Happy Atheist Forum

Recently a deep interest in Greek mythology has been stirred in me. Is anyone aware of some literature that gives an in depth overview of all of it? I've heard wonderful things of Joseph Campbell...

Thanks!

Sorry I have no answer.

I would like to know what Nietzsche was talking about with his Dionysian stuff though. Anyone?

Nietzsche had a love affair with Greek Mythology. In The Birth of Tragedy he coined the terms Dionysian and Apollonian (in another translation Dionysiac and Appoline). Dionysus was the god of wine, laughter and chaos. Apollo was the god of light and truth (among other things such as music & illusion). But these are the attributes he focuses on the most to make his point. The terms are really only loosely related on the mythology itself.

The point he was trying to make, in that book, is that the introduction of the god, Dionysus, allowed a for a more freed spirit to create good, or better, art.

The concept of Dionysus did play apart in his later philosophy, too, though. His idea of a good creative philosopher, or even a Ãœbermensch, was that of a Dionysian. I wouldn't get too hung up on the terminology though. Like I said, it's very loose.

Campbell is good, though he's more interested in specific elements of mythology, rather than a comprehensive overview, in my opinion.  He doesn't really limit himself to Greek myth, either.  There is a two volume work; The Greek Myths (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0140010262/ref=sib_rdr_ex?ie=UTF8&p=S00C&j=0#reader-page) by Robert Graves, which is the most exhaustive compilation of Greeks myths in the English language of which I'm aware. It doesn't get into analysis much, but is mainly a bare bones presentation of stories, with cross-references.

Hesiod's theogony is almost like a bible, it gives the creation story of where all the deities came from. I think there is a version of it, free, on the intarwebs.

here it is, CLICKY! (http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm)

It's not an in-depth study of greek mythology, but it's a fantastic retelling of some of the myths that have to do with Dionysus - check out the comic "Bacchus" by Eddie Campbell.

I've got Edith Hamilton's "Mythology", which is a good overview. Most of the other things I have are from my late grandfather and are out of print.

I vote for reading the actual books.  I've read the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Aeneid and I loved them.  I took a classical mythology course in college but we just used the classical books.  I never had Hesiod's Theogony which is origins of each of the specific gods but we discussed it a bit.  Ovid's Metamorphoesis was good which explained how things in the world came to be including gods lusting after mortals and such.  Also if you don't want to sit down and read any of it you can find them all in audio book format and I'm pretty sure they are all on ITunes ^_^.

I've personally never read a book discussing the symbolism and the creative story telling of these books.  But my teacher was a fanatic about mythology so we got a lot of side information including the bard's tradition and how they were paid for telling the stories well so there are points in the stories where they ... remind people ... the difficult task of being a bard.  Like in the Odyssey Odysseus said at one point that the bard's were closer to the gods (specifically the muses) then the priests because they actually create beauty.  If you haven't read the books I really suggest you do :-D

It so great. Thanks a lots.


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Thanks everyone. I much appreciate it. I'll have to buy all these books  

Quote from: "Sophus"Thanks everyone. I much appreciate it. I'll have to buy all these books  

Many are available for free as ebooks from various sources like Project Gutenberg and Feedbooks.

Try Classical Mythology by Morford and Lenardon The paperback version is available at http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Mythology-Mark-P-Morford/dp/0195308050/. Very highly recommended.

I found "The Library of Apollodorus" to be an absolutely wonderful insight into Greek mythology. It  provides a history of Greek mythology. It has been a primary source of information for scholars. The book also includes notes, a map, and genealogical tables.  I would also suggest "After Antiquity: Greek Language, Myth, and Metaphor" .

For online resources I submit the following (Mind you my primary mythological knowledge lays in Egyptian, but I have a fair number of resources for Greek) all free.


Bulfinch's Mythology: The age of fable or stories of gods and heroes:http://www.greekmythology.com/Books/Bulfinch/bulfinch.html


Homer's The Odyssey http://www.greekmythology.com/Books/Odyssey/odyssey.html


Apollonius Rhodius's The Argonautica http://www.greekmythology.com/Books/Argonautica/argonautica.html


Arthur Fairbanks's:The Mythology of Greece and Rome: Presented with Special Reference to Its Influence on Literature http://www.questia.com/read/7864312?title=The%20Mythology%20of%20Greece%20and%20Rome%3a%20Presented%20with%20Special%20Reference%20to%20Its%20Influence%20on%20Literature


Any of those sites will provide a lot of resources for your to peruse. I just posted the ones that I believe are of the most interest to you.