Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Encyclopedia of World Mythology
by
Arthur Cotterell ,
Loren Auerbach , Gwendolyn Leick , Helen Morales , Mark Nuttall , Richard Prime , James Riordan , Nicholas Saunders
,
more…
* A comprehensive reference to the extraordinary tales and legends of the ancient world's most fascinating and beguiling mythologies
* An authoritative A to Z of the mythical figures of two great continents, with copious cross-references
* Over 1,000 alphabetical entries describe the central mythical figures of each culture and their importance to the ancient civilizations o...more
* An authoritative A to Z of the mythical figures of two great continents, with copious cross-references
* Over 1,000 alphabetical entries describe the central mythical figures of each culture and their importance to the ancient civilizations o...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
2000
by Dempsy Parr
(first published January 1st 1990)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,324)
The book is oversize and has over 1,000 entries over hundreds of pages. It's bulky, but it's lavishly illustrated which makes the full size worthwhile, if you're into those kinds of things.
I think the Goodreads summary can give as good a feel as anything for this book: "An authoritative A to Z of the mythical figures of two great continents, with copious cross-references." Yeah, those "two great continents" are, you guessed it, Europe and Asia. I have to downrate this book for calling itself th...more
I think the Goodreads summary can give as good a feel as anything for this book: "An authoritative A to Z of the mythical figures of two great continents, with copious cross-references." Yeah, those "two great continents" are, you guessed it, Europe and Asia. I have to downrate this book for calling itself th...more
As with most encyclopedias, this is not the sort of book which one reads from cover to cover.
AS with a dictionary one either goes straight to the topic needed or one browses and cross references....and Time flies.
I have been doing BOTH since late March when I began a Ten Week series of lectures "LIVING MYTHS" at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) scattered through March, April, May and June 2012.
Alas,only two lectures remain.
Lecture notes, an intermission of chat with tea/coffee and supe...more
AS with a dictionary one either goes straight to the topic needed or one browses and cross references....and Time flies.
I have been doing BOTH since late March when I began a Ten Week series of lectures "LIVING MYTHS" at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) scattered through March, April, May and June 2012.
Alas,only two lectures remain.
Lecture notes, an intermission of chat with tea/coffee and supe...more
This book is a good source to start your research into not just Greek mythology but also other myths from around the world: Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, Persian, Indian and Far Eastern.
For the Greek mythology section, it doesn't always provide a comprehensive entry for some entities (e.g. I couldn't find anything about the Chimera in here) but the more prominent figures are all in there so, again, if you need a starting point for your research, this book will provide it.
Personally, I use it...more
For the Greek mythology section, it doesn't always provide a comprehensive entry for some entities (e.g. I couldn't find anything about the Chimera in here) but the more prominent figures are all in there so, again, if you need a starting point for your research, this book will provide it.
Personally, I use it...more
The research that went into this is faulty and filled with misinformation. They based the majority of the writing on one source called the Prose Edda that was written by a gentleman named Snorri Sturlsun who was a classically educated scholar who lived 100 years after the conversion of Iceland. That once source is pretty much taken with a grain of salt as being a doctored version of the Eddas because of the influence christianity and the church had on his writings. Most of true Asatru scholars t...more
view 1 comment
Very in depth information of from myths around the world. I love how it tells the history and how particular myths came about in different parts of the world. It's sectioned of for better searching. You can find all the Asian myths in the same chapter, Celts in another and etc... It's really good to expand your knowledge beyond the present day misleading and wrong information taught in schools as well as in the movies. I read this to my youngest daughter and she loves hearing stories. It was a g...more
(I own a Finnish translation.)
Jun 29, 2007
Kevin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Shelves:
historical
Another one of those Gold colored books you see in the discount bin at Barnes and Nobel or Borders, this book is an attempt to organize mythological/religious characters from all around the world.
What's mythology to one person is religion to the next, and this book does a fine job of demonstrating key points in each character's history.
Finding this book now may be a trial, especially under the current ISBN, however, a search of the authors Arthur Cotterell & Rachel Storm return a new book en...more
What's mythology to one person is religion to the next, and this book does a fine job of demonstrating key points in each character's history.
Finding this book now may be a trial, especially under the current ISBN, however, a search of the authors Arthur Cotterell & Rachel Storm return a new book en...more
One of my all time favorite books, which is of course part of my collection. This book has an immense amount of information from Greek and Roman mythology to Celtic and Asian mythology. It’s something like your one stop book for all your mythological needs. Really is a must have book in any readers collection.
Comprehensive reference guide to world mythology with sections on classical world, norse lands, south and central asia, egypt and west asia, celtic world, east asia.
Entries are made in A-Z format within each main section with lots of full colour illustrations and photos.
Entries are made in A-Z format within each main section with lots of full colour illustrations and photos.
Jun 10, 2010
Jesse Evans-Jenkins
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Mythology Buffs
A great book for the mythology expert or student. I mainly bought this for Greek and Roman mythology, but it also includes Celtic, Nordic, Egypt and West Asia, South and Central Asia, and East Asia's myths. The books are very organized with an easy to use index so you can find all of the gods and godesses you want. Each myth is completely told with descriptions. In grey and oranged outlined pages, a certain part of a culture's mythology is explained. An example of this is that under the Greek an...more
Ever get stumped on a mytholgical question? (yeah-because I know it happens everyday-right?) This book gives a brief description of just about every mythogical creature/god/human throughout time from all different regions from the Celtics to Rome and back again.
A fantastically written book on myths, mythology, and Gods from every country that practices any sort of religion.
Full of drawings, photographs and, of course stories and myths, this book will teach every member of your family something about mythology.
Full of drawings, photographs and, of course stories and myths, this book will teach every member of your family something about mythology.
I got this pretty cheap at Half Price Books and it's gonna be great for doing research for my books, including the one I'm currently writing. Plus, come on, it's mythology. Mythology is always interesting as hell.
I can't wait.
I can't wait.
Feb 16, 2011
Milo
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Mythology Enthusiasts
More like a textbook of all the worlds myths than anything else, this encyclopedia is interesting to peruse at your leisure. I loved it so much because it was able to point me in the direction of some of the most epic yarns ever woven from the beginning of recorded time to recent history. I still to this day look fondly through it from time to time.
Great as an intro to Mythology and also serves as great coffee table book. Difficult read because of size but good reference edition.
This is the kind of encyclopedia you can read cover to cover. It's fascinating and a great reference book.
Other than the pictures (most likely, the pictures too), you can find most of these mythical beings online.
Mar 31, 2010
Tracy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ongoing-reads-reference-books
This is an awesome reference book for mythical figures. I am dissapointed that it didn't cover more Egyptian figures and that it lumped them in the same chapter as West Asia. Other than that, it is an excellent reference book.
I believe it will be a great record of the past to guide the future.
Huge book. More than 1000 entries. Nice book if you love myths.
Oct 16, 2011
Ashley Logan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-read-in-2010,
books-read-in-2011
I used this book to look up Greek mythology for the Percy Jackson series. It was a lot of help and fun to read.
Reading it for Norse mythology now, focusing on Thor due to the new movie that is out. This is a big book and I hate to put "read" on here when it would probably take a person 2 years to read! I've read everything important to the Norse mythology I possibly could and it was 300 pages +. A lot to cover when it comes to mythology, but this is one of the better books on all the mythologies...more
Reading it for Norse mythology now, focusing on Thor due to the new movie that is out. This is a big book and I hate to put "read" on here when it would probably take a person 2 years to read! I've read everything important to the Norse mythology I possibly could and it was 300 pages +. A lot to cover when it comes to mythology, but this is one of the better books on all the mythologies...more
Feb 11, 2013
Sarah
added it
world mythology
I picked this up at Borders for like... $19.99 instead of the original MSRP.
It's a very nice and quite informative book, with lots of good photos and illustrations. The information is somewhat run-of-the-mill, at times, consisting of a lot of the same old regurgitated tidbits as so many other mythology books, but the fact it runs the gamut from Norse to Southeast Asian and everywhere in between kind of makes up for it.
It's a very nice and quite informative book, with lots of good photos and illustrations. The information is somewhat run-of-the-mill, at times, consisting of a lot of the same old regurgitated tidbits as so many other mythology books, but the fact it runs the gamut from Norse to Southeast Asian and everywhere in between kind of makes up for it.
Dec 30, 2010
Tank Girl
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
reference
Interesting reference book, but doesn't do much in terms of introducing people to mythological basics. Slightly superficial and more of a coffee table book imho, but good for looking up names for research.
Not impressed by the coverage, but I guess that's what happens when you try to cram 3 mythologies into one book...
Not impressed by the coverage, but I guess that's what happens when you try to cram 3 mythologies into one book...
I was very disappointed that this ultimate encyclopedia did not have African or aboriginal content.
Jan 28, 2013
Zezee
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
myth lovers
Shelves:
favorites
This is a great reference book. It contains a lot of mythological characters and is detailed (although sometimes I wish it contained a bit more). I recommend this to all myth lovers. Myths covered: Greek/Roman, Celtic, Nordic, South and Central Asia, Egypt and West Asia, East Asia.
Half way through it, very condensed minipedia of world mythology. Great for younger kids that are interested but don't care to read too much or too long.
the pictures are nice, too. lots of beautiful art in this book!
this really was a fun book to read. =)
the pictures are nice, too. lots of beautiful art in this book!
this really was a fun book to read. =)
Short and concise summaries of many of the world's mythologies presented in one book. Good for those wanting just a general knowledge or for a launching pad to further study. It's also filled with interesting, and sometimes beautiful, pictures.
A great quick referral book to add to ones library.
The tiny fonts make this compact book a bit hard on the eyes, but the extensive photos, pictures, variety of cultures covered in a multitude of entries make it a worthwhile addition to any library section on mythology.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Arthur Cotterell, former Principal of Kingston College in London, has spent many years combining senior educational management with historical research. He is the respected author of more than thirty books, and is now writing on the Chinese empire, from the history of which he considers one can learn as much about leadership as from Ashridge or Harvard.
More about Arthur Cotterell...
Share This Book
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
