Can anyone recommend a good book on Greek Mythology?

[Wallyocerous]

Looking for a good Greek Mythology book, preferably with illustrations.  Does anyone on the forum know of a good one?  I'm looking for some inspiration for my argonauts!   

Thanks in advance!

[Plynkes]

These aren't general books on Greek mythology, but if it's inspirational pictures you want they are lavishly illustrated in colour (in the same style as the cover pictures), as they are meant as children's story books. You can get them quite cheaply on Amazon.co.uk at the moment:





The style they've adopted is a combination of actual Bronze Age with the more familiar Hoplite look, which I think works quite well. I'd say they were worth getting even if you don't have kids, as they are designed for older children and so are pretty readable.

If anyone is thinking of getting these for their kids, just thought I'd mention that there is bare-boob nudity in the pictures (especially in the Odysseus book). Now I think that is a plus, but I imagine there are those who might not be so happy about finding such things in a book they've bought for little Johnnie. It's very tastefully done, though. To be honest I don't see the harm in it. 


For a compendium of Greek Myths I quite like The Greek Myths by Robert Graves (the war poet, him of I, Claudius, Goodbye to All That, etc.). Haven't seen too many illustrated editions, mine has lots of photos of statuary, the paintings on the sides of pots and so on. I think the book is somewhat controversial with scholars (to do with translations and such), but if you just want to read the stories and aren't concerned with all that high falutin stuff they are a good read.

[sukhe_bator]

The Usborne childrens guides are quite useful. I have one on Greek Mythology and one on Norse Mythology. Both have some unusual illustrations by Rodney Matthews too as well as a very good whose-who guide at the back which seems to have been written with the D&D/Gamer in mind

[Plynkes]

To keep one inspired while at the painting desk I found the following audiobooks very helpful: Derek Jacobi reading The Iliad, and Ted Hughes reading his own rendering of Tales from Ovid.*

Both of those have such wonderful voices I could listen to them over and over and over.





*Yeah, Roman, I know. But the myths are Greek for the most part, and it's the same kind of deal.

[Hauptgefreiter]

I recommend "Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece" by Gustav Schwab
I've read the german version (Sagen des klassischen Altertums) and it contains a load of greek myths. Concerning illustrations, my book lacked them entirely

[Wallyocerous]

Thanks for the replies everyone!  I'll have to have a look for some of them on eBay!   

[abu iskander]

I have has this one since I was a boy:

http://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Greek-Myths-Mythologies-Series/dp/0872269116

Get a used copy. Nicely illustrated and covers most of the major and some interesting minor players.

[oxiana]

To keep one inspired while at the painting desk I found the following audiobooks very helpful: Derek Jacobi reading The Iliad, and Ted Hughes reading his own rendering of Tales from Ovid.*

Both of those have such wonderful voices I could listen to them over and over and over.

Ooh, I'm going to have to look into those, particularly the latter! 

[shady]

Get "The Greek Myths" by Robert Graves. There are illustrated editions. The interpretation is somewhat idiosyncratic (he was heavily influenced by Frazier's "the Golden Bough", which has itself been substantially discredited, but whose influence lives on because of its contemporary impact on authors as diverse as Yeats, Eliot and Lovecraft) but never less than interesting.

Graves - per Plynkes' post - is most famous now for "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God" but also wrote a novelisation of the Argonaut story, which reflects his own views on myth  - "the Golden Fleece" - a great read.

The novelist Mary Renault used similar ideas in her treatment of the Theseus legend - "The King Must Die" and "The Bull from the Sea".

Also, if you want visual inspiration - get the DVD of Jason and the Argonauts!

BTW Alan Lee - the illustrator mentioned in the above posts on Rosemary Sutcliff - was lead concept illustrator for the Lord of the Rings movies.

[Bobble]

I have the Robert Graves "The Greek Myths 1 and 2" in a Folio Society boxset which include some very nice illustrations. Great books and very interesting and enjoyable reading

[starkadder]

The first "grown-up" book I ever received was H A Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome. It was, and still is, a fantastic distillation of the myths. My edition was filled with classical statuary and old High Romantic paintings. Excellent as a starter.

Graves is an excellent source for variants so, if you don't like the canonical version, you can always find a different inspiration in Graves.

Bullfinch's Mythology is an old classic and still works as a good source.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (yep THAT Hawthorne) wrote Tanglewood Tales which concentrates on a few of the mythic strands, particularly the Theseus and the Minotaur and Jason and the Argonauts. Find the edition illustrated by Edmund Dulac. It's fantastic.

As a sidebar, when I was a young altar boy in St Paul's Catholic Church I was formally counselled for heathenish beliefs when I asked why we didn't have stuff like this in church. It was so much more interesting. Fortunately my Mum, who loved literature, let me go berserk on it.

Which is why I still love it.
 

[Steve F]

Graves' retellings are fine, but his commentary is derived in part from personal visions and inspirations, as catalogued in his quite loopy book The White Goddess, so don't rely on it.