Triumph of the Hero: Greek and Roman Myth

Myth and Mankind

by Tony Allan

A dramatic series that captures, culture by culture, the information that never makes it into the history books: strange stories, mystic rites, angry gods, vision quests.

Genres: Mythology, History, Nonfiction, Reference, Folklore, Religion

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

After studying History at Oxford, Tony Allan worked for the British Broadcasting Company and as a magazine editor before turning to book publishing, including the Myth and Mankind series.

Reviews

[Colleen Villasenor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another of the Time-Life Myth and Mankind series. This was a lot easier to read than some of the books in this series. It was in a more cohesive narrative style than some of the other books that try to cover too much in too little space. It was a decent overview of mainly Greek heroes, but also included a connection to the legendary founders of Rome. These stories showed the "heroes" as violent, self-centered, and misogynistic. I found myself wondering how we have come to idolize them so much, turning them into iconic movie characters and superheroes. They have been sanitized and romanticized and even turned into Disney cartoons. But the original stories were brutal