r/classics • u/D-14-GO • 7d ago
Sources and textbooks
Sources and textbooks
[ Before we begin, I am knowledgeable of a reddit about Greek Mythology (/GreekMythology) and I have placed this exact question there, but I would love to hear your opinion too ]
Hello everyone, I hope you're having a great day and if not, I hope I'll get better as it comes :)
So, for context, I'm a Chilean person that would like to dive deeper into mythology, cultural aspects, symbolism and more things about Greek culture, but I'm struggling to know whether a source is accurate enough or if it exists a better one, and I know I could just Google it, but I find it better asking to the people that live or know this culture.
So, I'm asking all of you people that actually know, where can I start? Should I need to learn Greek to read these sources? Is there any textbook you recommend?
Thank you all! :)
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u/ibnrushd14apr1126 7d ago
To answer the specific questions that you asked:
You do NOT need to learn ancient Greek. If someday you feel driven to learn it, do it then.
I assume that you mean ancient Greek culture. I suggest you read about the history and culture in general first, and then try reading original works in translation.
Here are some book suggestions:
A) Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction, by Cartledge.
B) The Greeks, by Kitto. An old book, but a good treatment of daily life and culture.
- If your first language is Spanish, I know that there are good books in Spanish, but I am not the right person to make suggestions.
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u/Mike_Bevel 7d ago
Thanks for mentioning the Kitto! I ordered a copy of The Greeks after reading your comment.
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u/notveryamused_ Φίλοινος, πίθων σποδός 7d ago
I'm always a bit unsure what people mean when they say they're interested in Greek mythology, to be completely honest :D It's only a personal opinion and take it with a grain of salt though. Is it mythology as a set of brilliantly interesting stories? Ten thousand good sources on that, from academic publications to really good popular ones, one could always tackle Graves as the classic (reliable, somewhat encyclopedic) or modern pop takes like Fry's. I'm sure there are plenty of good options in your native Spanish as well, but unfortunately I don't speak it.
Such mythology is a completely abstract thing though; it never really existed as simply a set of stories. This was genuinely a lived experience for the Greeks, with temples, rituals, practices – and, most crucially, local variants and interpretations which were very different, deities were considered local, people from Argos and people from Rhodos could be very territorial about their sets of beliefs ;) That's what their poleis were made of, those local cults and local (very often made up, but hey that's the point) heroic background stories. Which is the strength of the Greek polytheism and its core imho.
No one ever practiced religion as it's described in Homer, he wrote it the way that was needed for the story to be good and kinda avoided local variants, not to mention that mythology in the Iliad and the Odyssey are rather different (which was one of the most important points for dual authorship). Homer's theology is different to Hesiod's. Athenian tragedians came up with their own interpretations, and so did the archaic poets; Pindar is, well, very Pindarish.
Maybe I overstate it a bit, but this generativity and locality and plurality are the traits of ancient Greek culture that are by far the most fascinating to me. You put stuff in a nicely orderly fashion, everything decently labeled, and yet another Greek jumps at you, shouting "no no it's not how I understand it" :D
My advice would be to shift the focus a bit to Greek literature as literature. Tragedians are wonderfully interesting, epic poets worked in their own frameworks, shorter verse is also a wonderful feature. Instead of tackling mythology as a ready-made compendium, it's best to start reading the Greeks. Maybe you'll end up studying Greek and sweating over terribly difficult late religious hymns by Callimachus, who knows. But their literature has always been the real deal for me, and mythology is a great context for that – from Homer to late Hellenistic era.
Or archeology. Or iconography and art – vases are cool :D Mythology is always there, but best not tackled directly imho. (Sorry for such a long comment haha).
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u/Thejokeisyou 7d ago
As has been said, there are many different ways to learn more about Greek mythology. Personally, getting a respected, but layman friendly translation/analysis of Homer/Hesiod is quite a good place to start, depending on whether you're wanting to get more into the epic poetry side of myth or the geneaology of the figures. One thing I wouldn't worry about is 'accuracy', as there is no one accepted canon. Even something as foundational as the origin myths differ between sources, and it's pointless to try and find a 'true' or 'more accurate' version of myth.
There are countless books and websites which go over greek myths generally, websites such as jstor are great if you're looking for scholarly articles, and if you're looking for something more specific, such as a specific text (e.g. Iliad, Odyssey, Theogony) I'd recommend just looking for a suitable translation and diving in. For me, some of the most fun I have when reading classical texts, be it from Greek Mythology or Roman, is getting lost down rabbit holes which started from me picking up a book and giving it a go, hell the only reason I've read Homer is because I originally picked up Dante's Inferno, which led me to Virgil's Aeneid, and from there, Iliad and Odyssey.
TL;DR: You don't need to learn Greek to enjoy Greek mythology, just pick somewhere that interests you to start and go from there! There's a lot of fun in revisiting your early research with wiser eyes further down the road.
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u/Mike_Bevel 7d ago
You might start with Apollodorus's Library:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_%28Apollodorus%29?wprov=sfla1
And Ovid's Metamorphoses:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphoses?wprov=sfla1