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Jan 12, 2012

Angus rated it:

Disclaimer: This is not your standard review. This may have spoilers. Read at your own risk. Visit original post at Book Rhapsody.

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Angus is a Celtic god, and if I were him, I might want to be Norse – Mythology by Edith Hamilton

Of course, Edith Hamilton did not write the Greek, Roman, and Norse mythologies. It’s appropriate to say that this book is her retelling of these mythologies, a sort of idiot’s guide. A glossary, even, of mythological characters. If it weren More...

14 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2011

K.D. rated it:

"This book makes me feel smarter," says my GR friend in her review of this book. I worked the same for me.

Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies are so old because they have been in existence thousands and thousands of years even before Christ was born. No wonder that many literary works have been based on them. Even the names of the planets and the stars. Even the names of my, mortal as they are, relatives and friends. I have a nephew by a cousin in Canada whose name is Hector More...

7 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2007

Heid rated it:

This work gave me entry into the world of myth as a highschool student. My English teacher assigned it as a reference book to use when we were reading poetry and drama. Without it I would not have understood important references. But when I looked back at this book years later, having suggested it to a students, I realized that the versions of the myths Hamliton used were less complex, less gender-balanced, and less universal than the myths I had come to know through other sources. So, while More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 31, 2010

Welwyn rated it:

This book is very hard to classify. Doesn't the title make you think "World Mythology"? Well, if it did, you would be wrong. I bought this book, looking forward to (especially) a female viewpoint of comparative mythology from various different countries around the world. What I got was an extremely thorough set of retellings (with impeccably named sources) by Hamilton of virtually every classical (Greek and Roman) myth ever told), with the very strange inclusion of approximately 20 More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 18, 2007

Jennifer rated it:

I believe, deep in my heart, that everyone who has attended high school in the past twenty to thirty years or so (in the United States, at least) owned a ratty, most likely used copy of this work at one time or another. This book has been on the required reading list of so many schools that nearly everyone has seen it, owned it, and opened it at least twice.

This is one only two such books I still have, 15 years out of high school: this and Strunk and White. This is a good book to hav More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Jessica rated it:

I remember reading this over and over when I was in high school, just for my own pleasure. Then I got to college, and took an actual mythology class, and the first thing the professor said was, "I hope you all haven't been reading junk like Edith Hamilton." What?! Well, most of his problem was with those bite-sized little rundowns of the myths, which is what I liked about it. It's a nice survey of Greek mythology, an introduction, if you will. There are a few inaccuracies, and she More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2008

Jazzmin rated it:

When I hear "mythology", I think of how because of this book I have suffered greatly. Yet, I learned a great deal of information. When I finished this book recently, I felt like I'd just taken in about a lifetime of brainpower. I mean the sun's power could not have zapped me more than this book did. Useful, I'm not sure, but informing, definately. I would only and I mean only recommend this to someone who either has nothing better to do with their time or who is absolutely obsessed w More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2008

King Dinösaur rated it:

This book was a constant companion when I was a kid. I was utterly fascinated by mythology. Not just the Greek and Roman ones, but the Nordic myths, the Native American myths, African myths - everything. Still, there was something about those crazy Greeks that put them over the top, for me. I loved the Minotaur, the harpies, Medusa and the Gorgons and the centaurs. Hades and Poseidon were my favorite gods, but I also dug Hermes because I pictured him in my mind as looking something like the More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 01, 2011

Courtney rated it:

It is good so far and I now know a lot of Greek mythology that is stacked in my brain.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 12, 2010

Jackie rated it:

Mythology Comes Alive!
Edith has a way of breathing the myths into life while not being overly long. I loved it the first time I read it. I was 14 at the time and every night I'd read more and let the stories come alive in my mind. It was a great experience.
In some ways, it's responsible for setting me down a fantasy path in my reading tastes.

Upon re-reading it recently for the third time, I didn't find it as full of life as I did as a teenager. But I think it's me, no More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 17, 2011

Lilly rated it:

I'm FINALLY done with this book after three weeks! After each chapter or short story I would have to take it in, and find out how this Greek person is related to that person and they had the same father and oh, he knew Theseus? What a huge incestuous family web.

This book was so good, and I'm thankful I own it. So many stories and gods and myths to learn! I learned so much from this book I could talk to you for hours about it, about how Theseus is a better hero than Hercules and how the More...

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Aug 19, 2011

Cory rated it:

My opinions on this book can be best explained via the notes I took on the first chapter:

She writes what seems a defensive contradiction she had not given enough thought to reconcile:
-"When the stories were being shaped, we are given to understand, little distinction had as yet been made between the real and the unreal. The imagination was vividly alive and not yet checked by reason," as well as
-"These [Egyptian and Mesopotamian gods] and their like were what More...

0 comments like

Jan 23, 2011

Friends of rated it:

I have read this so many times I've truly lost count. This book was a constant companion when I was a kid. I was utterly fascinated by mythology. Not just the Greek and Roman ones, but the Nordic myths, the Native American myths, African myths - everything. Still, there was something about those crazy Greeks & Romans that put them over the top, for me. I loved the Minotaur, the harpies, Medusa and the Gorgons and the centaurs, Hades and Poseidon.

I believe, deep in my heart, that everyo More...

0 comments like

Oct 13, 2010

Raina rated it:

I have read this so many times I've truly lost count. This book was a constant companion when I was a kid. I was utterly fascinated by mythology. Not just the Greek and Roman ones, but the Nordic myths, the Native American myths, African myths - everything. Still, there was something about those crazy Greeks & Romans that put them over the top, for me. I loved the Minotaur, the harpies, Medusa and the Gorgons and the centaurs, Hades and Poseidon.

I believe, deep in my heart, that everyo More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 12, 2010

Rayla rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am a huge fan of Greek Mythology and have been for a few years now, so when I saw it on the green list, I was ecstatic.

What Edith does in this book is tell you about all the major Gods and what there roles were. In the book she talks about how they lived all together up on Mount Olympus, the major 12 lived up there anyway. She talks about the tales and myths of them. How they became who they are, how they shined above others, and how they disgraced t More...

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Apr 05, 2010

Hydra M. rated it:

Dealing almost exclusively with the tales and legends of ancient Greek and Rome Ms. Hamilton gives an excellent, though at times slanted, overview of most major themes and characters of European mythology. This is a must read for anyone interested in the subject and should be read by anyone practicing any modern form of theism that is laboring under the misconception that their dogma is in anyway original. So many gods, demigods (all born of human mothers and godly fathers), and heroes die and r More...

0 comments like

Oct 14, 2009

Steven rated it:

This is a long standing work on mythology. The emphasis is on Greek and Roman tales, with a too brief discussion of Norse mythology. That some of the other reviewers mention it in the same breath as Bulfinch is testimony to the volume's value.

The work features a nice introductory essay to "set up" the discussion of Greek and Roman myths. There is also a rather unsatisfying brief introduction to the underdeveloped section on Norse mythology.

The first part featu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2009

Thomas rated it:

I love this classic collection of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology. It has many negatives, but I still have an affection for it because I read it during a formative period in my life. I find it relatively readable -- not true of most mythology guides written for adults.

Hamilton does a certain amount of commenting on the major sources from which she draws the myths. Therefore it's a great way to follow threads back through the actual sources; many other mythological guides don't ref More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Tiger Holland (All-Consuming Books) rated it:

This book is very thorough, staring with the Greek gods, both major and minor, and following their actions in ancient adventure stories, in the Trojan War, and in lesser myths. Nearly everything you could want to know about Greek mythology is contained in this book, and the information is presented in a very understandable, orderly fashion, ideal for college students getting into the subject for the first time.

I really liked the Introduction's observation that the Greeks were the fir More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 17, 2010

Connor rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 23, 2010

Purplycookie rated it:

Edith Hamilton loved the ancient Western myths with an obvious passion--and this classic compendium is her tribute. Her "Mythology" tell the "Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" of classical mythology and this volume, first written in 1942, is now a timeless classic itself. This was the first book of mythology that I ever read and it is still the best. I still have that much worn, much loved paperback on my book shelves that later in life inspired me to read other myths of oth More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 27, 2010

Meghan rated it:

This is a collection of mythological stories. At the beginning of each story Edith Hamilton gives the source. I liked these references so if I was inclined to go to the source I would know where to go. She also has helpful genealogy charts in the back to see how people and Gods are related to each other (Zeus is the father of many many demi-Gods). After reading his book I felt like I understood more of an overall picture to Greek mythology and what it consists of. Also it helped me appreciate th More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Nona rated it:

Yes. Seperti sinopsis yang tertera di kover belakang, membaca buku ini seperti membaca dongeng. Kamu dapat menciptakan imajinasi sendiri tentang sebuah dunia lebih dari ribuan tahun yang lalu; Yunani Kuno. Sebuah sejarah barat sebagai “pendamping” India di timur.

Bagi saya, Yunani adalah negeri yang ajaib. Dari mulai kisah 1001 dewa dengan segala dongengnya yang manis. Kemudian kisah penciptaan dunia dan manusia, mitos-mitos, serta ada pula tentang sejarah Yunani itu sendiri, seperti Pe More...

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Sep 08, 2011

Rad Ryan rated it:

I feel my brain has boosted up. Edith Hamilton fed my brain with one of the most important pieces in literature. The mythology. Greek, Roman and Norse Mythology is in the book.
I read this book plainly because of our senior English class. Though our English teacher didn't say that we should read it. I felt that I should, for knowledge I guess. So now I'm advanced for the mean time.

Mythology became such a basis for daily life, stories, names and even the day itself. They had had be More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 01, 2011

Western rated it:

I bought this in a used book store at the age of 15, anticipating a book about boring facts that I may fall asleep upon reading. When I opened it, however, I got engrossed in the world of mythology (I've always been a huge fan of mythology, but this increased my love of it) and I learned things that I've never known before. I thought of myself as an expert on it before, but now I know about more stories, more myths, more facts than I've ever known! I've read the whole thing twice, certain myths More...

0 comments like

Oct 15, 2011

Shelly rated it:

I just took a quiz which, without this book, I would have failed.
One summer a few years ago, I ran out of books on vacation, and got this from the local general store. I read it cover to cover at the time (accidentally throwing it in a river along the way) and really liked it.
This year, in my Latin class, we have to make "myth cards". On the back is a description of the myth; the front has the Greek and Roman names, famous people they are related to, the original source, an More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Ira rated it:

I wasn't too impressed with the book. The author isn't good at retelling the myths. It seems boring, bland and a lot of interesting details are left out. I would be ok with this if the book was more analytical of the myths, talk more about their connection to ancient greek culture and history. but this wasn't included in the book as well.

I like the organization of the book. So I could see this being used as a resource for a school paper, but it is not a good book to read for somebody interested More...

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Jun 09, 2011

Laura rated it:

I read some old version of this book while in elementary/middle school during my mythology and archeology phase that included primarily Greek/Roman, secondly Egyptian, thirdly Norse, fourthly Japanese and fifthly archeology digs and Indiana Jones movies.

I remember the smell of this book more than anything else, that musty-back-shelf-in-a-library smell. And I remember reading it nightly in bed in my grandma's basement.

The book itself reads like a textbook. If you want a c More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Ensiform rated it:

A retelling, sometimes adhering to the styles of the original texts and authors, of mostly Greek and Roman mythology --- with a very brief final part giving a barebones outline of some Norse stories. It’s written from a good breadth of scholarship and with a pleasant prose style, as well as a dash of humor (her characterization of Hercules is very amusing). A few of the sections could have been longer: the section entitled “Short Myths Arranged Alphabetically” contains anecdotes that either sh More...

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Apr 25, 2010

Jeremiah added it

Have you ever wanted to study greek mythology and learn about tthe greek gods? In the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton it talks about the greek gods and heros and the great journeys they had.IT talks about the tales of the gods.My hounest oppinion i think this book is really interesting.I wouldrecomend it to people who really like adventures.
The story of Zeus.Zeus is the most powerfull god on mnt. olympus.He is the got of thunder.Zeus was the god of the sky he More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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