Sign in with Facebook
Ted's Reviews > Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
by
by
Pindar in the early fifth century tells the tale about the feast Tantalus made the gods and protests that it is not true. The punishment of Tantalus is described often, first in the Odyssey, from which I have taken it. Amphion's story, and Niobe's, I have taken from Ovid, who alone tells them in full. For Pelops winning the chariot race I have preferred Apollodorus, of the first or second century A.D., who gives the fullest account that has come down. The story of Atreus' and Thyestes' crimes and all that followed is taken from Aeschylus' Oresteia.
from the intro to chapter 17, The House of Atreus
I was stressing out last night over trying to get a handle on the third part of Aeschylus' Oresteia, The Eumenides. I'd started reading the introductory material by the translator, but it was so long, so involved ... almost as if it were a postmodern retelling of the play.
What's more (displaying my ignorance here) I was confused over the title of the play, and some of the main protagonists of the play, the Furies. They are represented by a chorus, pursuing Orestes for his murder of his mother. But where does the title come from?
I picked up some info somewhere in the edition I'm reading, and finally realized that in the climactic section of the play the Furies are rebranded by Athena into the Eumenides - a name that means Kindly Ones - thus changing them from a group seeking revenge and retribution (the old way that humans responded to murder) to a group which provides a higher moral choice to human kind, through the institution of justice.
But before I let it go, I picked up Hamilton's book, and checked out the index entries for Eumenides (248) and Furies (see Erinyes) - so to Erinyes, where among other entries was (Orestes pursued by, 246-248) - which closed the circle. Those three pages were near the end of an eighteen page chapter on the House of Atreus. As I started looking through this (to get to my point) I realized that this chapter told the story of this house in a more illuminating way than the somewhat overly cerebral, mammoth introduction in my copy of Oresteia.
So, I thought I'd throw in these words about this quite wonderful book, most of which I've never read in the decades that I've owned it (basically having used it as a reference book).
As hinted above, the book has a pretty detailed, and very useful, index. There are drawings by Steele Savage, some full-page (in my Mentor edition of sometime after 1970, which was at the time the forty-fourth printed of Hamilton's book, first printed in 1940. It is still in print.
In the spoiler I've put the table of contents. If you check it out, you'll see the wonderful way that Hamilton has organized it. And you'll see why the book isn't titled Greek Mythology.
(view spoiler)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: March Violets
Next review: West-Running Brook
Older review: We Were the Mulvaneys
Previous library review: The Sleepwalkers A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe
Next library review: The Dreamtime Book Australian Aboriginal myths in paintings by Ainslie Roberts
from the intro to chapter 17, The House of Atreus
I was stressing out last night over trying to get a handle on the third part of Aeschylus' Oresteia, The Eumenides. I'd started reading the introductory material by the translator, but it was so long, so involved ... almost as if it were a postmodern retelling of the play.
What's more (displaying my ignorance here) I was confused over the title of the play, and some of the main protagonists of the play, the Furies. They are represented by a chorus, pursuing Orestes for his murder of his mother. But where does the title come from?
I picked up some info somewhere in the edition I'm reading, and finally realized that in the climactic section of the play the Furies are rebranded by Athena into the Eumenides - a name that means Kindly Ones - thus changing them from a group seeking revenge and retribution (the old way that humans responded to murder) to a group which provides a higher moral choice to human kind, through the institution of justice.
But before I let it go, I picked up Hamilton's book, and checked out the index entries for Eumenides (248) and Furies (see Erinyes) - so to Erinyes, where among other entries was (Orestes pursued by, 246-248) - which closed the circle. Those three pages were near the end of an eighteen page chapter on the House of Atreus. As I started looking through this (to get to my point) I realized that this chapter told the story of this house in a more illuminating way than the somewhat overly cerebral, mammoth introduction in my copy of Oresteia.
So, I thought I'd throw in these words about this quite wonderful book, most of which I've never read in the decades that I've owned it (basically having used it as a reference book).
As hinted above, the book has a pretty detailed, and very useful, index. There are drawings by Steele Savage, some full-page (in my Mentor edition of sometime after 1970, which was at the time the forty-fourth printed of Hamilton's book, first printed in 1940. It is still in print.
In the spoiler I've put the table of contents. If you check it out, you'll see the wonderful way that Hamilton has organized it. And you'll see why the book isn't titled Greek Mythology.
(view spoiler)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: March Violets
Next review: West-Running Brook
Older review: We Were the Mulvaneys
Previous library review: The Sleepwalkers A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe
Next library review: The Dreamtime Book Australian Aboriginal myths in paintings by Ainslie Roberts
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Mythology.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Teresa
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
Mar 03, 2019 02:07AM
I read this book straight through when I was a kid. As you say, there's no better reference.
reply
|
flag
*
Teresa wrote: "I read this book straight through when I was a kid. As you say, there's no better reference."I'm glad you agree! (Since I haven't read very much of it.)
