GREEK MYTHS: ILLUSTRATED EDITION: Amazon.ca: ROBERT GRAVES: Books

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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Soul and Underworld, Jun 30 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Greek Myths Illustrated Edition (Mass Market Paperback)

Much good stuff has been said about this book, right here on this page, so I would like to focus on just one important aspect: Graves's treatment of the Underworld. Here, for the first time in history, as far as I know, the author provides a genuine "map" of that dark realm, complete with Who judges Europeans, Asians and others, along with a superb description of the three roads of Hekate, the real ruler of the Three Realms -- Heaven, Earth, and Underworld -- a magnificent opus not to be intellectualized but felt in the heart, the Soul.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Lack of story, April 25 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Greek Myths Combined Edition (Paperback)

While I imaginge this book is a very useful aid to scholars for quick reference, beware that the book does attempt to cover a little too much ground. By a reference aid I mean that all the myths are presented almost as synopses - Orpheus and the underworld, for example, was told in just a single paragraph.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exhaustive Text For Advanced Students of Greek Mythology, April 13 2003

By

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Greek Myths Combined Edition (Paperback)

Robert Graves' THE GREEK MYTHS falls between the Victorian bombast of Bulfinch and the popular style of Edith Hamilton, less stylistically intimidating than the former and more scholarly than the latter. Originally published as a two volume set in 1955 with author revisions in 1957 and 1960, this single volume text does not abridge the original text but merely confines it to a single binding.

One's reaction to THE GREEK MYTHS will depend to some extent on one's purpose in acquiring it. This is an exhaustive collection of Greek mythology that far outstrips any other modern anthology that I have encountered, including myths both better known and extremely obscure. Each myth is presented in concise, graceful prose, and where possible Graves includes genealogies of the characters and major variations of each myth; an interpretive essay also follows each myth.

While Graves' retelling of the myths themselves have been widely praised, his interpretations of the myths have been somewhat criticized--and justly so. Graves tends to see incarnations of the "White Goddess" and the "Sacrificial King" in every third story; more dangerously, he tends to tie the myths to historical events in a highly speculative way. While this does not undercut the interest of his interpretations, it does hold a number of traps for the casual reader, who may assume that Graves' essays offer standard, scholastically unbiased interpretations based on proven historical events.

For myself, I use Graves' THE GREEK MYTHS as both reference and pleasure-reading, and I enjoy it a great deal; it is an indispensable purchase for any one with a serious interest in Greek mythology for any one who must frequently reference the same for scholarly purposes, and I strongly recommend it to them. At the same time, however, I would hesitate to recommend it to readers who have not previously been exposed to Greek mythology or who wish only a general knowledge of the major Greek myths; in such cases I would instead recommend Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY: TIMELESS TALES OF GODS AND HEROES.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware of Greek's Bearing Myths
Robert Graves "The Greek Myths" is a wonderful resource for learning about the myths of ancient Greece. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Dave_42

5.0 out of 5 stars Greek Myths: Fact or Fiction.
Like no one before him Robert Graves is able to tell the Greek legends about gods and heroes for modern readers. Read more

Published on April 21 2010 by Jan Dierckx