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The Greek Myths
The Greek Myths Box Set
An illustrated edition of Robert Graves' original volume published in 1955. This new edition has been abridged to exclude the critical apparatus and scholarly notes, so that readers can simply read the stories of the myths themselves. It is illustrated with classical Greek art.
Hardcover
Published August 1, 1981
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About the author
Robert Graves
637 books2,061 followersRobert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. Born in Wimbledon, he received his early education at King's College School and Copthorne Prep School, Wimbledon & Charterhouse School and won a scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. While at Charterhouse in 1912, he fell in love with G.H. Johnstone, a boy of fourteen ("Dick" in Goodbye to All That) When challenged by the headmaster he defended himself by citing Plato, Greek poets, Michelangelo & Shakespeare, "who had felt as I did".
At the outbreak of WWI, Graves enlisted almost immediately, taking a commission in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. He published his first volume of poems, Over the Brazier, in 1916. He developed an early reputation as a war poet and was one of the first to write realistic poems about his experience of front line conflict. In later years he omitted war poems from his collections, on the grounds that they were too obviously "part of the war poetry boom". At the Battle of the Somme he was so badly wounded by a shell-fragment through the lung that he was expected to die, and indeed was officially reported as 'died of wounds'. He gradually recovered. Apart from a brief spell back in France, he spent the rest of the war in England.
One of Graves's closest friends at this time was the poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was also an officer in the RWF. In 1917 Sassoon tried to rebel against the war by making a public anti-war statement. Graves, who feared Sassoon could face a court martial, intervened with the military authorities and persuaded them that he was suffering from shell shock, and to treat him accordingly. Graves also suffered from shell shock, or neurasthenia as it is sometimes called, although he was never hospitalised for it.
Biographers document the story well. It is fictionalised in Pat Barker's novel Regeneration. The intensity of their early relationship is nowhere demonstrated more clearly than in Graves's collection Fairies & Fusiliers (1917), which contains a plethora of poems celebrating their friendship. Through Sassoon, he also became friends with Wilfred Owen, whose talent he recognised. Owen attended Graves's wedding to Nancy Nicholson in 1918, presenting him with, as Graves recalled, "a set of 12 Apostle spoons".
Following his marriage and the end of the war, Graves belatedly took up his place at St John's College, Oxford. He later attempted to make a living by running a small shop, but the business failed. In 1926 he took up a post at Cairo University, accompanied by his wife, their children and the poet Laura Riding. He returned to London briefly, where he split with his wife under highly emotional circumstances before leaving to live with Riding in Deià, Majorca. There they continued to publish letterpress books under the rubric of the Seizin Press, founded and edited the literary journal Epilogue, and wrote two successful academic books together: A Survey of Modernist Poetry (1927) and A Pamphlet Against Anthologies (1928).
In 1927, he published Lawrence and the Arabs, a commercially successful biography of T.E. Lawrence. Good-bye to All That (1929, revised and republished in 1957) proved a success but cost him many of his friends, notably Sassoon. In 1934 he published his most commercially successful work, I, Claudius. Using classical sources he constructed a complexly compelling tale of the life of the Roman emperor Claudius, a tale extended in Claudius the God (1935). Another historical novel by Graves, Count Belisarius (1938), recounts the career of the Byzantine general Belisarius.
During the early 1970s Graves began to suffer from increasingly severe memory loss, and by his eightieth birthday in 1975 he had come to the end of his working life. By 1975 he had published more than 140 works. He survived for ten more years in an increasingly dependent condition until he died from heart
At the outbreak of WWI, Graves enlisted almost immediately, taking a commission in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. He published his first volume of poems, Over the Brazier, in 1916. He developed an early reputation as a war poet and was one of the first to write realistic poems about his experience of front line conflict. In later years he omitted war poems from his collections, on the grounds that they were too obviously "part of the war poetry boom". At the Battle of the Somme he was so badly wounded by a shell-fragment through the lung that he was expected to die, and indeed was officially reported as 'died of wounds'. He gradually recovered. Apart from a brief spell back in France, he spent the rest of the war in England.
One of Graves's closest friends at this time was the poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was also an officer in the RWF. In 1917 Sassoon tried to rebel against the war by making a public anti-war statement. Graves, who feared Sassoon could face a court martial, intervened with the military authorities and persuaded them that he was suffering from shell shock, and to treat him accordingly. Graves also suffered from shell shock, or neurasthenia as it is sometimes called, although he was never hospitalised for it.
Biographers document the story well. It is fictionalised in Pat Barker's novel Regeneration. The intensity of their early relationship is nowhere demonstrated more clearly than in Graves's collection Fairies & Fusiliers (1917), which contains a plethora of poems celebrating their friendship. Through Sassoon, he also became friends with Wilfred Owen, whose talent he recognised. Owen attended Graves's wedding to Nancy Nicholson in 1918, presenting him with, as Graves recalled, "a set of 12 Apostle spoons".
Following his marriage and the end of the war, Graves belatedly took up his place at St John's College, Oxford. He later attempted to make a living by running a small shop, but the business failed. In 1926 he took up a post at Cairo University, accompanied by his wife, their children and the poet Laura Riding. He returned to London briefly, where he split with his wife under highly emotional circumstances before leaving to live with Riding in Deià, Majorca. There they continued to publish letterpress books under the rubric of the Seizin Press, founded and edited the literary journal Epilogue, and wrote two successful academic books together: A Survey of Modernist Poetry (1927) and A Pamphlet Against Anthologies (1928).
In 1927, he published Lawrence and the Arabs, a commercially successful biography of T.E. Lawrence. Good-bye to All That (1929, revised and republished in 1957) proved a success but cost him many of his friends, notably Sassoon. In 1934 he published his most commercially successful work, I, Claudius. Using classical sources he constructed a complexly compelling tale of the life of the Roman emperor Claudius, a tale extended in Claudius the God (1935). Another historical novel by Graves, Count Belisarius (1938), recounts the career of the Byzantine general Belisarius.
During the early 1970s Graves began to suffer from increasingly severe memory loss, and by his eightieth birthday in 1975 he had come to the end of his working life. By 1975 he had published more than 140 works. He survived for ten more years in an increasingly dependent condition until he died from heart
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 7, 2013
The Folio Society published this rather splendid two volume book of The Greek Myths by Robert Graves in 1996. I purchased it then but I basically only looked at it from time to time when I wanted to know about certain myths or gods, and thus there was always something that I could look up which would give me pleasure.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted as, well to me anyway, it is an excellent reference book that I will pick up from time to time and browse through it or look for further information. I don’t think that I could actually have sat down and read this from cover to cover as there is too much factual information and some of the names can be quite confusing.
Also there were certain facts that I had in my head that I certainly proved to be wrong here. Little things I know but I always thought that it was Pandora’s box and not the jar and I had never even heard of The Sprites until I arrived at this part of the book. Also the Minotaur, well my own interpretation of that was completely wrong.
But when you think about the Greek Myths, it wasn’t until I went through this introduction that I found out the following:
The Romans, who annexed Greece in the second century BC, modified the Olympian religion to include their own local gods and practices, but otherwise simply took Greek stories over lock, stock and barrel. Sometimes names were changed (as when Aphrodite became Venus or Odysseus Ulysses); sometimes they were actually spelled differently (as when Asclepius became Aesculapius); sometimes no changes at all were made, so that stories with a particular Green location (such as the spring of Hippocrene near Thebes, created when the winged horse Pegasus stamped his hoof on a rock) were accepted quite happily by people who had never otherwise heard of, or seen, the originals.”
So really all one can do about this rather complicated book as I’ve done is to concentrate on for example, Pandora, as she fascinates me, to begin with and find out who she’s related to (which in itself is like being on an odyssey) and working out from there as if I were a spider on the web awaiting my next “kill”.
The Greek God Hermes (Mercury to the Romans and the son of Zeus), I have a particular fondness for. Many years ago I was in a garden centre in England and I saw this lovely little bronze statue of Mercury. I paid a lot more for it than I should have done but I knew that a pay cheque was around the corner and now it sits in my lounge. Perhaps it should be in the garden but I like to be reminded of it. So Mercury, sorry Hermes, I stand corrected. Strange really but Hermes is one of my favourite perfumes.
My only fault with this book lies with the two volumes, the index is at the end of the second one which is fair enough but it is still annoying when searching for an individual and then finding that it spans the two books.
This is a delightful book and will give me pleasure for many years. So try it, if you haven’t already. You may like it.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted as, well to me anyway, it is an excellent reference book that I will pick up from time to time and browse through it or look for further information. I don’t think that I could actually have sat down and read this from cover to cover as there is too much factual information and some of the names can be quite confusing.
Also there were certain facts that I had in my head that I certainly proved to be wrong here. Little things I know but I always thought that it was Pandora’s box and not the jar and I had never even heard of The Sprites until I arrived at this part of the book. Also the Minotaur, well my own interpretation of that was completely wrong.
But when you think about the Greek Myths, it wasn’t until I went through this introduction that I found out the following:
The Romans, who annexed Greece in the second century BC, modified the Olympian religion to include their own local gods and practices, but otherwise simply took Greek stories over lock, stock and barrel. Sometimes names were changed (as when Aphrodite became Venus or Odysseus Ulysses); sometimes they were actually spelled differently (as when Asclepius became Aesculapius); sometimes no changes at all were made, so that stories with a particular Green location (such as the spring of Hippocrene near Thebes, created when the winged horse Pegasus stamped his hoof on a rock) were accepted quite happily by people who had never otherwise heard of, or seen, the originals.”
So really all one can do about this rather complicated book as I’ve done is to concentrate on for example, Pandora, as she fascinates me, to begin with and find out who she’s related to (which in itself is like being on an odyssey) and working out from there as if I were a spider on the web awaiting my next “kill”.
The Greek God Hermes (Mercury to the Romans and the son of Zeus), I have a particular fondness for. Many years ago I was in a garden centre in England and I saw this lovely little bronze statue of Mercury. I paid a lot more for it than I should have done but I knew that a pay cheque was around the corner and now it sits in my lounge. Perhaps it should be in the garden but I like to be reminded of it. So Mercury, sorry Hermes, I stand corrected. Strange really but Hermes is one of my favourite perfumes.
My only fault with this book lies with the two volumes, the index is at the end of the second one which is fair enough but it is still annoying when searching for an individual and then finding that it spans the two books.
This is a delightful book and will give me pleasure for many years. So try it, if you haven’t already. You may like it.
December 4, 2013
My edition came with an introduction by Kenneth McLeish which mentioned the importance of this book in re-establishing the Greek myths as suitable reading for adults. It also went on to highlight Robert Graves's extensive reading but McLeish was forced to acknowledge some weaknesses in Graves's scholarship.
The legends themselves are very dry, descriptive accounts redolent of an essay on the story at hand rather than a retelling. It's clear that the author carried out very thorough reading on the subject but was too determined to fit in every alternative version when sketching the tales (and he does sketch them - the characters never come to life and the stories are mere accounts); 'according to some' and 'others say' are phrases which occur frequently throughout the book and sometimes even lists of alternative names are provided in this manner. Such details have their place - in the footnotes where the interested reader can find them if they wish.
The footnotes themselves are of perhaps greater concern. Graves may have read widely but probably selectively and certainly not critically. He was clearly greatly influenced by Margaret Alice Murray and her theories on religion. Even at the time, Murray's work was widely criticised by other academics and little has changed in that regard since - if anything the academy has become more entrenched in its criticisms of her. Although Graves makes use of folkloric, ethnographic, historic and archaeological sources in interpreting the myths they all appear to have already been out of date in the 1950's (when he wrote this book) and, worse, the sources themselves are not referenced. Since Graves was happy to present his own ideas in the footnotes as well and all the supporting evidence and theories he uses are not referenced it's impossible to sort his own fancies from others'. It's also notable that all of the sources he does present conform to his own ideas - a further sign of his writing to an agenda (Murray influenced or not).
The legends themselves are very dry, descriptive accounts redolent of an essay on the story at hand rather than a retelling. It's clear that the author carried out very thorough reading on the subject but was too determined to fit in every alternative version when sketching the tales (and he does sketch them - the characters never come to life and the stories are mere accounts); 'according to some' and 'others say' are phrases which occur frequently throughout the book and sometimes even lists of alternative names are provided in this manner. Such details have their place - in the footnotes where the interested reader can find them if they wish.
The footnotes themselves are of perhaps greater concern. Graves may have read widely but probably selectively and certainly not critically. He was clearly greatly influenced by Margaret Alice Murray and her theories on religion. Even at the time, Murray's work was widely criticised by other academics and little has changed in that regard since - if anything the academy has become more entrenched in its criticisms of her. Although Graves makes use of folkloric, ethnographic, historic and archaeological sources in interpreting the myths they all appear to have already been out of date in the 1950's (when he wrote this book) and, worse, the sources themselves are not referenced. Since Graves was happy to present his own ideas in the footnotes as well and all the supporting evidence and theories he uses are not referenced it's impossible to sort his own fancies from others'. It's also notable that all of the sources he does present conform to his own ideas - a further sign of his writing to an agenda (Murray influenced or not).
May 22, 2013
If you are looking for Greek myths where a random person takes a journey to distant lands, finds monsters, travels through mystical lands, saves the girl, is elevated to hero status, has a final fight, and then lives happily ever after – this set is not for you. This two volume set does cover Greek mythology but instead of a story like Homer’s Iliad these are the stories of where the Greek gods and deities came from. Basically, an extremely detailed family tree of the deities and characters from the mythologies, histories and background of the cities and locations, who the Heroes, Gods, and Mortals were, and some details and back story from some of the better known stories.
The Folio Society edition is quarter bound in (real?) leather with a Greek inspired graphic on the rest of the covers, inside are maps of the Greek islands and Mediterranean region – a little crowded but still good for helping you to narrow down the places of interest.
The first book covers the basics, starting with well written introductions from the Editor and Author as well as a Forward, moving on into the beginnings of Greek mythology – essentially creation mythology, how and where Gods and deities were born, who their parents and children were. Moving on into the various stories of the Gods, who they were and what they did (Nature and Deeds), how they rule the various levels of the world such as the Sky, the Sea, and the Underworld. The second book gets deeper into the actual mythological stories such as Jason and the Argonauts, Heracles, the Trojan War, and Odysseus.
It is a very interesting read for those interested in Greek mythology, but again it is closer to a “Who's Who” of mythology and Classical Literature and not the full stories. If you are looking for stories with heroes fighting monsters I would suggest you look elsewhere, however if you are looking a deeper understanding of where the characters you know (and either love or hate) come from and interacted with the world, this is for you.
I give it either a high 3 or low 4, a bit closer to an educational book instead of a casual reader, still enjoyable for those with an interest in the subject – however if you only have a casual passing interest in Greek Mythology I would suggest reading Homer instead.
The Folio Society edition is quarter bound in (real?) leather with a Greek inspired graphic on the rest of the covers, inside are maps of the Greek islands and Mediterranean region – a little crowded but still good for helping you to narrow down the places of interest.
The first book covers the basics, starting with well written introductions from the Editor and Author as well as a Forward, moving on into the beginnings of Greek mythology – essentially creation mythology, how and where Gods and deities were born, who their parents and children were. Moving on into the various stories of the Gods, who they were and what they did (Nature and Deeds), how they rule the various levels of the world such as the Sky, the Sea, and the Underworld. The second book gets deeper into the actual mythological stories such as Jason and the Argonauts, Heracles, the Trojan War, and Odysseus.
It is a very interesting read for those interested in Greek mythology, but again it is closer to a “Who's Who” of mythology and Classical Literature and not the full stories. If you are looking for stories with heroes fighting monsters I would suggest you look elsewhere, however if you are looking a deeper understanding of where the characters you know (and either love or hate) come from and interacted with the world, this is for you.
I give it either a high 3 or low 4, a bit closer to an educational book instead of a casual reader, still enjoyable for those with an interest in the subject – however if you only have a casual passing interest in Greek Mythology I would suggest reading Homer instead.
August 17, 2022
Interesting but I don't retain the stories, and I have so many unread books I have given up on these two. That's not to say they are aren't good, they are very well written and explained: it's me. I would give four stars but only three because of my lack of enjoyment.
DNF and I have now given them to a young man I know who is into the Greek Myths. Better for him to enjoy them than for me to clutter up my bookshelves with books I will not read. Sorry, Mr Graves.
DNF and I have now given them to a young man I know who is into the Greek Myths. Better for him to enjoy them than for me to clutter up my bookshelves with books I will not read. Sorry, Mr Graves.
October 19, 2017
Robert Graves does an excellent job of retelling both the main Greek myths and the more obscure ones. He summarizes variants when applicable as well. Overall, the text of the myths is something that everyone will enjoy. It begins with the creation myths and the ascension of the Olumpians to the labors of Heracles and the Trojan War.
Graves' commentary on the myths though has rightly been denounced by scholars. In the words of the editor for this edition, "His comments on the stories, printed at the end of each section, are a magpie's nest of anecdotes, other people's half-digested ideas, bucking-bronco rides on every Gravesian hobby-horse from magic mushrooms to goddess-fixation, and the purest fantasy" (p.19). That said, it's best if you just skip his comments at the end of each myth. At best, the commentary is outdated and, at worst, it is wildly outlandish.
The Folio Society edition itself is very nice. It comes in two volumes at about 700 pages in total and hopefully still has the slipcase with it. The illustrations on the cover and throughout the text are a wonderful touch. My only complaint is that they should have left in Graves' original line references to the primary sources. The editor remarks that this was done to clean up the text, which is understandable for casual readers. However, the references are immensely important for scholars. If only that was included, I could say that this is a perfect reference text for being able to find multiple sources of a myth.
Graves' commentary on the myths though has rightly been denounced by scholars. In the words of the editor for this edition, "His comments on the stories, printed at the end of each section, are a magpie's nest of anecdotes, other people's half-digested ideas, bucking-bronco rides on every Gravesian hobby-horse from magic mushrooms to goddess-fixation, and the purest fantasy" (p.19). That said, it's best if you just skip his comments at the end of each myth. At best, the commentary is outdated and, at worst, it is wildly outlandish.
The Folio Society edition itself is very nice. It comes in two volumes at about 700 pages in total and hopefully still has the slipcase with it. The illustrations on the cover and throughout the text are a wonderful touch. My only complaint is that they should have left in Graves' original line references to the primary sources. The editor remarks that this was done to clean up the text, which is understandable for casual readers. However, the references are immensely important for scholars. If only that was included, I could say that this is a perfect reference text for being able to find multiple sources of a myth.
December 30, 2016
First a quibble. If the chimaera is a goat with the head of a lion and the body of a snake, what exactly is the goaty bit - the legs? The tail? In which case why not say that it is a snake with the head of a lion and the legs of a goat? The myths themselves are chimeric and confused. Multiple sources create regular confusion as to persons, places and fates.
Graves retelling of the myths effectively consists of two books merged together. The first is a readable narration of the myths in the style of a later Greek or Roman historian. As such it is a helpful and at times entertaining compendium of the myths. The second is a dull and po-faced commentary on the myths which essentially boils down to a master myth of a sacred king being killed in various different ways. As such it is an uninteresting mix of The Golden Bough and Casaubon's Key to All Mythologies. Read the myths. Ignore the interpretation.
Graves retelling of the myths effectively consists of two books merged together. The first is a readable narration of the myths in the style of a later Greek or Roman historian. As such it is a helpful and at times entertaining compendium of the myths. The second is a dull and po-faced commentary on the myths which essentially boils down to a master myth of a sacred king being killed in various different ways. As such it is an uninteresting mix of The Golden Bough and Casaubon's Key to All Mythologies. Read the myths. Ignore the interpretation.
August 23, 2017
This gorgeously bound text delivers the ancient Greek myths in stunning depth, but I must confess I found it very difficult to read for extended periods. One of this books greatest strengths is also it's greatest weakness if one tries to read it cover to cover. That being, it's description and deconstruction of each myth from many different angles. To be clear, I applaud the author for this approach; it truly seems that Graves was trying to get to the real anthropological roots of each myth. For example, the creation myth is told using four different myths, each myth representing a different region of Greece, or time period of it's history. Notes from Graves follow each telling and these are actually my favourite part of the book. He traces the lineage of the symbolism of each story back to pre-Olympian cults and even some mythologies from other parts of Europe. From what I understand of the text, these commentaries from Graves caused the book to be widely panned by the academic community. I personally think that Graves' extensive knowledge and authorship of poetry qualifies him as much (possibly more) as anyone else when commenting on the etymology of the Greek myths.
If you wanted to read this cover to cover, I would recommend taking breaks, then coming back to it. I tried power reading it, and found the flow of it terrible and had to put it down several times. However, there are surely some adept readers out there that could handle it. Otherwise, I think it would work very well as a 'reference book', picking each story to read as it comes to mind.
If you wanted to read this cover to cover, I would recommend taking breaks, then coming back to it. I tried power reading it, and found the flow of it terrible and had to put it down several times. However, there are surely some adept readers out there that could handle it. Otherwise, I think it would work very well as a 'reference book', picking each story to read as it comes to mind.
August 18, 2009
Good reference book. I always get confused about the entangled familial/sexual relationships, so about halfway through the names began to blur a bit. But this edition has some nice photos of pottery, sculpture etc. (There's a particularly hunky statue of Heracles from a Neopolitan museum.)
Now I have to start the Canongate series looking more deeply into each myth. Lots of incest, bestiality, matricide, fratricide etc! There'll be a lot to think about.
Now I have to start the Canongate series looking more deeply into each myth. Lots of incest, bestiality, matricide, fratricide etc! There'll be a lot to think about.
June 14, 2016
Overall a good book. It is great for those interested in potential historical explanations of myths.
September 1, 2024
The footnotes are extremely interesting. I highly recommend this over the collection we all grew up with, Edith Hamilton's Mythology. These do not edit out the more gory bits, and the footnotes give insight into what these myths really mean.
July 3, 2021
Exclusive edition of Graves legendary book. Well, folio society design is always amazing while Graves commentary of the myths are both entertaining and deep. I really enjoy this amazing books!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews