Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition

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I haven't attempted Ovid or Hesiod, but this is where I would undoubtedly start whenever decide to do so. Although the myths remain unchanged, the way that we think about them has evolved considerably over the last 150 years.

Only, it's also one of those books that really works better as a reference than as a book you sit down and read from cover to cover. May I dream a most splendid dream in which my lips meet those of the blessed Aphrodite herself, only to awaken and find, in horror, that I am merely tongue-wrestling the three heads of Cerberus! However, I really need to point this out again: this is supposed to be a comprehensive work of mythology as a whole!

Praised throughout the world for its authority and lucidity, Mythology is Edith Hamilton's masterpiece--the standard by which all other books on mythology are measured.

It does everything it intends, being the perfect primer, before delving into the primary text of Greek Mythology. Concerning how you approach it, is up to you but I will say this will be a valuable novel before heading towards Homer’s work. You actually finish the book with a pretty good idea of who all the major authors of Greek and Roman Mythology were and some of their storytelling traits. This week, we're talking Prophet Song, Paul Lynch, Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, and "Rabbit Test", Samantha Mills.Agamemnon murders his daughter, Iphigenia, to appease Artemis who, in turn, provides “good winds to sail to Troy”. The Roman versions are only mentioned, because the Romans stole their myths wholesale from the Greeks. This rendition, in the case of Odysseus, does not follow the flow of the story as written in the original.