"Drawn from original sources and later variants, this comprehensive volume consists of both complete stories and short identifications of the characters, events, place names, and constellations that compose the rich body of ancient Greek and Roman literature"--Back cover.

Allegorists in ancient Greece attempted to find philosophical and physical truths in myth. Plato, who resolutely excluded myths from the sphere of truth, thought that they could express ideas in a realm he could not reach with dialectical reasoning. Freud built a science around the myth of Oedipus, saying that myths were "distorted wish dreams of entire nations, the dreams of early mankind." No body of myth has served more purposes - or been subject to more analysis - than Greek mythology. This is a revised translation of Fritz Graf's highly acclaimed introduction to Greek mythology, Griechische Mythologie: Eine Einfuhrung, originally published in 1985 by Artemis Verlag. Graf offers a chronological account of the principal Greek myths that appear in the surviving literary and artistic sources, and concurrently documents the history of interpretation of Greek mythology from the seventeenth century to the present. First surveying the various definitions of myth that have been advanced, Graf proceeds to look at the relationship between Greek myths and epic poetry; the absence of an "origin of man" myth in Creek mythology; and connection between particular myths and shrines or holy festivals; the harmony in Greek literature between myth and history; the use of myth in Greek song and tragedy; and the uses and interpretations of myth by philosophers and allegorists.

The figures and events of classical myths underpin our culture and the constellations named after them fill the night sky. Whether it�s the raging Minotaur trapped in the Cretan labyrinth or the twelve labours of Hercules, Aphrodite�s birth from the waves or Zeus visiting Danae as a shower of gold, the mythology of Greece and Rome is full of unforgettable stories. All the stories of the Greek tragedies � Oedipus, Medea, Antigone � are there; all the events of the Trojan wars and of Odysseus and Aeneas� epic journeys; the founding of Athens and of Rome� These are the strangest tales of love, war, betrayal and heroism ever told and, while brilliantly retelling them, this book shows how they echo through the works of much later writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Camus and Ted Hughes. Full of attractive illustrations and laid out in eighteen clear chapters (the titles include �Dangerous Women� and �Heroes�), Dr Jennifer March has written a fascinating guide to the myths of classical civilization that is as readable as a novel.

An introduction to the mythological world of the Greeks and the Romans, combined with a chronology of myths and a dictionary of key characters, objects, and events. Handbook of Classical Mythology offers newcomers and long-time enthusiasts new ways to navigate the world of Greek and Roman myths. Written by a foremost mythologist, the book begins by exploring the sources and landscapes from which the myths emerged. It then provides a richly detailed timeline of mythic episodes from the creation of the cosmos to the end of the Heroic Age—plus an illustrated mythological dictionary listing every significant character, place, event, and object. Whether exploring the world that gave rise to ancient mythology or researching a specific piece of the whole, the handbook is the best introduction available to the extraordinary cast of these tales (gods, nymphs, satyrs, monsters, heroes) and the natural and supernatural stages upon which their fates are played out.