Greek Mythology : From Creation to First Humans

Greek Mythology is an accessible and nuanced overview of creation myths from the ancient Greek and Near Eastern worlds, informed by the understanding of the cultural and social context of the stories. Each chapter includes sections on how the myths connected with aspects of real life, whether religious and ritual, or political and social.

This volume provides an introduction to ancient Greek mythology through the theme of cosmogonies and theogonies —myths of origins that told the creation of the world and the birth and succession of the gods. Greek Mythology additionally features important foundational myths related to the early stages of humankind, such as the sequence of the Five Races, the first sacrifice, the creation of woman, and the Flood, all part of the core Greek myths about the beginnings of the world. The centerpiece of the volume is Hesiod''s Theogony as well as parts of Works and Days which are, along with the Iliad and Odyssey, the earliest Greek literary texts preserved. The volume includes freshly translated excerpts from these canonical sources along with discussions of alternative cosmogonies and theogonies in the Greek tradition, in a rare feature for myth overviews. Beyond providing an overview of the central stories, Greek Mythology reveals myriad aspects of the myths, such as their literary form and performative contexts, their relationship to Near Eastern myths, their religious relevance and ritual function, and their reception, both in later antiquity and in modern times.