The Illustrated A-Z Of Classic Mythology: The Legends Of Ancient Greece, Rome And The Norse And Celtic Worlds; A Visual Dictionary With 1000 Entries And More Than 600 Fine Art Images

by Arthur Cotterell

A comprehensive reference source to the ancient world's most fascinating mythologies, bringing together the Classical legends of ancient Greece and Rome; the fairytale myths of the Celtic world; and from Northern Europe, tales of Germanic gods, Nordic warriors and giants.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Reference, Greek Mythology, History, Art, Literature

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2013

About the author

Arthur Cotterell, former Principal of Kingston College in London, has spent many years combining senior educational management with historical research. He is the respected author of more than thirty books, and is now writing on the Chinese empire, from the history of which he considers one can learn as much about leadership as from Ashridge or Harvard.

Reviews

[Shannon ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book, packed with heaps of information and lovely illustrations. Would definitely recommend if you're into mythology and lore!

[Bivisyani Questibrilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since this book is basically an encyclopaedia, I don't think there is much for me to say about it, apart from whether the information was thorough and well-delivered or not. Hopefully, I'll be brief about it.

First of all, I think the information is very, very detailed—to be able to squeeze in three mythologies in there, this is as detailed as it can get without overloading the brain, I think. The illustrations really help give us an idea of what some of these characters look like. The writing is very easy to understand and the segmentations of the parts are done really well.

Some things I wished the book could have included—although I do understand why they weren't included—are the family trees of the characters involved perhaps (or at least the gods) and the phonetic guide to each of these names (especially the Celtic ones). They would help me get through the book quicker and understand the stories better, I find. Although, of course, they could also make the book a lot more complicated.

For an introduction piece, I would definitely recommend this book, although I would also encourage reading deeper into these mythologies, if you want a more detailed understanding of them.

[Aabha Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures are quantity over quality. There’s a Leonardo da Vinci painting on the same page as a totally amateur work that looks like it was done by a middle grade child. These are liberally peppered throughout the text. What a pity. Also some of the paintings printed are incredibly tiny making it impossible to see the details of what is originally a pretty huge painting. This book could have been amazing but it clearly falls short. It wasn’t made with love it seems.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extensive guide to classic mythology- brilliant reference.