A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of Maps; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Section 1; Section 2; 1 From Chaos and Castration to Order: The Birth of the Gods; 2 Apollo and Artemis: Music, Love and Hunting; 3 The Creation of Man and Woman; The Great Flood; Transgressors and Heroines; 4 Jason and the Argonauts; Medeia; 5 Argos and the Monster-slayers; 6 Herakles: The Greatest of the Heroes; 7 Thebes and Oidipous; 8 From Atlas to Hektor; 9 From Asopos to Akhilleus; 10 Athens: The Early Kings; 11 Theseus and the Minotaur; 12 Curses and Cannibalism: The House of Pelops; 13 The Trojan War.;The book leads the reader through these vibrant stories, from the origins of the gods through to the homecomings of the Trojan heroes. All the familiar narratives are here, along with some less familiar characters and motifs. In addition to the tales, the book explains key issues arising from the narratives, and discusses the myths and their wider relevance. This long-overdue book crystallises three key [...]areas of interest: the nature of the tales; the stories themselves; and how they have and might be interpreted. For the first time, it brings together aspects of Greek mythology only usua.