Since its original publication by Little, Brown and Company in 1942, Edith Hamilton's Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the world and established itself as a perennial bestseller. Mythology" even comes with a bunch of nifty illustrations, done by someone with the improbable name of Steele Savage (with a great fondness for winged horses, apparently). The beginning starts with a great essay describing the impact of these mythologies and then talks about major Gods before telling us the stories. It's not just the over-representation of winged steeds, there's also way too much use of the threatening dark thundercloud effect, and the human figures are invariably depicted as shrieking heavenward as they shake their evidently double-jointed limbs in panic.

In the introduction it lays clearly the key facts about Hellenic mythology: (1) it is not fables but oral transfer of true events (2) part of it is also pure literature but it is not difficult to identify the literature from factual parts, (3) the cosmos made the gods and not the other way around, (4) Greek myths are rational without magic or fear of the world: the only two witches Circe and Medea are beautiful, attractive women and interesting characters, (5) women are as important as men in the Greek myths and the feminine nature is propelled to a major force in shaping world and society without which the world would not be viable (6) there is no mysticism but rather a fresh love of the natural, the visual and the beautiful: monsters are codenames for volcanoes, earthquakes and other geological phenomena not parts of social life, (7) the myths promote upright ethics, heroism and the idea of a meaningful life, (8) they excite reader's imagination without being fairy tales or unrealistic: realism and imagination go hand in hand. Anyway, Zeus escaped the same fate as his siblings for… reasons, the prophecy was fulfilled, the kids were regurgitated etc. I'm not qualified to give a scholarly opinion on the book, but I would liked to have read more on the Norse Gods.Some of the tales have a really insidious tone that I think could make for some chilling cinematics.

Hector’s young Son, Astyanax and Hecuba’s daughter, Polyxena are murdered after the defeat of Troy, Tantalus kills his own son and feeds him to the Gods, Atreus feeds his brother his own children… you get the point! Since its original publication by Little, Brown and Company in 1942, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the world and established itself as a perennial bestseller.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The majority of Hera’s misdeeds are a result of the fact that Zeus can’t keep his Jörmungandr in his pants (Yes, we’re mixing mythologies, just roll with it). Pindar in the early fifth century tells the tale about the feast Tantalus made the gods and protests that it is not true. This story, along with a few others, got me wondering why no one has created any horror adaptations of the Greek Myths. One could add many more but overall in this book one can see clearly the basis of a civilisation that was destined to become great and provide Europe with its mind and soul.