For the real lowdown on Greek mythology, Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths is an Imaginalia favorite. Don’t let the updated comic book cover fool you — this is Graves’ original book, including not only the content of the myths themselves, but Graves’ cultural and historical analyses, as well.
More than a recounting of the myths, this unique resource creates a doorway into the worlds of myth, giving readers a sense of the archetypal forces moving beyond and through these tales, enabling us to see how these forms appear and reappear across stories, locales and eras:
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One-eyed Polyphemus, who sometimes has a witch-mother, occurs in folk-tale throughout Europe, and can be traced back to the Caucasus …
(The Greek Myths, p. 728) -
Circe means ‘falcon,’ and she had a cemetery in Colchis, planted with willows and sacred to Hecate. The men transformed into beasts suggest the doctrine of metempsychosis, but the pig is particular sacred to the Death-goddess …
(The Greek Myths, p. 729) -
The description of Scylla’s yelp is of greater mythological importance than it first appears: it identifies her with … the Spectral Pack … of British legend, which pursue the souls of the damned …
(The Greek Myths, p. 730)
For those who have wanted to see deeper into the stories of ancient Greece, Graves’ The Greek Myths is not to be missed.