Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology: Gods, Heroes and Monsters, and What Their Stories Mean: 465 Entries with Maps, Family Trees and the Ancient Sources (The Erato Antiquity Library)

In early Greek art, Medusa is a mask of absolute wrongness. The later poets made her a woman first, and the story they told about her says something much darker about blame.

Greek myth has no single authorized version. What we know comes from poems, plays, handbooks and travel writing composed over more than a thousand years, and they contradict one another constantly. This encyclopedia says which author tells which version, and then asks what the story means.

465 entries, one alphabet. From Abduction of Helen to Zeus, gods, heroes, monsters, places, objects, poems and ideas share the same alphabet, because in Greek myth they share the same world: a river is a god, a necklace is a curse, and a word such as hubris or xenia is as much a part of the story as any hero. Each entry is a short essay that tells the story, names the ancient authors who told it, notes where they disagree, and asks what it means.

Built to be read, and to be consulted:

The Greek form of every name, with macrons on the long vowels, and a list of Roman names (Jupiter, Minerva, Hercules, Ulysses) with their Greek equivalents 4 maps, 9 family trees and 6 plans and diagrams, including Troy, Mycenae, Tiryns and the Cretan labyrinth Paintings from Botticelli and Titian to Waterhouse; John Flaxman's outline designs for Homer, Hesiod and Aeschylus open every letter, and Gustave Doré's engravings stand where the subject is the world of the dead A Thematic Index of 24 recurring subjects: death and immortality, love and desire, divine justice, war, women and mothers Cross-references at the foot of every entry, each one a link Quotations from ancient authors in public-domain English translations, with the translator named where it is quoted For readers who have met the myths through retellings, films or school and want to know what the ancient sources actually say, where they disagree, and what the stories were doing. Open it anywhere, follow a thread of cross-references for an evening, and end up far from where you began.