The Greek Myths 2

by Robert Graves

Paperback, 1983

Status

Available

Call number

292

Collection

Publication

Penguin (Non-Classics) (1983), Paperback, 416 pages

Description

'As soon as the Cyclops had fallen into a drunken sleep, the wine having been untempered with water, Odysseus and his remaining companions heated the stake in the embers of the fire, then drove it into the single eye and twisted it about . . . 'Classicist and poet Robert Graves's superb two-volume retelling of the Greek myths for a modern audience has been regarded for over fifty years as the definitive version. Drawing on the entire canon of ancient literature, Graves weaves together all the elements of every myth into a single harmonious narrative. Ideal for the first time reader, it is also accompanied by commentaries, cross-references, variants and explanations that make it equally valuable as a work of scholarly reference. The result is a dazzling and comprehensive account of the gods and monsters, the heroic feats and appalling tragedies of ancient Greece, many of them among the greatest stories ever told. In this second volume, Graves recounts the tragedies of Oedipus, Iphigineia and Medea, the labours of Hercules, the voyages of Odysseus, the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts, the epic story of the Trojan War, as well as many, many others.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member antiquary
I understand Graves sometimes inserted his own ideas into this instead of reporting the traditional version. Personally I prefer his retelling for children.
LibraryThing member srboone
This analysis from the admittedly uneducated Graves is one of the most scholarly treatises on the Greek myths. Magnificent on every level.
LibraryThing member Marse
The second volume of Grave's Greek Myths delves into the more familiar myths. It is fascinating to read about the variant and contradictory versions of the gods/heroes, and one wonders how one version beat out the rest. The book also makes it obvious how fluid and changeable is Myth. What interests
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me most are the actual rituals and rites associated with particular god cults, which Graves only briefly mentions. I suppose James Frazer's The Golden Bough is the place to find such things. What strikes one about these Greek deities as well as the Old Testament god is how humans are merely playthings and a means of assuaging their own vanity -- none of them (the deities) really care what happens to the humans, except temporarily if there is lust or infatuation involved. It seems that humanity felt a need to justify the vicissitudes of fate and nature by creating immortal beings against whom we are all powerless.
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Language

Original publication date

1955

Physical description

416 p.; 7 inches

ISBN

0140205098 / 9780140205091

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