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Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology
Greek and Roman mythology has fascinated people for more than two millennia, and its influence on cultures throughout Europe, America, North Africa, and the Middle East attests to the universal appeal of the stories. This title examines the best-known figures of Greek and Roman mythology together with the great works of classic literature.
547 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 12, 2010
Roman and Roman seem to have wanted to write about classical literature rather than mythology. At first the idea to examine these stories by using the original sources, epic or poem or play, seemed appealing. However, the A-Z format works against it, forcing the reader to do a lot of flipping around to follow one story. This approach would have been more useful if the various stories, for example the travails of the House of Atreus, had been grouped together to more easily compare the various versions. The articles are also quite repetitive when dealing with individuals who share a common myth.
The longest articles are the ones summarizing and commenting on various plays and epics, shifting the focus of the work from mythology to critical analysis of classical literature. It should properly be classified in the 800s. This focus has a weakness in that there is no timeline or article that puts the various poets and playwrights into historical context, no explanation for which plays survived and how they were preserved, and no background on the epic tradition or the play competition at Athens.
In fact, quite a lot of information is assumed to be known by the reader, including obscure terms like Amazonomachy or Dioscuri (there is no entry for Castor and Pollux under their proper names), art terms like black-figure and red-figure, and Hellenic history. This is definitely not aimed at students who are not already classical scholars.
The tight focus on classical works also leaves odd gaps in places. There is no mention of Galatea in connection with Pygmalion. The Dioscuri's "central myth is the abduction and rape of the daughters of Leucippus"--despite having almost an entire page devoted to their entry, that's all you will learn about their central myth. It exists. Somewhere.
I was also very disappointed by sloppy editing. There were numerous typos, a missing entry, a misidentified engraving, a wrongly identified murder victim ("Orestes and Pylades murder Agamemnon", p. 143. They murdered Aegisthus to avenge Agamemnon.), and gay marriage ("Megara, son of Creon, was married to Heracles", p. 215).
The authors also focus on listing depictions of the myths in classical and post classical art and the book includes reproductions. However, they are low quality and add very little to the text.
I kind of want to know if Roman and Roman were snickering when they wrote that Romans wore leisure suits instead of togas during Saturnalia or if the implications of that just escaped them as well as their editors. I do want an engraving of that scene though!
The longest articles are the ones summarizing and commenting on various plays and epics, shifting the focus of the work from mythology to critical analysis of classical literature. It should properly be classified in the 800s. This focus has a weakness in that there is no timeline or article that puts the various poets and playwrights into historical context, no explanation for which plays survived and how they were preserved, and no background on the epic tradition or the play competition at Athens.
In fact, quite a lot of information is assumed to be known by the reader, including obscure terms like Amazonomachy or Dioscuri (there is no entry for Castor and Pollux under their proper names), art terms like black-figure and red-figure, and Hellenic history. This is definitely not aimed at students who are not already classical scholars.
The tight focus on classical works also leaves odd gaps in places. There is no mention of Galatea in connection with Pygmalion. The Dioscuri's "central myth is the abduction and rape of the daughters of Leucippus"--despite having almost an entire page devoted to their entry, that's all you will learn about their central myth. It exists. Somewhere.
I was also very disappointed by sloppy editing. There were numerous typos, a missing entry, a misidentified engraving, a wrongly identified murder victim ("Orestes and Pylades murder Agamemnon", p. 143. They murdered Aegisthus to avenge Agamemnon.), and gay marriage ("Megara, son of Creon, was married to Heracles", p. 215).
The authors also focus on listing depictions of the myths in classical and post classical art and the book includes reproductions. However, they are low quality and add very little to the text.
I kind of want to know if Roman and Roman were snickering when they wrote that Romans wore leisure suits instead of togas during Saturnalia or if the implications of that just escaped them as well as their editors. I do want an engraving of that scene though!
January 24, 2015
This is, in a way, a "lightweight" encyclopedia about Classical Mythology. Why did I say lightweight? Because, as the authors themselves wrote:
This is a reference book, not unlike wikipedia. I know kids these days have little time thumbing the index, finding entries and all that. Yet if you know how to use it, it will help much understanding what's what in Classical Mythology.
For instance: the entry about Aeneid is 14 pages long, complete with book-by-book synopsis plus introduction and commentary. Likewise 15 pages for Iliad; and quite similarly on Metamorphoses and Odyssey.
Now that hasn't included entries on single characters like e.g. Homer and Dido, and minor works like Aeschylus' dramas etc...
TL; DR: Useful book, easy to read, and it saves you time scouring public domain texts to find out what happened to whom in Greco-Roman myth.
At the same time, some works and authors, while important in mythographical terms, are less likely to appear on an undergraduate reading list, and, in general, are more obscure. Thus, while we have included a brief informational entry on Diodorus Siculus, there is no extensive discussion of his work. In effect, two criteria are at work in determining the inclusion and extent of literary entries: the importance of the work in literary terms and its relevance to our understanding of mythology.
The myths of the classical world may be classed among the richest legacies of Western civilization. We hope that our reference work contributes to the understanding and enjoyment of these astonishing stories.
(Preface, pp. x-xi)
This is a reference book, not unlike wikipedia. I know kids these days have little time thumbing the index, finding entries and all that. Yet if you know how to use it, it will help much understanding what's what in Classical Mythology.
For instance: the entry about Aeneid is 14 pages long, complete with book-by-book synopsis plus introduction and commentary. Likewise 15 pages for Iliad; and quite similarly on Metamorphoses and Odyssey.
Now that hasn't included entries on single characters like e.g. Homer and Dido, and minor works like Aeschylus' dramas etc...
TL; DR: Useful book, easy to read, and it saves you time scouring public domain texts to find out what happened to whom in Greco-Roman myth.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews