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
 

[ QUOTE ]
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
 

[ 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

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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.