Gods and Heroes in Art

A Guide to Imagery #7

by Lucia Impelluso

Gods and Heroes in Art aims to help museum patrons and art lovers recognize the legendary characters of classical antiquity in art. The characters are each described in entries summarizing their distinctive stories, their special attributes, and the ways in which artists have depicted them. Each entry is richly illustrated with reproductions of works of art in which the god or hero is pictured, giving readers a chance to examine images of the character and to understand the work of art better.

Genres: Art, Mythology, Art History, Nonfiction, History, Ancient History, Reference

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2003

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

You're really looking at a book like this more for the art than anything else. It presents the Gods and Heroes (of Anicent Greece and Rome only) with brief bios and heavy artwork. Each god gets at least a page, if not more (though sometimes the choice of which gets more is strange, as are the divisions). Rather nice with lavish illustrations.

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through childhood, the teenage years, and as a young adult, I devoured the Greek stories. I also am an artist. This book was a treasure for someone like me. I sometimes played a game where I would try to determine the story being portrayed without looking at the writing, by noting the dress of the illustrated characters and the symbols surrounding them. I borrowed this from my local library and I may have to purchase my own copy!

[Oindrila Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

More like a dictionary of all the gods and heroes of Art. Would be a nice book to carry when you are actually analyzing an artwork or are visiting some of the historical cities and museums and want to know exactly what the significance of every detail in the piece means.
It was hard for me to remember all the characters by the end I reached the end of the book. That was probably because I am not a student of history or art history and do not know the exact chronology of the characters, who came after who. But it was an interesting process of getting acquainted with the little stories associated with all the mythological characters.

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond EBN 2023

This book was very well put together with beautiful artwork including notes on the characters and symbols portrayed. Also a small "story" page giving you the history/myth of the Gods (both Roman and Greek names given), the Heroes from the mythos/histories, the players from the Homeric poems (Illiad, Oddessy, Opic), and then Historical figures from both Roman and Greek history.

I spent a lot of time on each art page reading all the notes and wishing I could see the art personally. I think that would be awesome.

If you like the history and myths of the Roman and Greek era, you make like this book. If you also love art... you will love this book. Take a look!

[briellemarae · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3 - felt more like a dictionary than a story, still super interesting though.

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive guide to the stories and appearances of Greek and Roman gods and heroes in classical art. A must-read for mythology and art lovers alike.

[Tue Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book of artworks with some explanations for the benefit of the reader.