A myth is like a sponge for it soaks up centuries worth of material into it. The kernel of the story would be transformed into only a faint resemblance of its original as the years pass it by. If we were to imagine a character like Heracles to come alive today, he might listen to his own story in incredulity and say but that was not how it happened ! The factors of social, economic, environmental and demographic changes seep into the tales and make them more suited as moral fables with each succeeding societies and their norms. What Robert Graves has done here is to gather (in two volumes), a sweeping recollection of the myths of the Greeks. The collection is brilliant in its scope and breadth and a magisterial one.The stories follow a logical pattern starting right from the creation myths and proceeding to the stories of the Titans. The Titans are eventually cast into Tartarus and the Olympians led by Zeus rise to take their place. The meat of the book is made up of the exploits of Zeus and his Olympians. We are then treated to the story of Prometheus and how fire came to the realm of the mortals, of Pandora and her opening the jar ( not a box, a jar !) and letting loose the evils into the world. The first of heroes in the form of Perseus then enters the fray and slays Meudsa and he is followed by Bellerophon who rides the Pegasus to slay the Chimera. Through the stories of a multitude of smaller yet well known characters ( Midas, Sisyphus and others) we finally reach Theseus and the first part of the collection ends with the life and times of Theseus. Following a short skeletal overview of each story, Graves gives a detailed break down of the symbolism behind the tales and his views on what the tales actually stand for. I could not but marvel at the amount of research and reading that Graves would have done for coming up with these inferences. This would undoubtedly be one reason why these books figure in the list of the best mythological references of all times.Let's imagine the myths to be a beehive dripping with sweet and intoxicating nectar. Graves would pick this hive up and show it to us and we the readers would stare slack jawed and salivating at the honey that oozes down his hands. Graves then proceeds to take a good, clean jar and squeeze every bit of honey into it and keeps the husk aside. Once this is done, he takes and locks up the honey and gives us the husk for consumption. Like this analogy and in terms of this book, Graves is a master researcher but a horrible storyteller. His stories lack a heart and a soul and are treated only as dull and dreary research subjects. I love a good story when told in the right fashion but here the soul of the stories are missing. Greek myths are fantastic material for stories : violence, jealousy, greed, sex and high octane action abound in them but Graves discards them all for academic interest. I read a review on the site where a reader opined that his young son now thinks that all Greeks are drunkards who pick fights for the smallest of reasons after reading this book. He has a point there for in these stories, the Gods are almost all of them drunk most of the time, fornicate with anything that moves and start bloody wars for the smallest of reasons. In the hands of a better story teller, this could have taken a fairy tale sort of hue but Graves is determined to hold his interest only to the academic sphere of things and thereby reducing the stories to exploits of characters who behave like thugs. Then again are Graves's theories of how a matriarchical society was later subjugated by a patriarchical one and thereby the cult of the goddess was overrun by a plethora of male gods. Almost 85% of the summations that Graves produces carry this result that the cult of the goddess was behind the origination of the myths. Most of these theories were later proved wrong by researchers. So it would also benefit any future reader to do some background reading prior to arriving at conclusions about these tales. Another part is that most of the assertions offered by Graves is against many a localized tribe or group which is next to unknown for a person who in unschooled about the terrain of Greece. This tended to throw my interest off big time. You need a map of Greece from the earlier times handy when you are reading this book. If you are looking for an introduction into Greek myths, start with something lighter. If however, you are interested in a deep dive into how these myths came to fore then this is the book for you.The content and material is worth four stars but the rating system is more a selfish one and I can only rate this against my interest level which is a solid three stars.
When Robert Graves sat down to write his deconstruction of the Greek myths in the 1950s, he was a man on a mission. He had a single great theme, first revealed in his book The White Goddess, which he was determined to highlight again and again out of every facet of the vast source material.According to Graves, virtually every story in Greek myth can trace its origins to when the pre-Hellenic system of matriarchy was usurped by a subverting patriarchy, which re-wrote all the accepted legends in order to suit the victory of the new order. The king and his tanist (second) used to be sacrificed to the Mother Goddess, then they decided to save themselves by taking over control of ritual and religion.The Mother Goddess is replaced by the king, the Triple-goddess by a host of Olympians, priestesses by priests etc. Even the term 'Hellenes' derives from Helen (of Troy), once the Moon-goddess; Athene predates her father, Zeus; Hecate is the true ruler of Tartarus, not Hades; the Olympics started as a foot-race for women competing to be moon-priestesses, and on and on. Can this all be true? I have no idea, though I know that it has been rejected out of hand by many academics. It is fascinating though, particularly the idea that the Hellenes and the following Achaeans and Dorians needed new myths only for war, as this was a state of being unknown when women ruled the community. Graves was a poet, so I was looking forward to his lyrical spin on the old and often told stories. I accept that by necessity his explanations are primarily scholastic, but his retellings of the myths are disappointingly far from poetical, or at least only glibly poetic at best.Therefore, though this first part of a comprehensive two part work - which focuses on the individual creation myths, gods, demi-gods and heroes - is an invaluable reference book, I wasn't stirred or entertained by it as much as its reputation suggested. An extraordinary undertaking, but not as enjoyable to read as anticipated.
What do You think about The Greek Myths: Vol. 1 (1990)?
update: The more I have thought about it the less I would recommend this book. Its a real shame that it is called "The Greek Myths", it would be more accurate to call it "Robert Graves reports the greek myths and then theorizes about their meanings".I really wouldn't even recommend this book as literature becuase it is a rather dense read and the re-telling of the myths is dry.Don't mean to hate on Graves, but I just think his treatment of the myths will lead to their being further misunderstood.--------old reviewThis book is really weird. I can appreciate the authors mastery of his subject, but that perceived mastery leads to a mixed result.To be fair he makes note that his analysis is derived from long study, observation and careful inference, and that because many of these myths come from pre-history the interpretations of them are very rarely based in anything other than structural theory.I guess I would recommend this book from a literary standpoint, but to those who are not already well versed in mythology and greek history it presents a very confusing and at times misleading read. My advice would be to read the book, but take his analysts of the myths as being the gestational material for his White Goddess theories.I have a feeling that this book will appeal to those who have rather lax standards of scholarship as long as the author is sympathetic to their views...I.e certain feminists who want some matriarchal mythos to hang their hats on.
—Jonathan
Great compilation in a condensed style of facts, family tree and "life and miracles" of the Greek Mythology's most important Characters: Gods, Demi Gods, Wars, humans and monsters, with all their crude and raw killings- sex- incests- treason. It's a very good book to DISCOVER and FEEL INTEREST, for further investigation, but it doesn't have the epic feeling of a novelisation. This is not the Odyssey. It's more like a mini-dictionary, a consult book, or a book to grab from time to time and read a chapter or two.If you like mythology it's enjoyable enough, and It will make you eager to learn more, that is, I think, what Robert Graves intended when he wrote this book.
—Andrea Torrejón
I loved a lot of the moments in this, especially toward the beginning. It was often hard, though, to wade through a lot of boring to get to the good parts. My favorite toward the end was "...which is why Theseus's Athenian descendents are so absurdly small-buttocked." I think this book is worth having more as a reference work, thanks to what seems like a thorough index and the very frequent occurence of references to these stories in other writings, rather than as something to read straight through. I will read vol. 2 one day, which means I liked this quite well.
—Rachel
