

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?

Re: Greek Mythology
 

You could start by reading this?

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" is a fairly standard reference for this, I think.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" is a fairly standard reference for this, I think.

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I was just about to link to this.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Yes of course I could. But the subject just seems so large that there must be a better way of doing it.

Like I could just read about Zeus or whatever. Then Hades. Then Poseidon. But surely there's a recommended text somewhere that tells a story, and helps establish the timeline in my head, rather than just reading about each character in turn.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Excellent, thanks guys.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

I'd also start with a few of the classics. Homer's The Odyssey and The Illiad are great places to start. Odysseus is probably one of my favorite all time mythological characters.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

yeah that would be cool. are some translations more highly respected than others?

this would be fine i guess? :

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Robert.../dp/0140268863

Re: Greek Mythology
 

why on earth is this interesting? everything in the world interests me except for this lame useless topic

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Juding by your title I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be perm-banned, bro. Later.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Yeti,

More interesting to me than specific stories and mythologies is looking at how many books/movies/etc. are based pretty much directly on storylines that are straight out of classic Greek mythology. Some, of course, are attributed in some way, but others that on the surface seem pretty original often turn out to be pretty much just the same stories recast in modern settings.

Of course, similar things can be said about other ancient cultures, I'm just using Greek as one particular example here.

Books like the Seven Basic Plots touch on some of that stuff.

Moreso than the stories themselves (some of which are great), having read some of that stuff imo helps you better appreciate really good storytelling.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Learn about it the fun way. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Heh yeah I was a reallllly big fan of AOE and AOK. Something about the AOM demo didn't appeal to me, not the M part obviously, more the graphics and gameplay. I dunno. I'll check it out again I think, thanks.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

not sure where you live but i'm sure there must be a university somewhere near you.
go audit an intro level class where its basically storytime.
you get to learn some pretty cool stuff and you dont have to do any work.
also the odyssey and illiad as already mentioned are great introductions to greek mythology.

while much more obscure and less applicable to triva, norse mythology is actually much more entertaining and i'd highly suggest looking into that.

alot of the greek gods were based on norse gods.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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Heh yeah I was a reallllly big fan of AOE and AOK. Something about the AOM demo didn't appeal to me, not the M part obviously, more the graphics and gameplay. I dunno. I'll check it out again I think, thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]You're completely right, except I actually bought the worthless game. AOE-AOK was great with AOKII Conquerors being Godly. The actual game about Gods, not so much.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Haha wtf, how is AOK so old? The Conquerors is 7 years old and will run on a P166. Jesus. I think I'm gonna pick it up as I never played it.

Alright, back on topic!

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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yeah that would be cool. are some translations more highly respected than others?

this would be fine i guess? :

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Robert.../dp/0140268863

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Richard Lattimore's translations are supposedly the best. Start with The Iliad, though.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Homer is an awful introduction to Greek mythology, especially the Iliad. Edith Hamilton was the correct answer.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

[ QUOTE ]
yeah that would be cool. are some translations more highly respected than others?

this would be fine i guess? :

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Robert.../dp/0140268863

[/ QUOTE ]

I minored in Classics, a couple profs always used his translations, others Lattimore.

anyways, I'm not sure where I would starts. wikipedia seems like a good place for just basic facts/stories.

if you want to get more serious, the Iliad and Odyssey are both fantastic but dense and can be difficult to get through. I recommend reading Cliffs Notes for a chapter, then reading the actual translation once you already know what happens.

The Iliad is mainly the story of Achilles at the time of the sack of Troy (the famous war ended by the "Trojan Horse" ruse). the Iliad is largely about war, pretty badass.

The Odyssey tells of the travels of Odysseus as he attempts to get home from Troy. this is much more mystical/magical than the Iliad and tells lots of stories you might have heard of.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Learning Greek mythology in 4th grade is what set me on the path to Classic's grad school and teaching, great stuff!

riverboatking's suggestion of auditing a myth 101 course is a good idea, although you run the risk of them being incredibly boring. It might look silly, but a good place to start is D'ulaires book of Greek Myths - it has nice big pictures, but is also a required text for UVa's intro mythology course. If you don't mind textbooks too much, Powells "classical mythology" is decent and has a lot of primary sources.

El D's comment is also great, that area of mythology is fascinating. Joseph Campbell has written a lot of stuff about myth archetypes.

In terms of the essential primary sources the Iliad and Odyssey are of course must reads. Fagle's Odyssey is good as long as you're not a hard core snooty classicist, and for the Iliad Lattimore's translation is the standard. Ovid's Metamorphoses, although dense, is a great Latin version of all the myths. It all started with Hesiod's Theogoney, but that can get a little crazy.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Iliad > Aeneid > oddyssey.


don't read any encyclopedic. you're not going to enjoy learning that X is the god of Y that was song of Z. maybe a quick browse to get things straight in your head, then just get into a classic. classicist's reccomendations are all spot on.

To this day, my favorite thing I've ever done in school was reading the Aeneid in latin. I really regret not keeping up with it now and wish i could get back to reading level latin.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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alot of the greek gods were based on norse gods.

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really? can someone elaborate on this? i didn't think the ancient greeks were in contact with the norse.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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alot of the greek gods were based on norse gods.

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really? can someone elaborate on this? i didn't think the ancient greeks were in contact with the norse.

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It's not true. There are connections between Greece and Norse mythology, but not of this sort.

Here's how it works:

Greek Mythology has some ties to much older cultures/mythologies.

Norse Mythology has some ties to much older cultures/mythologies.

If you were to make a list of said "older cultures/mythologies" for each, some would be on both lists.

Either way, Greek Mythology is much older than Norse. The first evidence of the Norse Pantheon comes no earlier than the 2nd Century BC. It likely existed well prior to that, but considering the Trojan War was fought ~1280 BC, it's hard to build a case that Norse Mythology is older than Greek.

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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The Hamilton suggestion is an excellent one. Joseph Campbell was also mentioned and he is quality.

If you get past those two and want to dig deeper, go with Robert Graves. He's the best that I have not seen in this thread. His theories on mythology and how/why/where myths originate are very interesting.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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why on earth is this interesting? everything in the world interests me except for this lame useless topic

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Boring maybe. Useless never. American culture is basically the great-great-great-great grandchild of Greek Culture. Every form of western culture owes it's origin in part to the Greeks.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths

I had this book when I was a little kid. It's pretty sweet book and will give you the basics of everything in greek mythology.

I use to dominate all greek mythology trivia when I was little just from this book.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Hesiod's "Theogony." Pretty dry, but explains the origins of everything, who is related to who and how they are related, etc.

It's also pretty short.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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why on earth is this interesting? everything in the world interests me except for this lame useless topic

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Boring maybe. Useless never. American culture is basically the great-great-great-great grandchild of Greek Culture. Every form of western culture owes it's origin in part to the Greeks.

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Either you're Greek, or you spent thanksgiving at a Greek person's home and they didn't stop telling you this for the entire time. Crazy greeks.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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It might look silly, but a good place to start is D'ulaires book of Greek Myths

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Oh man I read that over and over again when I was ten, and it ruled. I second this recommendation.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

During my school time Bullfinch's Mythology was the standard. Long and detailed but there are abridged editions.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Hi Yeti, I'd start with a general book called "Heroes, Gods, and Monsters" by Evslin. The book is aimed at younger readers but in my opinion it's a more fun/accessible place to start than Hamilton. It's definitely worth the two days it will take you to read it, and it's the book to give as a gift to some bright eleven-year-old that you think might like mythology.

But then, yeah, I'd read Edith Hamilton's Mythology for another general survey. By now lots of the names and relationships will be sorting themselves out in your head. Hamilton gives pretty faithful translations to the actual texts, but she cuts out boring stuff for the sake of storytelling. Read the introductory chapters too, they give good context.

After you've read those then you'll have definitely have an idea of the specific characters and stories you like, and then you're good to go. Before buying something you should always thumb through a few translations for a minute to see if you're responding to one better--some of the "standard" translations were done two centuries ago and sound stilted to a lot of people today. If you want to read Homer, you might think The Odyssey is more fun and less confusing to start with; I'd rate the translations 1. fagels 2. fitzgerald 3. lattimore, but whatever. (For The Iliad I'd go 1. lattimore 2. fagles 3. fitzgerald.)

If you want to read about some of the dramatic patterns that underlie all mythology/stories, you might like Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." Also Joseph Campbell's interview series with Bill Moyers on PBS was terrific.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
yeah that would be cool. are some translations more highly respected than others?

this would be fine i guess? :

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Robert.../dp/0140268863

[/ QUOTE ]

I minored in Classics, a couple profs always used his translations, others Lattimore.

anyways, I'm not sure where I would starts. wikipedia seems like a good place for just basic facts/stories.

if you want to get more serious, the Iliad and Odyssey are both fantastic but dense and can be difficult to get through. I recommend reading Cliffs Notes for a chapter, then reading the actual translation once you already know what happens.

The Iliad is mainly the story of Achilles at the time of the sack of Troy (the famous war ended by the "Trojan Horse" ruse). the Iliad is largely about war, pretty badass.

The Odyssey tells of the travels of Odysseus as he attempts to get home from Troy. this is much more mystical/magical than the Iliad and tells lots of stories you might have heard of.

[/ QUOTE ]

My ex-girlfriend is a classicist. Once, when asked who in the entire world she would most like to have dinner with, she picked Robert Fagles.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

also check out this movie!!!

http://www.hollywoodheroes.com/image...the_titans.jpg

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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<font color="purple">Joseph Campbell</font>

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Re: Greek Mythology
 

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yeah that would be cool. are some translations more highly respected than others?

this would be fine i guess? :

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Robert.../dp/0140268863

[/ QUOTE ]

I minored in Classics, a couple profs always used his translations, others Lattimore.

anyways, I'm not sure where I would starts. wikipedia seems like a good place for just basic facts/stories.

if you want to get more serious, the Iliad and Odyssey are both fantastic but dense and can be difficult to get through. I recommend reading Cliffs Notes for a chapter, then reading the actual translation once you already know what happens.

The Iliad is mainly the story of Achilles at the time of the sack of Troy (the famous war ended by the "Trojan Horse" ruse). the Iliad is largely about war, pretty badass.

The Odyssey tells of the travels of Odysseus as he attempts to get home from Troy. this is much more mystical/magical than the Iliad and tells lots of stories you might have heard of.

[/ QUOTE ]

My ex-girlfriend is a classicist. Once, when asked who in the entire world she would most like to have dinner with, she picked Robert Fagles.

[/ QUOTE ]What can you do being a classicist other than a professor? An author? Anything else?

Re: Greek Mythology
 

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yeah that would be cool. are some translations more highly respected than others?

this would be fine i guess? :

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Robert.../dp/0140268863

[/ QUOTE ]

I minored in Classics, a couple profs always used his translations, others Lattimore.

anyways, I'm not sure where I would starts. wikipedia seems like a good place for just basic facts/stories.

if you want to get more serious, the Iliad and Odyssey are both fantastic but dense and can be difficult to get through. I recommend reading Cliffs Notes for a chapter, then reading the actual translation once you already know what happens.

The Iliad is mainly the story of Achilles at the time of the sack of Troy (the famous war ended by the "Trojan Horse" ruse). the Iliad is largely about war, pretty badass.

The Odyssey tells of the travels of Odysseus as he attempts to get home from Troy. this is much more mystical/magical than the Iliad and tells lots of stories you might have heard of.

[/ QUOTE ]

My ex-girlfriend is a classicist. Once, when asked who in the entire world she would most like to have dinner with, she picked Robert Fagles.

[/ QUOTE ]What can you do being a classicist other than a professor? An author? Anything else?

[/ QUOTE ]

Teach at an all girls catholic high school!!!!

Also, the "Clash of the Titans" suggestion above is actually pretty good, a lot of those old sword and sandal myth movies are solid.

Fagles is a polarizing figure for classicists. His new Aeneid translation is total crap, and his Odyssey is barely tenable (and only tolerated because it's good for high school students and people not in the field). He is, however, very charismatic, so I probably wouldn't mind having dinner with him.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Watch Hercules and Xena then look up things mentioned on Wikipedia to see how much the actual myths differed from how they were used in the two series.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

Homer's Iliad.

Re: Greek Mythology
 

[ QUOTE ]
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why on earth is this interesting? everything in the world interests me except for this lame useless topic

[/ QUOTE ]

Boring maybe. Useless never. American culture is basically the great-great-great-great grandchild of Greek Culture. Every form of western culture owes it's origin in part to the Greeks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Either you're Greek, or you spent thanksgiving at a Greek person's home and they didn't stop telling you this for the entire time. Crazy greeks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nah, I've just read a lot of ancient history. No Greek friends or relatives. I do have a Greek screenname on several poker sites tho.