How long is mythology by edith hamilton

The Greek poets had a penchant for the dramatic and leaned heavily on shock value. Cronus Saturn , father of Zeus, learned from Gaia and Uranus that one of his own children would overthrow him as he did his own father. So, he devoured them all as soon as they were born to prevent the prophecy, as you would. Anyway, Zeus escaped the same fate as his siblings for… reasons, the prophecy was fulfilled, the kids were regurgitated etc. This story, along with a few others, got me wondering why no one has created any horror adaptations of the Greek Myths.

Some of the tales have a really insidious tone that I think could make for some chilling cinematics. Horrifying stuff. If you can get a hold of the 75th Anniversary edition, do so!

The beautiful hardback cover, Illustrations by Jim Tierney, multiple double-page family trees and gold chapter header and border detailing make it an obvious choice. Hamilton proves herself extremely knowledgeable, not only with regard to the Greek Myths but, about the times in which they were composed as well.

You actually finish the book with a pretty good idea of who all the major authors of Greek and Roman Mythology were and some of their storytelling traits. There are two reasons this lost a star from me. Really, not a single fuck was given as she whistled through some really great material without doing it a lick of justice. Make of that what you will. Have a lovely day Bookish folk and never forget the moral underlying all of Greek Mythology.

Jason Koivu. Author 6 books followers. Edith Hamilton may have written Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes more than a half century ago and she may have been fairly ancient when she did so, but she still put out one seriously readable book! Hamilton took from the best sources to cobble together slick summaries of all your old time myth favorites. Before giving each mythical story's highlights, she details the different writers who created a version of it and explains the qualities of the best ones.

Sometimes she berates the lesser attempts and I appreciated the balance, especially since she explains her critique. Now having said, I have to note the caveat that this is not a scholarly work. This is a summary, a boiling-down, a sugar-coating of a topic that frankly could have been presented in a much more academic, dry manner.

I'm glad it wasn't. These are not cursory run-throughs. They're full of detail and color. The main issue with a book with that title is that you expect a wide ranging survey of the topic.

This, however, is almost entirely about the Greek Myths. The Roman versions are only mentioned, because the Romans stole their myths wholesale from the Greeks.

Nothing else in all the rest of humanity is even slightly touched upon. But if you want an easy, fun read on the Greek stuff, this is the book for you! I worked the same for me.

Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies are so old because they have been in existence thousands and thousands of years even before Christ was born. No wonder that many literary works have been based on them. Even the names of the planets and the stars. Even the names of my, mortal as they are, relatives and friends.

I have a nephew by a cousin in Canada whose name is Hector but he does not write stories as his passion is on computers. In the island where I grew up, there was a boy named Apollo who was naked the whole day that I could see his wang dangling while we played and he oftentimes cried when he lost in our games and I thought that, while reading this book, he did not even have a slight semblance of the Greek god he was named after. Along Roxas Boulevard, there is a niteclub called Athena where I bring company male visitors if they are giving me hints that they would like to see naked dancing Filipinas.

Well, I am just trying to be a gracious hospitable host allowing my foreigner friends happy during their visit. But I think that none of those girls exhibit wisdom, reason and chastity that are the virtues of the goddess their place of work was named after.

Maybe their frequent ordering of ladies drink while they reason that they are thirsty can be considered as wisdom , but please pardon me if I don't comment about chastity. My favorite part is the Trojan War. I know, I know. I have not read Homer's The Iliad and I am ashamed.

Prior to reading this book, I thought that Troy is Brad Pitt. This book taught me that Troy was a city and Brad Pitt's name in the movie should have been Achilles.

So, Rioldan really stuck to the myth after all. Hamilton's re-telling of those old myths is considerably interesting. I just can't remember all those hard-to-pronounce many names. However, the knowledge that I got reading each story was really overwhelming.

This is really a book that needs to be read by everyone. Thank you, Atty. Monique for recommending this book to me. You're such a smart lady and I am happy to be your friend! Let's buddy read Bulfinch soon! Rachel Reads Ravenously. Anyways, mythology is always something I was interested in and loved, it's in so much of our everyday life still in the stories we tell and our history.

I know most of my real life friends read this in the 10th grade, but my class read The Odyssey only and I've always meant to get to this book but didn't until now. I listened to the audio of this book during my work commutes, and I liked it because it was a bunch of stories so I didn't have to keep track of a lot.

Many stories were familiar, some I had heard different versions and some I had never heard. Hamilton, while not indulging in graphic details, does not shy away from some of the harsher aspects of these stories and I found myself making faces while listening. I also really liked how Hamilton told the reader her sources on where she got these stories from and if from different writers, how many years apart they were.

I was a history major in college, so this was fascinating to me. I get that it's not for everyone, but if you want to learn more about mythology in general, this is the book for you. Lucy Langford. The author also wrote where the these stories are found and the source material she used eg through tragic plays, or part of poetry which was great for me for further research! There was some for Roman mythology but this was mostly The Aenid overview. This also had a short introduction to Norse Mythology.

I would say this was great for an overview of Greek mythology but more of an introduction for Roman and Norse mythology. I declared August "History Month" and read, amongst various others, Bulfinch's Mythology of which I was quite disappointed.

In my research of his work and how it came to be I found a reference to this book by Edith Hamilton, who superseded Mr. Bulfinch in most classrooms. Thus I read this book in an attempt to find a better written encyclopedia. Unfortunately, I did not succeed. To clarify: this book IS better written than the one by Mr. One reason is that Edith Hamilton was a scholar. Garrett European Fellowship. Her father had begun teaching her Latin, then French, German, and Greek when she was only 7 years old which probably was a factor in her interests later and her great scholarly success.

In she moved back to Germany with her sister to study humanities and classics at the university of Munich the then centre of classical studies. Edith Hamilton and her sister were among the first women to audit classes her sister published an autobiography detailing their life in Germany even.

Originally, her plan had been to earn a doctoral degree definitely not easy at the time but then she was persuaded to return to the US to become head of the recently opened Bryn Mawr Preparatory School for Girls in Baltimore. She never completed her doctoral degree but she did become an "inspiring and respected head of the school for twenty six years" bringing new ideas to an old system.

Only after retiring did she start to write books, which explains why this book was published only when she was 62! As she has said herself in some interviews, her passion was for the Greeks which definitely shows in this book and is my main criticism. This book is advertised as a source on mythology in general, but it isn't. The main body of work is about the Greeks, added to by Roman mythology which mostly is adapted Greek mythology if we're being honest.

Almost as an afterthought, she included only 20 pages of Norse mythology. Nothing else is mentioned! The Greek parts are written very well and the author's passion for the subject is clear throughout.

All her knowledge came from classic literature; she has never been to Greece, and never participated in archaeology. Of course that isn't necessary in order to produce a good book but it shows that her views although she was a scholar were influenced and limited by the sources she read. While I was pleased to see that Hamilton had included the Volsunga saga in the chapter about Norse mythology in many books it is replaced by the Nibelungenlied which was penned much later , she dismissed the saga by saying that the story is so well-known thanks to the Nibelungenlied that the original can be told briefly and THAT is an absolute no-go for me.

It is precisely the original stories I want to be told about or at least I want a thorough comparison! Moreover, the one thing I expect at the very least from an encyclopedia of mythology is a good overview. However, this book does not. Other cultures aren't even referenced. If she had titled her book correctly, I really wouldn't mind. It's a nice book about the very much related mythology of the Greeks and the Romans.

However, I really need to point this out again: this is supposed to be a comprehensive work of mythology as a whole! See a complete list of the characters in Mythology and in-depth analyses of Zeus, Odysseus, Oedipus, and Medea. Here's where you'll find analysis of the literary devices in Mythology , from the major themes to motifs, symbols, and more. Find the quotes you need to support your essay, or refresh your memory of the book by reading these key quotes.

Test your knowledge of Mythology with quizzes about every section, major characters, themes, symbols, and more. Go further in your study of Mythology with background information, movie adaptations, and links to the best resources around the web. Ace your assignments with our guide to Mythology! Jekyll and Mr. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Summary Read our full plot summary and analysis of Mythology , scene by scene break-downs, and more. Characters See a complete list of the characters in Mythology and in-depth analyses of Zeus, Odysseus, Oedipus, and Medea.