Myths & Legends

The World's Greatest Myths and Legends

by Jake Jackson (Editor)

Collection of Classical Greek, Celtic, Norse, Chinese, African, Native American & more myths.

Creation myths, quests, the eternal battle between good and evil, these are some of the classic tales that feed the ravenous beast of modern culture. For many the classical traditions of the Greeks and the Romans occupy the imagination but the ancient world was a lively and fertile source of stories, reaching much further back than the pantheon of Zeus and his fellow gods. For the early civilisations, from the ancient Chinese to African tribal societies, stories were told to explain the origins of fierce weather, of unexplained disasters, of floods and earthquakes. Many traditions developed independently but still echoed similar themes in the natural human desire to understand the world around us. This new book brings to life the myths and legends of eight intriguing traditions: Native American, Chinese, Celtic, Scottish, Greek, Viking, Indian and African. With a cast of characters as broad and wide as the ancient river Styx the book is packed with the great themes of life: love, revenge, eternal conflict, the obsession with power and the everlasting the battle between the wily and the strong. This powerful new book is a dazzling collection of the most gripping tales, vividly retold.

Genres: Mythology, History, Nonfiction, Reference, Folklore, Short Stories, Greek Mythology

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

SF and dark fantasy author but also a writer/creator of practical music books - Beginner's Guide to Reading Music, Guitar Chords, Piano Chords, Songwriter’s Rhyming Dictionary and How to Play Guitar. Other publications include Advanced Guitar Chords, Advanced Piano Chords, Chords for Kids, How to Play the Electric Guitar, Piano & Keyboard Chords, Scales and Modes and Play Flamenco. Also editor of Mythology books 

Released EP Jakesongs on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, LastFM, etc and on CDBaby. Lifelong passion for fantastic worlds of any kind, from movies to fiction, art to music, posters, album and paperback book covers.

Jake Jackson is the artist name for Nick Wells, Publisher of Flame Tree Press / Flame Tree Publishing.

Reviews

[Therese | therese's nook]

DNF’d at 72%
While I enjoyed the basis of this and think that there are a lot of good myths to learn about, I wasn’t a fan of certain things:
1) there were certain editing mistakes where a sentence would end abruptly or would start a new paragraph where the sentence should have ended.
2) I didn’t like that when we get creation myths, or any larger myth for that matter, it would break it up and give each section within the myth its own introduction, while being a continuation of the content in the section before it, this ruined a lot of the flow for me.
3) There were inconsistencies with how Native Americans were referenced, it went from Native Americans, to Native American Indians, to Indians and I find that if you’re going to talk about mythology from other cultures, to refer to the culture’s people properly. Indians and Native Americans aren’t synonymous and I find it disrespectful to refer to them as such in modern works. And because of this, it had me questioning some of the content I had read prior and had me struggling to continue and finish the last... 30%

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book in my Mythology and Legends course for selected myths from different cultures. I liked that this book had a variety of cultures represented and covered a variety of types of myths.

[Avery D · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to read an approximation of the original myths, these books do the trick.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book definitely serves as a gateway into the various stories and myths around the world, I did have a few issues with it.

1) I appreciate the introductions to each place of origin that the stories are coming from, but I do think that organizing this book alphabetically harms it, especially when you get to the Scottish stories at the end and it's talking about how they compare to the Irish ones (the editor classifies them as Celtic in this book, but I would like to present the argument that 'Celtic' here is an umbrella term and that the stories included were very much rooted in Ireland specifically, not a combination of Celtic cultural lore. This can be backed up by the book itself, considering several of the sources proffered as further reading for the Celtic section refer directly to Ireland in their titles, and in the introduction to the Scottish myths and legends, despite the differences argued between Scottish and Celtic themes in it.)

2) Since when were Oberon and Titania originally from Norse mythology? I have been unable to find any concrete sources or arguments on this, and I must say, I am now desirous of a real source list so I could investigate that little nugget of information.

3) If all of Africa was going to be lumped into a singular section, but then also provide us information on where each story was coming from and which tribe, why not do the same for the Celtic/Scottish sections? Or, alternately would it have not made more sense to focus on specific regions of Africa and give them their own sections? Was page space an issue with the publisher, or were the editors unable to verify enough sources (although sources don't seem to be too much of an issue here, considering they are not cited). I am a little baffled at the decision to wrap up an entire continent in a singular section, but to not give the same treatment to two countries who, while very much not the same today, do share mythology, history from when those myths would have originated, and a very narrow branch of the Indo-European language tree.

I admit, I am not extensively educated on these myths and legends, and the background cultures surrounding them, but if I did get anything good out of this book, it was a thirst to learn more about them and also to find out about the production of this book (because the end result is fascinating to me in of itself). The further reading section is definitely important, but for all the claims of primary sources and the desire to make these stories accessible for the contemporary reader, it feels as though this book got lost in the river between academic and popular writings and is all the weaker for it.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, comprehensive, and detail oriented view of world mythology. This books is a clearly heavily researched guide to the beliefs of our ancestors and gives a clear lineage to many modern belief systems.
I am a firm believer that to predict the future and understand the present we must first appreciate the past. This novel gives us a brief glimpse into many culture around the world, some long dead and some still striving today, to help broaden our minds and spirits.
I firmly recommend this book to anyone with an open mind who enjoys mythology, religion, or philosophy.

[Mary Benes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, a really good overview of the different myths and legends for around the globe. A very casual read, with each story relatively short, or otherwise broken into more manageable pieces. My only complaint is an inconsistent writing style (which can be attributed to the different styles of the myths, however, the inconsistencies remained even within certain geographical and cultural areas), and a lot of editing errors unexpected in a book bought for nearly 30 USD.

But otherwise, great if you're just casually looking into global myths and legends or need something easy to read before bed.

[Blake Coats · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF (25% through). The book was okay for what it was, but it just wasn't what I hoped for. I got this book to learn more about the gods/goddesses of different cultures, but this book seemed to be more of a collection of folk tales, parables, and fables. Additionally, for a book meant to cover myths and legends of several different cultures it surprisingly leaves out anything about Ancient Egypt.

[HonestReader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Recently I received this book from my friend. This book 100%ly rekt my brain. This is so disappointing. The author started writing about other culture's Myths with an American Lens which is a bad start. He describes other culture's stories using his own words and makes up other stories within.

[Vincent Spriggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic assortment of myths from many different cultures, spanning many years. Many of the stories are slightly bland retellings rather than enthralling stories, but it definitely peaked my interest into further reading.

[Leah Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. If you like mythology from different parts of the world you'll love this

[Sarah Bergrud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for teaching mythology that is true to research! So many interesting stories and are pretty accurate! Stories are nice and short but informative!

[Amanda Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories were definitely more interesting than others, but if you're a fan of myths and legends I would consider it worth the read

[Tabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit of everything from a little bit of everywhere.

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decent reference material. I haven't read it in its entirety. Yet. ^_-

[Barbara Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read if you are into mythology. Lots of countries represented. Maybe could have dealt with lesser known like maybe Maori or something like that.

[Connor Eberhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has some really cool stories in it and gives an insight into many different cultures! But at the same time there are some just ok stories in it too, just depends on what you find interesting!

[Andressa Da Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re obsessed with mythology like I am, read this! It goes beyond classical myths and I learned about many more myths!

[T SP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes into far more detail than I expected a popular summary to do, even if it is a bit of a slog at times

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is well edited, but I felt like there has to be more interesting stories than the ones they picked. Some stories felt exciting, and then it would end way too soon!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am awful at Greek/Roman mythology so this book was a wonderful introduction for me. Most of the myths feature strong men as hero's not women. Myth is a way of endorsing and defining women's natural role as being loyal, obedient wives and mothers, and legitimizing the male dominated patriarchal society. Below are the parts of the book that I found most interesting:
-Pandora was made out of clay and sent to Earth. Pandora, being made in Heaven, possessed every possible gift, including curiosity. There was a sealed jar that Pandora was not supposed to open, of course she opened it and released all the suffering and torment that beset Human lives to this day, in fear she replaced the lid, trapping in one thing - Hope. Pandora and Epimetheus never experience pain or anger before, they began to weep and quarrel. While arguing they heard a voice say let "open, open, and I will heal your wounds, please let me out." Pandora, encouraged by Epimetheus, opened the box for the second time. The Gods with a sudden impulse of compassion, hid Hope among the evil spirits, whose mission was to heal wounds inflicted by her fellow prisoners.
-the Greek believed for the common dead, neither very good or very bad, their sad fate is to dwell forever in the shadowy gloom.
-Need to learn more about Queen Persephone, the queen of the underworld, she crushes poppies, pale beds of roses and green grapes into a deadly wine (a skill many women which they had, or just me)
-The Goddess Thetis was the mother of Achilles, whom she had with a mortal man. She tried previously to make all her children immortal by holding them over a fire. With Achilles she instead went to River Styx, making him invulnerable by dipping him into the water, except for the heel which remained his one vulnerable spot. Achilles became a great warrior, never losing a battle. The Gods lost their patience, irritated by his show of pride. Apollo shot an arrow to his heel and Achilles died instantly.
-Heracles, perhaps one of the most famous hero's, was an apt student, but undue harshness was intolerable to his high spirits. Linus, son of Apollo, was his tutor and corrected him with blows. Needless to say Heracles killed Linus with one blow.
-Vice and Virtue appeared before Heralces. Vice was full of artificial viles and fascinating arts, her face painted and her dress gaudy and attractive. Virtue was noble bearing and modest mien, her robes of spotless purity.
-Apollo was unlucky in love. He married Coronis, a nymph of Larissa, and thought himself happy in love. One day his favorite bird, the Crow, flew him with intelligence that his wife was unfaithful. Apollo burning with rage instantly destroyed her with a death-bringing dart. Apollo punished the Crow for its garrulity by changing its color from pure white to intense black and forbade it to fly any longer with other birds.
-As Rome began to emerge as a domiant power in Italy, the Roman religions began to evolve o serve the political needs of the state. Mars and Jupitor were originally local agriculture deities became the God of War and the might protector of the State. Venus the Goddess of vegetables became the Goddess of War.
-The twins Castor and Pollux were the earliest Greek Gods to be introduced to the Romans, at the beginning of the 5th century B.C.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously this contains different mythologies of various countries/cultures so of course you will not get an extensive catalogue for every culture mentioned in this book. It was interesting to read the reasoning behind how each culture believed the world was created. It definitely has sparked an interest in me to read further into some of these stories.
My major gripes with this book however, is the editing mistakes made. There have been run-on sentences, weird cut offs of sentences that then started on a different paragraph.
I also didn't like how they separated bits of the same story into different short stories with their own intros. It really does take you out of the it and can get a bit annoying at times. It makes sense now why B&N had this book in their discounted section.
I feel the worst was the fact that in the Native American/Indigenous myth section, they kept referring to them as 'Indians' which could have easily been rewritten. They did make a half-assed reasoning to why they didn't change it by saying 'they referred to them as Indians when the myths were transcribed/translated'. You could literally just change the names now, there is no reason to keep that in. This is the point in which I started to question whoever put together this book. It seems as if they don't care about other cultures.

[L Cam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of myths and folklore. I know a lot about the Greek and Roman myths, so it's nice to have a sort of anthology that includes Indian, African, Norse, and other tales. No one knows a whole lot about those and its not talked about as much in the classrooms. I remember Anasazi, so it was neat. Definitely wish there was more, but for what type of book it is it's definitely a treasure.

[Wendi Ballew · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10 Stars. Some very interesting myths, the African, Norse, Native American and Scottish were my personal favorites. Greek myths could have been left out as they have been covered so frequently. I would have liked to see Egyptian myths. Also there was a great number of spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. Still worth the read for anyone interested in mythology.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

i came across this book at a book stall, and had to buy it to add to my mythology collection. this book contains not only greek mythology but Collects Classical Greek, Celtic, Norse, Chinese, African, Native American and more myths. i enjoyed this book alot.

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very worth reading. For great fans of the audio show Genesis Avalon and television shows i.e. Once Upon a Time; Grimm; Outer Limits.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has some incredible myths! The kind of myths that I wouldn’t be able to find alone. I think it’s a great introduction to various kinds of mythology & deities.

[Kimhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good collection of myths and legends to read and enjoy

[Lisa Rae Zoldos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the book, but I was a bit turned off by some of the editing errors and typos.

[Hunter Case · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good!!! Took me forever. But I am slow at reading.

[Sami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that this one has so many different mythologies all in one book :)