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Mythology: Timeless Tales Of Gods And Heroes
by
MONSTERS, MORTALS, GODS, AND WARRIORS For over fifty years readers have chosen this book above all others to discover the thrilling, enchanting, and fascinating world of Western mythology. From Odysseus's adventure-filled journey to the Norse god Odin's effort to postpone the final day of doom, Edith Hamilton's classic collection not only retells these stories with brillia
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Library Binding
Published
January 1st 2011
by Turtleback Books
(first published 1942)
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Start your review of Mythology: Timeless Tales Of Gods And Heroes
I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. On one hand, I didn't like the practice of Hamilton retelling only the myths that she enjoyed, rather than using the most wildly accepted version of the stories or combining the different stories into one retelling. I also didn't understand the point of the Norse mythology at the end, after more than ninety percent of the book was dedicated to Greek and Roman mythology - it was a little jarring, and very unnecessary. But on the other hand, the book wa
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This book was awesome to read...the illustrations are fab. And, the stories have a wonderful easy flow. I love, love love this book💖
The problem I have reviewing this is that it's about what you might expect...well, what I expected. It's slightly formal, simplified, cleaned-up, but fun and generally folk tale-like versions of the main Greek myths. There is also a short section in the end on Norse mythology.
In her introduction, she tells us mythology was like science:
In her introduction, she tells us mythology was like science:
"Greek mythology is largely made up of stories about gods and goddesses, but it must not be read as a kind of Greek Bible, an account of the Greek religion. Acc...more
Dec 19, 2016
Bren
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
History fans, fans of Mythology .
I was obsessed with Mythology when I was younger and still love it. But in my younger days, I read every book I could get my hands on about this subject. And I learned so much! But most of all the stories were fun which is what reading should be.
It has been to long since I read this so cannot do a long review although I hope to read it again soon. I can remember some of the stories better then others but I do not think there were any in fact that I did not enjoy reading about.
It is impossible t ...more
It has been to long since I read this so cannot do a long review although I hope to read it again soon. I can remember some of the stories better then others but I do not think there were any in fact that I did not enjoy reading about.
It is impossible t ...more
Oct 31, 2017
Manisha
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
history buffs and mythology fanatics.
Confession:
I started this book over ten years ago. I had three short stories to read to finish it and I completely forgot about it. Today, I completed these short stories, and as a result, I have conquered the book I loved as a child.
This is the perfect introductory book for anyone who wants to know more about Roman, Greek or Norse mythology. Hamilton shares various stories in a very simple, and yet, entertaining way. For me, there's a lot of nostalgia connected with this book. I was gifted it ...more
I started this book over ten years ago. I had three short stories to read to finish it and I completely forgot about it. Today, I completed these short stories, and as a result, I have conquered the book I loved as a child.
This is the perfect introductory book for anyone who wants to know more about Roman, Greek or Norse mythology. Hamilton shares various stories in a very simple, and yet, entertaining way. For me, there's a lot of nostalgia connected with this book. I was gifted it ...more
Dec 06, 2020
William
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
extraordinary-books
This is the one, the ribald book of Greek gods and goddesses and their adventures that captivated me in 7th grade, with a male teacher who positively loved the material. What a truly great class of 13-14 year olds, hearing about Zeus cheating on Hera and endlessly being naughty.
And the glaring visage of Edith Hamilton on the back, a warning for naughty boys, that we completely ignored.
Fabulous, and a foundation of my young, middle and old age adulthood.
Extraordinary.
The domineering visage of ...more
And the glaring visage of Edith Hamilton on the back, a warning for naughty boys, that we completely ignored.
Fabulous, and a foundation of my young, middle and old age adulthood.
Extraordinary.
The domineering visage of ...more
My father had two copies of this book, that's why I dared to indefinitely borrowed one for my own reading from time to time.
This book is my foundation for mythology. The stories on this book are concise. But not only I like the stories, but also I love looking at family trees at the end of the book.
I recommend this book as your first read of mythology, especially for mythology of Greek and Norse. ...more
This book is my foundation for mythology. The stories on this book are concise. But not only I like the stories, but also I love looking at family trees at the end of the book.
I recommend this book as your first read of mythology, especially for mythology of Greek and Norse. ...more
It took me an awful long time to finish this one up, but it is a reference book rather than a novel. Still, I feel like I have accomplished something and hope to do a little better on the mythology questions during trivia nights. This is definitely a book that I will refer back to again and again.
Jan 20, 2018
Z. J. Pandolfino
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classical-studies,
fantasy
Edith Hamilton is somewhat of an icon in classical studies. Countless hordes of classicists were reared on her popular treatment of Greco-Roman myth, and one can still find a trade paperback of Mythology in most secondary school students’ backpacks or lockers. These days, Mythology serves as a sort of primer for students mostly unfamiliar with Greek and Roman myth before they delve into the Odyssey or Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Written by a classicist, it serves its purpose well: to expose the reader
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I read this book in 7th grade and remember how much I loved it. It started my love for Greek mythology.
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 other times and places.
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My battered old copy of this book has been around - it may have been required reading for my father back in high school. Anyway, I finally got around to reading it - and the odd thing is that I should have read it years ago. In fact this should have been required reading in my high school, and also in freshman English in college. Because the stories here are referred to so much in literature, the names of the gods and lovers and warriors herein ring down through the centuries with such frequency
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I'm the kind of person who never, ever, EVER abandons a book, even if I hate it. But I stopped reading this one because it was so boring. Hamilton writes with as much excitement and enthusiasm as a social studies textbook does. She relays stories in a dead monotone, and she somehow manages to make really exciting topics seem extremely boring. Ugh. >.< I don't think I'll ever go back to this, unless I'm forced to read it for school or something. Heaven forbid that. 0.0
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This was an excellent book over Greek mythology as well as some Roman and a little bit of Norse mythology as well. It was a great review of the stuff I already knew and I learned many new things too! Even if you have never picked up anything about Greek mythology or don't know much about it, you can still understand this book. I think it's a good book for those just starting to learn about the myths. Definitely recommended to the myth lovers! 😄❤️
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Nov 23, 2008
Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books)
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
greek-mythology,
reference
This is a scholarly, but very readable presentation on Greek mythology. In fact, this story really added to my love of the Greek myths. It doesn't spare the reader the darker aspects, so be warned. I would give this book to a good reader of 8 or more years of age, if they were unfamiliar with the Greek myths. Probably would leave Bulfinch for an older reader.
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Sep 05, 2013
Summer
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Greek mythology lovers
Read this for English class. For greek-mythology lovers like me, it gave quite a good explanation of numerous myths and clarifies the big pictures of Norse, Roman, and Greek mythology. A bit too heavy to read in one sitting, but an excellent reference for fans of the genre. I wouldn't say this is a must-read, but definitely beneficial for a devoted reader.
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An interesting book about (mostly Greek and Roman) mythology. I would have rated this higher but I had a big mythology phase in elementary school so I actually knew many of the stories, though they were very well written. I think this is a great miniature course in mythology for anyone who is interested and doesn't already know a lot about mythology.
...more
Dense but comprehensive.
I am finally delving into the world of Greek Mythology. Wish me luck.
A great introduction to Greek Mythology. So much of western culture references Greco-Roman mythology that mythological characters and their stories appear everywhere. Names of almost every astronomical object people have named. Names of flowers. Names and logos of popular brands. Subjects of so many works of art and literature over the millenia. Many popular English phrases. (Achilles' heel, Sisyphean tasks, Herculean efforts, etc.) I am surprised I went all these years without making a serious
...more
May 04, 2009
Thomas
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
all-time-favorites,
mythology
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 reference their ...more
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 reference their ...more
This book was written in 1942 and it shows. The errors in the author’s statements about Ancient Greek culture (which takes up the vast majority of the book— the Norse myths making up only 24 pages), practices (no they were not the first to make gods who looked like humans), and topography (no the acropolis of Athens is not on the sea) are so numerous that it is nearly impossible to focus on her vague, overly condensed and poorly told myths which bear no resemblance to the classical authors she c
...more
This book I own of Edith Hamilton has seen better days—its cover is worn and has little pleats, the pages rusty and slightly frayed at the ends, the binding loose and several pages detached from it, and scribbles and stains mark some of the pages. It was a hand-me-down by my elder sister when I studied classical mythology for our English high school class, passed on to my two younger siblings for the same purpose, and perhaps, would also be used by my daughter when she starts to study Greek and/
...more
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 I v
...more
Mythology gave me a very bipolar feeling toward this book. There were times that I found something very interesting and some were just majorly confusing and overwhelming. There is a very difficult to understand, mythology had many different stories within the book. One of the stories involved of Zeus and his father Kronos but the reason it was difficult was that the plots they would maneuver from Hamilton talking about how Kronos had many kids then jumps to Kronos’s wife gives him a rock which w
...more
This is the perfect book for anyone seeking an introduction about mythology, more specifically Western mythology. I am still in awe of this beautiful cover and its illustrations are absolutely beautiful!
Feb 14, 2021
Andrea
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mythology,
incredibly-boring
Well this was... Boring. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the effort and research that went into this, and I'm sure it's excellent as a reference book. If one can ignore the biased opinions of the author that you get beaten over the head with (such as the constant reminder that a certain author or source material is the dullest writer around, who at one point gets the "praise" that she deigned to repeat his version of this tale is because it is 'less dull than usual'...). It leaves absolutely no
...more
"Delos"? Where did I recently here that name? (Westworld TV Series, one of the main characters.) Edith Hamilton tells us Delos is a floating island subject to movements, to winds and storms. But Delos is eventually connected permanently to earth via four columns of stone. And that's why this is often required reading in high school or colleges: literature/films, etc., references names often. (Delos IS the perfect name for the Westworld character.) Chock full of other famous characters - Atlas, A
...more
A brilliant summary of the Greco-Roman mythological universe, with some Norse mythology in the end. I found some of the similarities between this, hitherto unknown mythological world, and the familiar Hindu mythology to be striking. There are some general common themes in the Homeric epics and the two Sanskrit Itihasa-s. Paris abducting Helen and Ravana abducting Sita lead to wars between kings of two neighbouring countries - Greece and Trojans (around Turkey) and Ayodhya and Lanka respectively.
...more
Although I normally try to be accepting of books that seem to have radical beliefs, especially when looking back at them for a historic viewpoint, this is one that I find difficult to do so. Although Edith Hamilton's version is thought to be one of the Classics she doesn't make much of an impression for me when it comes to mythoi and as such this is normally a book that I would warn many readers to avoid, especially if they are beginners to the subject.
She is a wonderful compiler when it come ...more
She is a wonderful compiler when it come ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads Librari...: Please add page number | 2 | 13 | Feb 24, 2021 10:46AM | |
| Anyone starting-with-the-Greeks? | 7 | 85 | Oct 31, 2018 06:50PM | |
| Goodreads Librari...: missing book editions | 2 | 16 | Jul 24, 2017 03:33PM | |
| 2015 Reading Chal...: Mythology by Edith Hamilton | 5 | 72 | Mar 09, 2015 01:54PM | |
| The influence of greek mythology in european graphic novels | 1 | 11 | Aug 28, 2014 05:43PM |
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Edith Hamilton, an educator, writer and a historian, was born August 12, 1867 in Dresden, Germany, of American parents and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. Her father began teaching her Latin when she was seven years old and soon added Greek, French and German to her curriculum. Hamilton's education continued at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut and at Bryn Mawr College near Ph
...more
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