Mythology [Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes]

xiv, 497 pp. Edith Hamilton's mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman and Norse myths that are the keystone of Western culture - the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present. We follow the drama of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Odysseus. We hear the tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Cupid and Psyche, and mighty King Midas. We discover the origins of the names of the constellations. And we recognize reference points for countless works for art, literature and culture inquiry-from Freud's Oedipus complex to Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas to Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra. Includes: Foreword; Introduction to Classical Mythology: The Mythology of the Greeks - The Greek and Roman Writers of Mythology; Part One. The Gods, the Creation, and the Earliest Heroes; Part Two. Stories of Love and Adventure; Part Three. The Great Heroes before the Trojan War; Part Four. The Heroes of the Trojan War; Part Five. The Great Families of Mythology; Part Six. The Less Important Myths; Part Seven. The Mythology of the Norsemen; Geneological Tables; Index.