Product Description
Dating back roughly 3,000 years, the gods of the ancient GreeksÂ--and later, of the RomansÂ--have figured prominently in legendry, poetry, drama, and the visual arts. But todayÂ's readers are often confused when they encounter the myriad names of those deities and try to understand their roles in mythology. This entertaining and mind-expanding book charts 100 of the most prominent characters from Greco-Roman mythology, including the primordial deities, the great gods of Olympus, and the shadowy inhabitants of Hades. Addressing universal themes such as love, jealousy, anger, ambition, deceit, and beauty, the stories told here make fascinating reading while they add significance to countless classical references in our civilizationÂ's literature and art. Author Malcolm Day profiles each god with a short, very readable summary of that personageÂ's acts. He sets each deityÂ's storywithin the larger context of a Â"family treeÂ" that encompasses all major gods. Full-color illustrations showing memorable scenes from classical mythology include reproductions from famous paintings and photos of statuary. Separate chapters are devoted to:

Customer Reviews (1)

Most enjoyable reading
I found Roman Mythology entertaining and both clear and easy to understand.

This book not only covers much of Roman Mythology - it excellently shows how Roman history, culture and Greek Mythology contributed to the development of the mythology.

The additional expert comments at the end of each chapter add depth and insight into the subject of the chapter.

Highly recommended.



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Product Description
Presents the gods, goddesses, heroes, places, and other aspects of Greek and Roman mythology in alphabetically arranged entries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great book for quick reference on any god
This is a great book if you just need to look up some quick information on a Greek or Roman god.It does go into detail on some of the more important characters like Hercules, but most just have a few paragraphs.My main complaint is that even though it says "Greek AND ROMAN Mythology" about 75% of the characters covered are Greek in origin.It is nice that each character is labeled as either Greek or Roman though.This made writing my Roman Mythology paper much easier.A good book for anyone interested in Mythology :)

what does your heart tell you--KG YO
The book Greek and Roman Mythoglogy A-Z by Kathleen N. Daly is an excellent account of Greek and Roman culture. It is updated to recent facts and contains perpetuate amounts of self-reference to its own chapters. Its easy to find information is key to any myhtology lover or student looking for reference. This books good aspects outshine its bad.

This book is an extraodinary supporter in preparing a reprt for ancient Hellenistic cultures. It not only contains the names of hundreds of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, it has accounts of the societies peoples and writings of eternal scholars and authors and their lifetimes. Also the Geographic features of both civilizations. Even more, it is not just one bias view of a story, but also refers to other's perspectives of the fables.

Despite all of the positive distinctiveness of the book, there are negative traits. The book's photographic support is not very detailed. Also, the book is intended for ages 9-12 but there is a strong presence of nudity. ... Read more

Product Description
Vivid, classic retellings of the myths of Greece and Rome, along with stories of the Norse gods and heroes. Zeus and Hera, Apollo, Jason and the golden fleece, the wanderings of Ulysses and Aeneas, thedeeds of Thor, many more seminal stories underlying Western culture.
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Customer Reviews (10)

Great for my son
My 10 year old son loved reading this.
It helped with everything that he's studying in school.

Making Myths Tedious
I bought this book based on the other reviews and its low price tag, but was very disappointed. Unless you are very into poetry, I do not believe you will enjoy this book. Somehow, it manages to make exciting myths boring. I would go with Hamilton's mythology book.

Greek & Roman Mythology
While I have not finished reading this book yet, I am throughly enjoying it.I have wanted to read this book since before I could read (my mother had a copy with an interesting looking cover).Then when I learned to read it was too complicated.Now that I am grown (not according to my wife) it is nice to read and understand the book!

bulfinch mythology
Long time favorite; good place to start for novice interested in mythology; always good for a reference book to refresh your memory.

Great Seller, OK book
It is to no offense to the seller- the book arrived on time and in great, promised condition (thanks!) but the book itself is a little confusing. I was shopping for a mythology book that was simple and really easy to read. This does the job, but still probably better from someone with a pre-understanding of mythology and a serious interest in learning more. ... Read more

Product Description
The most complete collection of Greek and Roman myths specially arranged to be read aloud to children aged five to twelve. "Every child deserves this book. Those who do the reading aloud will be enlightened and rewarded, too."--Edwin Newman Line drawings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Excellent read!
Our 8 year old daughter delights in these read aloud tales and I love how each story is structured. Each myth has three parts; 1. "About the story" which gives you a brief summary and then a list of the characters and help for pronouncing names. This part also lets you know how long the story will take to read aloud which is quite helpful when "Oh pleeeese, just one more!" arrives. 2. "The Myth" - these just roll off the tongue and are so enjoyable and easy to read. Having just read Tom Sawyer aloud, this was just a pleasure. 3. "A few more words" At the end of each myth there's a brief section which talks about the history of certain words used in the story and how they have evolved to current usage. We always read this section and either have an "Aha!" moment or marvel at how interesting it is. We are about half way through and are LOVING this book. It's like a warm glass of milk before bed...

Great Gift
I gave this book as a gift to a family that reads books aloud every night. The children are ages 8 and 10. The parents are educators. The family went through the book in 2 weeks and the parents have reported the book is "fantastic" The 8 year old has been retelling the myths to me daily!I highly recommend this book.

A book for grandparents and grandchildren
This is a marvelous book! I wanted my granddaughters to learn Greek and Roman myths since there are so many references to the stories and the characters in day-to-day media. If they knew more about the tales, I thought they could appreciate the references to them.

I first looked at the book to find out if the girls would like it and get anything out of it. As it turned out, I read it from cover to cover, and couldn't put it down. I had never had school or college classes in these subjects and I was mesmerized.

The plots are summarized at the beginning, which makes the stories easier to understand for people who have no knowledge at all of them. Also at the beginning of each myth is the amount of time it will take to read it -- making bedtime story reading more predictable. And, there is also a pronunciation guide for the names and some of the words, with brief explanations or definitions.

The stories themselves are fascinating, easy to read aloud, print on the pages is clear and not too small, and chapters are of reasonable length to tell a tale and maintain interest. After the end of each, there are short descriptions of words we use in modern times which originated from these myths and the language and culture of ancient times. These can be eye-openers, and have given my granddaughters and I opportunities for many discussions!

This was planned as a learning book. And, it's been a great teacher -- for the reader as well as the listeners!

Classics for kids and parents alike
I have a 4 and 7 yr. old.The stories are above the 4 yr. old's head (though he does play mostly quietly and seem to somewhat listen, which can't be bad...I'd probably be surprised at how much he is learning from his seeming inattentiveness), but have been WONDERFUL for reading to my 7 yr. old.We started out with some other Mythology books from the library (including The McElderry Book of Greek Myths, which I highly reccomend for the illustrations), and we had also just been listening on a car trip to "The Story of the World: History For the Classical Child Volume 1" on CD (also highly reccomend...not as boring as it may sound) which on discs 3 & 4 recounted some Greek history and stories, at an age appropriate level.This was a wonderful precurser to our nightly readings from this book.That said, I am homeschooling my son, and all that is not necessary to enjoy this book on its own as simply some great stories to read.The stories are easier to get through than even some illustrated versions, as they are well written and broken into managably short chunks. My son looks forward to the stories, and is always begging me to read one more.At the beginning of each story, context is given, approximate reading times (most about 10 minutes), helpful pronunciation guides (that also remind you who the primary characters in the story are), and then at the end of each story "A few words more" that tells about words and idioms in our language that came from something related to the story (my son loves the connections he discovers...a great way to begin an awareness of roots of words.) Children can understand and relate to the emotion that is portrayed in the stories, while picking up new vocabulary and elegant speech painlessly from the context.This book does an excellent job of presenting the stories in a compelling, easy to understand, but not dumbed-down manner, that maintains the richness of the stories and enhances them with added context.I found the author's ability to illuminate the human emotion in the stories, highlighted when I read his version of Pygmalion and Galatea, which we had read other versions of.In other versions, Pygmalion came across far-fetched in his love for his statue creation, a seemingly silly fable, but in this version you feel the depths of Pygmalion's emotions, and come away feeling that there is much in the common human condition expressed in this story... the themes are brought out and the story becomes more meaningful.
This is a book I plan to purchase, as it is not one we will outgrow and likely return to and enjoy often.We are on our third time checking it out from the library...and I really don't want to give it back.There are many books I love, that I am just fine borrowing from the library, but this one I really feel is worth the investment to have around as a staple in our home.

Wonderful family reading
I purchased this book for our family to read together.The stories are interesting and not too time consuming.The commentary at the end of the stories are informative, along with the definitions in the beginning of the story.I can't say enough positive things about how this book is organized and written.It has gotten by 7 and 9 year old daughters VERY interested in mythology.I also learn something from every story! ... Read more

Product Description
The myths of the Romans are rather different from those of other ancient cultures, such as the Greeks or the Egyptians. Most Roman myths do not consist of stories about the gods and their actions, nor were they presented as fictional, magic stories. Ancient writers such as Livy, Virgil, and Ovid treated myths as history: the history of Rome itself, of its rituals and religious practices, and of important, noble Roman families. Myths were valued as exempla--illustrations of moral truths. Many myths centered around the founding of the city of Rome, such as those of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, and the (largely imaginary) Seven Kings. Others provided models of virtuous behavior by citizens or added luster to family histories. The protagonists were often male, but sometimes female. Lucretia, who killed herself to expunge the shame of being raped and helped precipitate the founding of the Roman Republic, was a heroine who has exercised a particular fascination on later writers and artists. Still other myths grew up around particular deities (mostly Greek) who were taken into the Roman pantheon at different times or provided "historical" explanations for cult activities or festivals such as Lupercalia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Encylcopedia....I don't think so
I've always had an interest in Greek and Roman mythology.So when I saw this on Amazon, I had to get it.

Maybe I just didn't read all the fine print.And since no one had reviewed it...it was a gamble for me.

So I thought I'd help out those who had my same idea.

When they say encyclopedia, I think of Britannica, with all the pictures and information behind each article, being the visual person I am.But this "encyclopedia" is nonsense.It looks like just a bunch of newspaper articles.A very BORING "encyclopedia."I returned it right away.

I do realize that the subject of mythology is huge.The book is not even 2 inches thick, and about the size of an 8x10 photo.How can they put all that information on this little book?I know...take out all the visual information, and you've got it... ... Read more

Product Description
This work provides an analysis of the influence of the classic myth on the study and execution of artistic and scientific endeavours throughout the ages. The book summarizes all the myths and legends of the lesser Gods and heroes, and traces their origins in historical fact or religious myth. It also shows how myths have continued to evolve throughout the ages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A scholarly summation from an earlier time
I bought this book while searching for a summary of up-to-date points of view on the Greek myths, but "Myths of the Greeks and Romans", first published in 1962, is no such thing. (Note that although the listing here says that this edition is "revised and updated", according to the title page only the bibliography has been updated.) It sorely feels the lack of half a century of archaeological and historical research, and of theoretical and literary perspectives. This is a pity, because the conception of the book, as a way of organizing the vastness of its material, is a good one: choose a number of ancient literary sources, summarize a myth or myth-cycle taken from each one, and discuss the history, background, alternate versions, and continuing literary legacy of that myth.

Grant finds opportunities at various points in these discussions to introduce the layperson to an array of the theories that had been applied to myth by the mid-twentieth century: the aetiological, the ethnological, the psychoanalytic, the search for traces of history, various poetic theories, and so forth. (Incidentally, the book entirely omits footnotes for the scholars and works mentioned, and most of them are not even in the bibliography; though I realize that this is a conscious decision to avoid intimidating lay readers, I think it's a poor one.) Grant's eminently sensible insistence that "no single theory, however valuably suggestive, will suffice to explain the whole range of Greek and Roman mythology, or even a major proportion of its content" leads to some good passages, such as the section of the chapter on Demeter where his discussion of the relation between ritual and myth presents arguments for the primacy of the one and the other and points out that it's not necessary to choose between them. I also was impressed by his discussion of tragedy, from "Agamemnon" to the "Bacchae".

Nonetheless, in a number of chapters, he doesn't quite succeed in subsuming the work of other scholars into a well-constructed, comprehensible organization. Furthermore, his summaries of literary works are written with mediocre style themselves, and his work is full of a certain mid-century stodginess; his praises of the universal qualities of the myths come from a cultural perspective just different enough from mine to make it obvious that he's mistaken in what he thinks is universal. Perhaps no suitable replacement for this good, but far from perfect, book has yet been written; but I hope it has.

A new look at some old stories
As important as almost any literature is in understanding Western culture are the tales of Greek and Roman mythology.Unlike Shakespeare, Chaucer or Cervantes, however, these stories are not identified with a single author, but rather a number of big names, including Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Livy, Ovid and most notably (and perhaps most legendary), Homer.These stories have endured for millennia, and have been related by a number of authors over the years.Michael Grant is walking over familiar ground with his book on these myths, but he still is able to provide a new look at these old stories.

Grant, an author on numerous books on ancient history (particularly Greek and Roman, but also other Mediterranean communities), definitely has the credentials to write about these stories.The myths themselves are actually just the starting point in his discussion; what follows after the tales is an analysis of the impact of the story.

An example would be the story of Oedipus, in particular, Sophocles play, King Oedipus (also known as Oedipus Rex).First Grant tells the story in a rather straightforward narrative with occasional interruptions where he provides excerpts from translations.He then discusses some of the history behind Oedipus and some of the thematic issues:for example, why is Oedipus punished for a fate beyond his control?Grant also discusses Freud and the Oedipus Complex.

What's important to Grant is that these myths are not mere entertainments, but instead have a depths and breadth that goes well beyond the actual tale.All the well-known tales are discussed:the Iliad and the Odyssey, Jason and the Argonauts, Perseus, Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, and many others.What is sad is the amount of material that has been lost to the ages, such as most of the plays of Sophocles and Aeschylus, or the lost parts of the grand Trojan War epic of which the Iliad and Odyssey were only a part.

While Grant can sometimes be a little tedious in his histories, he is in top form with this book.I would not recommend this book as an introduction to these myths (as storytelling is not Grant's primary objective), but if you know them already, this book is great:it'll give you a fresh, insightful look into these classic stories.

By Jove
Michael Grant begins with the battle for Troy, a war so epic that the gods themselves descended into the field of battle. From there we learn of Odysseus, Dido and Aeneas, Jason, Apollo, Diana, Zeus and Hera, Ulysses and the rape of the Sabine women. Invaluable either as a reference source or as a means of reading the tales of the ancients. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: Marshall Jones Company in 1916 in 677 pages; Description: Each plate accompanied by guard sheet with descriptive letterpress.; Subjects: Mythology, Classical; Mythology, Greek; Mythology, Roman; Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Science / Folklore & Mythology; Juvenile Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore / Country & Ethnic; Juvenile Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore / General; Juvenile Fiction / Legends, Myths, Fables / Greek & Roman; Religion / Antiquities & Archaeology; Social Science / Folklore & Mythology; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An amazing mythology collection
I suppose that some of the work in this book, one of a 13 volume set written between 1916 and 1932 (reprinted in the 1960s, has been changed by more recent scholarship, but there is still nothing to equal this fantastic achievement. The set includes not only the more familiar myths such as Greek and Roman, but pretty well succeeds in its goal to include all of humanity. The text is extremely detailed but very readable; none of the turgid prose so often associated with academia. The volumes contain numerous illustrations, both in the text and as plates (mostly black & white.)
One of the most useful parts of the set is the final volume, an extremely detailed index, which allows the reader to pursue a theme, or even a topic as specific as the significance of belts, across all the volumes.The individual volumes do not have their own indices, but the tables of contents are fairly detailed.The books appear to have been issued without dust jackets.

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Product Description

Integrates mythology, geography, creative writing, and storytellingthrough mythological stories, maps, charts, and worksheets.

Customer Reviews (1)

Love this Book
I discovered this resource about ten years ago and I have used it ever since.It is a great way to introduce stuggling readers to the world of mythology.It is a great way for students to read about the Illiad and to introduce The Odyssey to students before reading the actual text.I teach high school and it works well with my ninth grade Languge Arts classes as an introduction to classic liturature.This book has maps, questions you can use for journal writings, activities and vocabulary. ... Read more

Product Description
Zeus, Medusa, Hercules, Aphrodite. Did you know that these and other dynamic deities, heroes, and monsters of Greek and Roman mythology live on in the names of trees and flowers? Some grow in your local woodlands or right in your own backyard garden.

In this delightful book, botanist Peter Bernhardt reveals the rich history and mythology that underlie the origins of many scientific plant names. Unlike other books about botanical taxonomy that take the form of heavy and intimidating lexicons, Bernhardt's account comes together in a series of interlocking stories. Each chapter opens with a short version of a classical myth, then links the tale to plant names, showing how each plant "resembles" its mythological counterpart with regard to its history, anatomy, life cycle, and conservation. You will learn, for example, that as our garden acanthus wears nasty spines along its leaf margins, it is named for the nymph who scratched the face of Apollo. The shape-shifting god, Proteus, gives his name to a whole family of shrubs and trees that produce colorful flowering branches in an astonishing number of sizes and shapes.

Amateur and professional gardeners, high school teachers and professors of biology, botanists and conservationists alike will appreciate this book's entertaining and informative entry to the otherwise daunting field of botanical names. Engaging, witty, and memorable, Gods and Goddesses in the Garden transcends the genre of natural history and makes taxonomy a topic equally at home in the classroom and at cocktail parties. ... Read more

Product Description
Greek and Roman myths retain an enduring fascination for children, who find these stories of super-powerful gods, flying horses, and mythic quests compelling. Using simple text and vibrant color illustrations, Greek and Roman Mythology, Vol. 3 makes these tales even more exciting. The book includes the timeless love affair of Eros and Psyche, mighty Zeus traveling incognito among humankind, the brilliant weaver Arachne transformed into a spider by a jealous Athena, King Midas whose greed for gold almost brings about his demise, and many more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Kids love this!
If you want to get kids excited about Mythology, this is the ticket. The format is prefect for the pre-teen group. My son had Vol. 1 - 3 of this series and reads them over and over again. His friends always want to borrow them and parents want to know where I got them. ... Read more

Product Description
The ancient Greeks and Romans created the most enduring cultures known to humanity and a pantheon of gods who live on in some of the greatest myths ever told: of Athena, goddess of battle, of Dionysus, god of wine and fertility, and of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great pictures and text
An excellent overview of Greek and Roman myths, with plenty of gorgeous photographs of sculpture and paintings.Just the right amount of detail without being overwhelming. ... Read more

Product Description
Entertaining and educational, The Everything Classical Mythology Book is a superb introduction to ancient Greek and Roman mythology. For those of us who cannot recount the twelve labours of Hercules, how Odysseus tricked the Trojans, why the phrase "Achilles Heel' was first coined, or how Medusa was slain, this comprehensive volume will provide answers to these and hundreds more enquiries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Greek God Encyclopedia
It makes the mean things the Greek Gods did in their stories seem almost nice and kid friendly. It really is packed full of all the things on Greek Gods

It does the job.
I wanted a book that gave an overview of Greek and Roman mythology. and also provided lists of various gods and their counterparts, i.e., the Greek god is ------ and the counterpart Roman god is ------.

This book gives me what I wanted.

No Pictures
There are no pictures in this book so it's not much fun.The illustrations that are in the book are bad drawings of ancient sculptures.I'm returning it.

HELP!Editors needed!
While this reference is quite basic, it is easy to follow the lineage and obtain a working knowledge of classical mythology from this book.HOWEVER, beware that there are several misprints that will confuse the reader, as well as references in the index to characters that do not appear on the mentioned page.Thus, the book is in dire need of a decent editor.

Decent book for beginners.
This "Everything" guide is a good book for younger readers and those who are only starting to get into mythology.At over 290 pages, it covers the major players and who's who of Roman and Greek mythology (as in Jupiter/Zeus, Venus/Aphrodite, the Trojan War, Odysseus, et al).

However, more serious and 'seasoned' fans and scholars will likely prefer THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY by Kevin Osborn.We're not idiots, of course, but this book is meatier and has more background information on the various gods/goddesses, heroes and stories. At over 350 pages, it is 60 pages thicker than the "Everything" book and has smaller text and less white space.For instance, an entire chapter is devoted to the Trojan War hero Achilles while the "Everything" book only has a few pages, at the most.

Fans who want more than classical mythology will want to explore MYTHOLOGY FOR DUMMIES by Christopher Blackwell.This book also delves into the Arthurian legend, Norse myths, Beowulf, as well as world mythology in general (Chinese, Jewish, Hindu, etc).

These 3 books are all excellent. The choice lies on the readers' level of interests.I would recommend the "Everything" book toyounger readers (middle or high schoolers, for instance) and those who just want the basics on classical mythology. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Jam-packed with Hundreds of Classic Art Illustrations
When you first pick up this little book, you will more than likely be shocked at how heavy it feels. But, a quick glance through the book will show you why. Jam-packed with hundreds of beautiful images and a small story accompanying each, this book tracks the mythology starting from the Earth's creation all the way to the legendary Trojan War. From ancient murals, classic sculptures, and works from some greatest Western artists - like Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Gustav Klimt - accompanied by great literature works, such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid, Impelluso does a wonderful job at bringing all of the classic stories of monsters, gods, and heroes together in a vibrant and rich book.

Reviewed by James Rojek ... Read more

Product Description
These lavishly illustrated stories of gods such as Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, and their Roman counterparts will spark any imagination and encourage a deeper interest in mythology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Helpful in basic research endeavors
Having had ocassion to research and write several papers dealing with mythology, I have often turned to Stapleton's book to acquire at least a basic familiarity with a myth or legend.While his dictionary does not include many of the more obscure tales, the listed entries do provide in-depth, helpful information on the "classic" myths. ... Read more

Product Description
the nightly appearance of the stars their arrangement in the sky their regular risings and settings through the course of the year have been a source of ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An excellent translation, with one big flaw
This book serves very well as a translation and commentary for the Catasterismi of Pseudo-Eratosthenes and the Poeticon Astronomicon of Hyginus.I would recommend this book to the scholar and archeoastronomer.

However, reading from the text, it is clear that this book is primarily a labor of translation rather than Astronomy.In order to identify stars, Condos compared the texts of Pseudo-Eratosthenes and Hyginus to that of Ptolemy's Almagest.If she could not positively comfirm the identity of a star by cross-referencing it through Ptolemy, she simply left it unidentified in her translation (designating it with a ?).A clear example of the problem with this came when she tried to identify the three stars in Orion's head as lambda, ?, and ?.In this case, if she had a simple star atlas in front of her (like Norton's), she would have been able to easily identify the two unknown stars as phi-1 and phi-2.The sky hasn't changed that much since the time of the Greeks and an atlas might have been helpful to Condos in her work

So, yes, this is a recommendable book, but keep in mind that Condos' translation was made through referencing ancient texts alone without a proper study of the actual sky and stars upon which the texts were based.This flaw isn't fatal, but it is significant enough for me to dock one star and recommend that the reader have an atlas of his or her own to reference when using this book.

More scholarly than entertaining.
Star Myths is an excellent sourcebook - for a serious student. If you're looking for entertaining and engaging writing, look elsewhere. If you want a learned (if brief) overview of how the Greek and Roman constellations were named, by whom, and what stars are contained therein, then you've got the right volume!

Theony Condos, the translator, draws mostly on two prime sources; Poeticon Astronomicon (Poetic Astronomy), attributed to Hyginus; and Catasterismi (The Constellations), by Eratothenes. In the introduction, Condos discusses the backgrounds of Hyginus and Eratothenes, their influences and sources, and some supporting and relating works by their contemporaries and historical peers. Moving on from the (mercifully!) brief introduction, Condos procedes directly to the heart of the matter, and launches into an alphebetized listing of the major 'western' constellations, each with a idealized line-drawing of the constellation and its namesake image, a brief discussion of the associated legend(s) as discussed in the primary works, and a translators commentary. Primary stars, where possible, are indicated by their symbols (rather than spelling out their names) in the text. This last I found most frustrating, for while a serious scholar of Latin and Greek would recognize these symbols immediately, I found myself struggling to interpret them.

This book comes with fairly extensive end notes and appendicies, useful to the student looking for more insight. While I find this volume to be useful in a limited way, it's really aimed towards the more serious student, and not to the casual sky-watcher. If you want an education on the origins of the Western European constellations, this is a good place to start, though it's not the ultimate word on the subject. However, if you want to identify that intriguing cluster of bright lights in the nighttime sky, you'll probably want to go elsewhere.

recommendable book
This is a very interesting and readable book. I hope to read HYGINUS' "The MYTHS of Hyginus" once translated by M. Grant in 1960. I think the latter is more interesting to read for the fans of Greco-Romanmythology. ... Read more

Product Description
Partly Based Upon The Dictionary Of Greek And Roman Biography And Mythology By William Smith Revised With Numerous Corrections And Additions By Charles Anthon. ... Read more