Greek mythology has grown to become part of our daily lives. We often find ourselves expressing our vices as our “Achilles Heel” or being careful to avoid “Greek gift”.
If you want to know why people still use mythological anecdotes, it’s because most of the earliest forms of storytelling come from Ancient Greece. When you hear stories about Zeus, Medusa, Pegasus, and Gods vs. Titans, you begin to wonder just how deep and wide the early poets reason.
To know more about Greek mythology, you’ll need to start reading books about Greek to understand the vast history of Ancient Greece.
- ‘Mythology: The Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes’ by Edith Hamilton
- Audible Audiobook
- Edith Hamilton (Author) – Suzanne Toren (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 03/14/2013 (Publication Date) – Hachette Audio (Publisher)
Edith Hamilton’s mythology brings to life the Roman and Norse myths- the stories of gods and heroes that have influenced human creativity from ancient times to the present.
The book follows the drama of the Trojan War and the roving of Odysseus. Edith explores the tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Cupid and Psyche, and mighty King Midas. Through this book, we’re able to discover reference points for numerous artworks, literature, and cultural inquiry – from Freud’s Oedipus complex to Wagner’s Ring Cycle of operas to Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra.
This book serves as a reference for scholars and a book you can pick to learn more about Greek mythology for fun.
- ‘The Odyssey’ by Emily Wilson
- Hardcover Book
- Homer (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 592 Pages – 11/07/2017 (Publication Date) – W. W. Norton & Company (Publisher)
The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the consequences of war. It talks about wealth, power, poverty, marriage and family, travelers, hospitality, and the longing for home.
The English translation of the Odyssey by Emily Wilson tells the tales of monsters, shipwrecks, and magic interestingly. This translation follows the same pattern as the Greek original; written in iambic pentameter verse.
Emily Wilson’s Odyssey explores the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the suspense and drama in the poem. The characters are easy to remember, from the goddess Athena who guides the hero, and the awkward teenage son, Telemachus, who strives to be an adult to find his father; from the clever Penelope, who manages to reject clamoring suitors during her husband’s absence, to the hero himself, a man of many tricks and moods.
This book is well-equipped to help this generation of scholars, students, and general readers alike know more about Greek.
- ‘The Iliad’ by Robert Fagles
- Iliad
- Homer
- Fagles
- Homer (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 704 Pages – 04/29/1998 (Publication Date) – Penguin Classics (Publisher)
You shouldn’t miss out on reading The Iliad after reading The Odyssey. Written in the ninth century B.C., Homer’s poem talks about the horrors of war, the heroism of men and gods fighting with emotions and battling amidst destruction and devastation as the end of the Trojan War approaches.
Robert Fagles displays his poetic and scholarly skills by bringing the energy of contemporary language to this heroic epic. He maintains the metric music of Homer’s poetry and cites the nuances of the Iliad’s captivating repeated phrases in an astonishing performance.
- ‘Mythos’ by Stephen Fry
- Audible Audiobook
- Stephen Fry (Author) – Stephen Fry (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 08/27/2019 (Publication Date) – Chronicle Books (Publisher)
If you’re not a fan of reading metered poetry like the Odyssey, but you still want to know about Greek, ‘Mythos’ by Stephen Fry is another book that will come in handy for you. This book explains everything in the Odyssey in a lighter dramatized version.
Stephen Fry outdid himself by mixing humor and fiction into the early stages of Greek mythology. In this book, you’ll find helpful commentary in each chapter explaining the situation and characters involved in the story. It’s better to read Mythos after knowing the epics as it’ll aid your understanding better than reading the ancient epics thoroughly.
- ‘Heroes’ by Stephen Fry
- Audible Audiobook
- Stephen Fry (Author) – Stephen Fry (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 04/28/2020 (Publication Date) – Chronicle Books (Publisher)
‘Heroes’ by Stephen Fry is the second volume in Stephen’s series of Greek mythology books. In this book, Stephen Fry skips the story about the creation of gods and dwells more on the world of mortals.
Heroes in the mythological sense are half-gods and half-mortal. They possess divine strength like gods because they were produced by the affiliation of a god and a mortal. The mixture of gods and mortals brings about the existence of people like Heracles and Achilles.
If you’re willing to learn more about Ancient Greek mythology, Heroes by Stephen Fry is a great place to start. The book is easy to read and is even narrated in audiobooks.
Conclusion
If you want to start learning more about Greek mythology, the books listed above should be able to get you started on the essentials. These books are more like foundational knowledge that prepares for a deeper analysis of Ancient Greek poetry.
These books are written for easy reading and assimilation and it’s worth your adding to your collection. Have fun reading these books, Good luck!
