Greek Gods and Heroes: Robert Graves Retells the Myths of Zeus, Heracles, Perseus and Pegasus
The myths of the Greek gods and heroes, told in an entertaining and enjoyable way. In Greek Gods and Heroes, Robert Graves puts the Greek myths within reach of everyone, young and old. They are essential not only for understanding Greek civilisation but also for enjoying Western art and culture in all their richness.
Author: Robert Graves (1895–1985)
Title: Greek Gods and Heroes
Format: English mass-market paperback (Laurel-Leaf), 160 pages
Scope: Greek myths retold for younger readers
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0440932211 (ASIN 0440932211)
Gods and Heroes
The entertaining stories of gods such as Zeus, Hera, Hermes and Poseidon, and of heroes such as Heracles and Perseus, become, in Graves’s skilful hands, lively tales full of wisdom.
A Gallery of Wonders
The book brings readers close to fascinating creatures such as the winged horse Pegasus, the beautiful Andromeda, the hunter Orion and the centaur Chiron, and delights them with stories like the Seven Against Thebes, Leda and the Swan, Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Midas’s ears.
Graves the Mythographer
Robert Graves (1895–1985) was a poet, novelist and critic who wrote one of the great memoirs of the First World War, Good-Bye to All That (1929), and the historical novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God (1934). From 1929 he lived for most of his life in Deià, on Mallorca, where he is buried. His fascination with myth produced The White Goddess (1948), a highly personal theory of poetry and religion, and The Greek Myths (1955), a two-volume compendium with his own commentaries.
A Book for Young Readers
Greek Gods and Heroes, published in Britain as Myths of Ancient Greece, is Graves’s version for children. He tells the stories in short, lively chapters, with a dry wit that never talks down to his readers: the quarrels of the Olympians, the labours of Heracles, Perseus and the Gorgon, Theseus and the Minotaur, Jason and the Golden Fleece, the Trojan War. Without the scholarly apparatus of The Greek Myths, it shows Graves at his most purely enjoyable, as a storyteller.
A Note of Caution
Graves was a brilliant writer but an idiosyncratic scholar. Many classicists have criticised the theories in The Greek Myths, especially his idea of an ancient matriarchal religion of the Great Goddess displaced by male gods. The children’s book largely avoids those theories, telling the myths as stories rather than interpreting them, but older readers moving on to his larger work should read his commentaries with a critical eye.
Where to Go Next
After this book, young readers can try Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson novels for fun, or Stephen Fry’s Mythos. Adults who want the sources themselves should turn to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the poet the original review compares with Graves, or to Homer.
For Families
It works well read aloud, a chapter at bedtime, and many of the stories are short enough for one sitting.
Why Myths Still Matter
The original review made the point that these stories are not only about ancient Greece. Western painting, sculpture, poetry and even everyday language are full of them: a Herculean task, an Achilles heel, a Pandora’s box, a narcissist, a Trojan horse. Children who know the myths can recognise them in museums, in Shakespeare and in modern fantasy, and Graves’s book is one of the most entertaining ways to acquire that key to the culture. It also reminds us how strange, funny and violent the original stories are, far from their sanitised cartoon versions.
Why Read It
In the history of the West, perhaps only Ovid in the Metamorphoses has told the Greek myths with the grace, rigour, freshness, humour, drama and wit of the exquisite Robert Graves. This short book is the perfect introduction before tackling Graves’s monumental The Greek Myths.
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