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The Gods of Olympus: A History
Elegant and entertaining, this is the history of the most vibrant characters in classical civilisation. With their vast appetites, great beauty, and warlike tendencies, it's hard to resist their pull on the imagination - even though, in antiquity, the gods of Olympus were just as often seen as cruel, over-sexed, mad, or just plain silly. And yet they were survivors, whose story only began with classical civilisation.Masters of re-invention (though never too hard to identify), they began to resemble pharaohs in Egypt and lead respectable Roman citizens in orgiastic rituals of drink and sex. Under Christianity and Islam they went undercover as demons, allegories, and planets, waiting for a triumphant re-emergence in a Renaissance vision of ancient beauty. They travelled east along the silk route to the walls of cave-temples in China, and west, colonizing the Americas. They featured on Wedgwood teapots, attacked the poet H?lderlin, haunted Nietzsche, and visited Borges in restless dreams. Barbara Graziosi deftly traces the travels and transformations of these pagan deities from the distant past to the present, showing that the gods of Olympus remain potent symbols that help us to feel ourselves part of a broad and fascinating humanity.
406 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2013
About the author
Barbara Graziosi
19 books15 followersArts and Humanities director of Durham’s Institute of Advanced Study and Professor of Classics and Ancient History.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
August 24, 2023
A good refresher on the gods of Olympus, particularly as a survey of how they were viewed in different times and places. The author covers the gods from antiquity to the Renaissance and briefly beyond into the present. Their persistence has been remarkable even if they are no longer worshipped.
Graziosi uses primarily the 12 gods and goddesses portrayed on what is known as the Elgin Marbles residing in the British Museum. The other name for the Elgin Marbles is the Parthenon frieze from its first location in the 5th century BCE. It is usually interesting to listen to the author’s story of how the gods looked, we’re portrayed in art, literature, drama and philosophy from the times they were worshipped through their transfer to other countries by conquerors such as Alexander the Great or by admiring cultural figures such as the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Roman elite. In crossing cultures you hear of additions and changes. Many good illustrations are included that help develop Graziosi’s points including an art work showing the gods dressed like crusaders in armor. In the European Middle Ages and Renaissance the gods were no longer worshipped but continued to influence through their status in art and education. Graziosi discusses all, if anything maybe too much as it could be overwhelmingly academic at times. I think it was best as a timeline for appreciation of Greek culture, not as a survey of the individual gods.
Graziosi uses primarily the 12 gods and goddesses portrayed on what is known as the Elgin Marbles residing in the British Museum. The other name for the Elgin Marbles is the Parthenon frieze from its first location in the 5th century BCE. It is usually interesting to listen to the author’s story of how the gods looked, we’re portrayed in art, literature, drama and philosophy from the times they were worshipped through their transfer to other countries by conquerors such as Alexander the Great or by admiring cultural figures such as the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Roman elite. In crossing cultures you hear of additions and changes. Many good illustrations are included that help develop Graziosi’s points including an art work showing the gods dressed like crusaders in armor. In the European Middle Ages and Renaissance the gods were no longer worshipped but continued to influence through their status in art and education. Graziosi discusses all, if anything maybe too much as it could be overwhelmingly academic at times. I think it was best as a timeline for appreciation of Greek culture, not as a survey of the individual gods.
December 11, 2015
This was fun, but was a little less than what I was hoping. Graziosi traces the history of the Greek gods from their origins within the Greek cultural area through their evolution in time, merging with various Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern gods, falling out of their religious context then being reinvented anew.
One of the interesting insights was how the Greek pantheon served as cultural unifying force, establishing norms across the Greek world and essentially establishing what was Greek. It was also interesting to see how gods were force-molded in such strange ways, such as how the Romans combined their very important god Mars into the minor and rather pathetic Greek God Ares.
What was missing, I felt, was a good sense of who these gods were in the religious and mythological context. She not only doesn't bring them alive, but doesn't really even spend much time on them. She walks through the Elgin marbles and gives a short bit on each of the twelve gods there, which I did find of interest. But she pretty much leaves off the biographies at that and moves on to their evolution.
side note - this is the first book for my Homer theme, one of my planned themes for 2016.
One of the interesting insights was how the Greek pantheon served as cultural unifying force, establishing norms across the Greek world and essentially establishing what was Greek. It was also interesting to see how gods were force-molded in such strange ways, such as how the Romans combined their very important god Mars into the minor and rather pathetic Greek God Ares.
What was missing, I felt, was a good sense of who these gods were in the religious and mythological context. She not only doesn't bring them alive, but doesn't really even spend much time on them. She walks through the Elgin marbles and gives a short bit on each of the twelve gods there, which I did find of interest. But she pretty much leaves off the biographies at that and moves on to their evolution.
side note - this is the first book for my Homer theme, one of my planned themes for 2016.
March 15, 2014
This book claims to be about the Olympian gods from "antiquity to the renaissance" and this is in my opinion a bit misleading.
Graziosi devotes four parts of her six-part book to the ancient world. In fairness her observations are insightful and clearly illustrated with good examples. Graziosi clearly knows her stuff when it comes to the ancient world. And that for me is this books fundamental problem. The author should have stopped at the rise of Christianity. From this point onwards (admittedly only two parts) she struggles to convincingly make her arguments. Her observations become much more superficial and her evidence is tenuous at best.
Rather than a history of the role of the Olympian gods, this is a very competent introduction to their role in the ancient world with a few general comments about their place in a Christian Europe to finish up. Readers looking for an insight into the reception of classical mythology in the renaissance would be better looking to other writers in reception studies.
That is not to say however that there is not some value for general readers interested in the role of myth. Coming to the subject with no prior knowledge this book would be a gentle introduction to a fascinating subject. More experienced readers will find nothing new it has to be said.
Graziosi devotes four parts of her six-part book to the ancient world. In fairness her observations are insightful and clearly illustrated with good examples. Graziosi clearly knows her stuff when it comes to the ancient world. And that for me is this books fundamental problem. The author should have stopped at the rise of Christianity. From this point onwards (admittedly only two parts) she struggles to convincingly make her arguments. Her observations become much more superficial and her evidence is tenuous at best.
Rather than a history of the role of the Olympian gods, this is a very competent introduction to their role in the ancient world with a few general comments about their place in a Christian Europe to finish up. Readers looking for an insight into the reception of classical mythology in the renaissance would be better looking to other writers in reception studies.
That is not to say however that there is not some value for general readers interested in the role of myth. Coming to the subject with no prior knowledge this book would be a gentle introduction to a fascinating subject. More experienced readers will find nothing new it has to be said.
July 21, 2014
I enjoyed this though I think it helps that I went in with absolutely no expectations.
Prior to reading this, I was familiar with the Olympian gods and the mythology surrounding them, and this was a nice review.
I've also done some reading on the Greek and Roman empires, and this provided a nice summary of the role religion and the Olympian gods played in these cultures as well as how these cultures shaped and reshaped the gods.
The second half of the book deals with the preservation and evolution of the myths (primarily through art and literature) as monotheism emerges and slowly replaces the gods of Olympus.
Not sure there is anything new here, but for me the book pulled together a lot of reading I have done on individual subjects, which was a plus. The book was also well organized, which I appreciated.
Prior to reading this, I was familiar with the Olympian gods and the mythology surrounding them, and this was a nice review.
I've also done some reading on the Greek and Roman empires, and this provided a nice summary of the role religion and the Olympian gods played in these cultures as well as how these cultures shaped and reshaped the gods.
The second half of the book deals with the preservation and evolution of the myths (primarily through art and literature) as monotheism emerges and slowly replaces the gods of Olympus.
Not sure there is anything new here, but for me the book pulled together a lot of reading I have done on individual subjects, which was a plus. The book was also well organized, which I appreciated.
January 17, 2019
This book is a rather unconventional biography of the ancient Greek gods. Rather than examining ancient Greek cultic practise, which is merely one section of the book, it examines how the Olympians have been thought about and considered by a range of societies over a much wider span of time, up to and including the Renaissance era. It is far less about the layout of temples and the exact rituals that went on, than how people thought about the gods and how they were reconceptualised. Newcomers to the subject may be surprised to learn that classical Greeks debated whether ‘the gods made me do it’ was a viable excuse for evil-doers – if it wasn’t acceptable in their courts, why was it an acceptable explanation for Helen of Troy in their myths? This ties into a whole shift in thought about being responsible for one’s own actions rather than feeling compelled by some outside force upon which blame can be laid. And in the Hellenistic era, Greeks even dabbled with the idea that all anthropomorphic gods had at one time been monarchs, and that the only true gods were the natural forces which had never been anthropomorphised – albeit this idea was encouraged by one monarch in order to discourage another’s divine aspirations. An unusual and fascinating biography of the Olympians.
8 out of 10
December 1, 2017
For me, there weren’t many surprises here in Barbara Graziosi’s analysis of the Greek pantheon and their afterlife. I already knew how they translated into the Roman world (thank you, Mrs Wilson, for many fascinating lessons in classics!) and I had some idea of how they translated into the medieval and Renaissance world as well (I believe thanks there must go to Richard Wilson, Martin Coyle and Rob Gossedge – I can’t untangle in my mind quite who was responsible for this, but I blame my degree all the same).
Nonetheless, it’s a good survey of the Greek pantheon and the enormous influence they had on religious thought and, in the end, literature. I could wish for a bit on modern paganism, since I have friends who have revived the worship of the Olympians, but that’s probably a little much to ask.
It’s an enjoyable read, though not a particularly enlightening one, for me.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
Nonetheless, it’s a good survey of the Greek pantheon and the enormous influence they had on religious thought and, in the end, literature. I could wish for a bit on modern paganism, since I have friends who have revived the worship of the Olympians, but that’s probably a little much to ask.
It’s an enjoyable read, though not a particularly enlightening one, for me.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
March 31, 2025
This is more of a "Survey of Western Civ Humanities" than a detailed history of the Olympic gods, but it's not bad if that's what you're after. I was hoping for more on the specific attributes of the pantheon and tracing how those changed over time. There's very little of that. In fact, "biographical" sketches of each figure occupy, at most, a handful of pages and one very abbreviated appendix. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I realized that. However, it would be a good introduction for young people seeking to understand the evolution of attitudes towards classical Greco-Roman culture. Graziosi is broadly sympathetic to the Renaissance gloss on the gods as emblematic of the power of human imagination. I didn't regret reading it but it's pitched more at the level of my kids than the level of detail I'm seeking. Give it to the adolescent who loved Percy Jackson and wants to know a little more about why people are still reading about these figures thousands of years later.
March 8, 2026
”The gods will always live, as long as people care about them.”
3,5/5!
The Gods of Olympus is a biography of sorts about the twelve Olympian gods of antiquity. Graziosi traces how they survived the loss of their worshippers and status as internationally known and worshipped gods, how they were developed and interpreted from archaic Greece to the Reneissance, what they mean to us now and why we still retell stories about them and create art based on them.
I will begin by stating that my rating is not an indication of the quality of Graziosi’s research or analysis, but solely based on my personal enjoyment of the book. Though I am a huge antiquity nerd, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find really in-depth discussions of ancient philosophical debates superbly fascinating, and, understandably since the topic is religion, there was a lot of that in this book. I also think, at times, there were, especially in those chapters that focued more on really abstract conversations, debates and so on, ideas and thoughts that Graziosi could’ve spent a little bit more time explaining. My one last critique, and the only major one in terms of the actual substance of the analysis, is to do with the shocking lack of Vesta. Hestia, Vesta’s Greek counterpart, was crucial to ancient religion and worship, and, in Rome, she became literally a force that, as it was understood, kept Rome alive through her sacred flame. It is true Hestia isn’t always counted as one of the Olympians, but neither is Dionysos, of whom Graziosi wrote about a lot. If you are gonna discuss Rome and its religious practices, how can you not focus, at least a little bit, on Vesta? But now, with my criticisms and disclaimers out of the way, let’s get into what I liked and found fascinating about the book.
The Olympian Gods are figures I have always loved. They remain endlessly fascinating to me. It was thus really intirguing to read a book all about how they have changed over time and how they continued to survive despite becoming, at times, branded as demonic and dangerous. I thought the way Graziosi explored their endless appeal to us really moving – they are, despite their powers and excesses, relatable to us, they are a recognizable family, they can be interpreted in so many ways which helps keepthem alive, their stories are simply intriguing and because they spread so far and wide, they belong to so many peoples and are cultural touchstones we all recognize on some level. I was especially intrigued by the chapters about how the Greek gods mixed with other divinities, how Alexader’s conquests led the way to a new mingling of cultures, how the Greeks approached other culture’s gods as similar to their own just with different names, how the Hellenistic era and the meeting of Greek, Egyptian, Persian and Near Eastern myths gave birth to horoscopes and made planets out of the gods, and how, in Alexandria, often combined different religious practices so they could be enjoyed by everyone who lived in this multicultural cosmopolitan city. Graziosi also did a great job challenging the commonly held belief that the Romans simply stole the Greek gods – they were not the only “foreigners” who adopted the gods and modified them, and it was clever for them to do so, because to present themselves as one of the myriad of peoples who worshipped the same gods made people less hostile against them, less angry (to deny their conquests their versions of the Greek gods probably would’ve caused them to rebel). The adopting of Greek gods into Rome was also not as easy as people tend to claim, as the gods didn’t stay the same: chaotic, hated Ares became the respectable, central, collected Mars, for example. Sure, some gods were brought wholesale, like Apollo, when there was not a direct counterpart to merge him with, but, yeah, this project of “translating” the gods was not without hiccups. The gods’ role in culture also shifted in Rome significantly: the Roman gods were less meddlesome, there were less wild stories told of them and they became, above all, protectors of the city as a whole rather than individuals (until, of course, the late Republic when powerful men began to adopt the gods as personal ancestors and protectors, model themselves after them and, eventually, declare themselves as their fellow divinities).
Graziosi also did a wonderful job showcasing how, in Greek city-states, belief was not as widespread and homogenic as we might think. Religion played a significant role in people’s lives, but just because religion was dominant, doesn’t mean everyone believed in it in the same way or at all. In the Archaic era, people fiercely debated how the gods should be depicted – are antropomorphic depictions okay, are the gods metre elements given human names, can the gods truly be as morally bankrupt as poets like Homer make them out to be? This continued in the Classical era, where philosophers from Socrates to Plato (who especially struggled with the depition of the gods as humanly fallible and morally corrupt) to Aristotle challenged typical ideas of the gods, sometimes so fiercely they got killed because of their impiety (Socrates). In the chapters about the Classical era, I especially liked Graziosi showing, through discovered curse tablets and the like, that even if the gods were slowly pushed out of legal debates, speeches and so on, people still relied on them in private to solve their issues and arguments. The curse tablets, addresed to gods like Hades, Hermes and Demeter, show that even if culture slowly went from god-focused to a more androcentric one, people still found comfort in the gods and saw them as figures who can change a person’s life. I hadn’t before heard that even in antiquity, some philosophers and authors arrived at the conclusion that the gods, considering how human they seem, must’ve originally been humans who became myth, who were deified by their fellow humans for their services or because of their strength – moments like these were really interesting glimpses into history of atheism and agnosticism.
As an Alexander the Great enthusiast, the chapters on him and his legacy were some of my favorites. I loved reading about how he modelled himself not just after Achilles, but also after Dionysos, whom he wanted to surpass on his travels. The image of him and his men, spurred on by the myths of Dionysos, seeing vines everywhere as they move further into India, and being excited cause they think they are signs that the god really was here, was fun, as was reading about how people struggled against Alexander starting to, more and more, depict and understand himself as a god. I liked Graziosi emphasising that though Alexander became known as someone who mixed Greek and Persian culture, he did begin and end his long conquest by erecting statues for the 12 gods – he was still, above all, a Greek conqueror.
I had never before read a book that focused this much on the 12 gods after antiquity. It was fascinating to read about them adapting into Christianity, becoming mere allegories, historical figures as well as demons (I knew Christians destroyed pagan statues, but I had no idea that for centuries they went around expelling the pagan demon gods that were thought to have hidden within them). I liked how Graziosi emphasised that interpretations of the gods were really varied, depending on who was doing the interpreting: while a religious figure might see the gods as demonic, an artist might appreciate depictions of them as beautiful art. And of course perhaps the most glaring contradiction of all is that even though ancient religion was branded as potentially dangerous and pagan, ancient art and literature remained a staple part of a “civilised” education. Graziosi also challenged the typical narrative of Constantine’s conversion – he didn’t suddenly become hyper-Christian (he allowed his personal worship as a divine emperor, he erected tons of statues of the Olympians in Constantinopole and he didn’t ban pagan worship) and his conversion didn’t suddenly wipe away thousands of years of practice. Graziosi did a great job as well with explaining how the idea of the Reneissance as this rebirth of the gods is false, as they never went anywhere in the medieval period, they just adapted. Sure, as Church control over art, literature and culture lessened, they lost their status as these demonic figures and became regarded as beacons of human imagination, allegories and symbols of human civilization, but it wasn’t like Reneissance poets, artists and philosophers revived them after centuries of slumber.
One final major topic I wanna mention is the the meeting of the 12 Olympians and newly “discovered” native peoples and their religions during the Reneissance. I liked how Graziosi described the time period as a time of both looking back into the ancient past and its wisdom but also researching the world, “finding” new places and thus looking toward the future. Graziosi makes it clear how during this time, the discoveries of both old and new faiths and peoples were used to prop up western and European hegemony and superiority. There was a text from a man who visited an island and encountered local indigenous folks, and from his insistence on comparing them to European nations and measuring how civilized they are based on European standards you can see just how European-centric their point of views was. It was, frankly, infuriating to read. I found the prevalent, contemporary notion that all began in Eden, that peoples then drifted apart which led to pagan religions and that everyone will, eventually, find their way back to the “correct God” fascinating and appalling. This insistence on seeing everything through a European Christian lense, of seeing every pagan and native faith system as either a temporary detour on the way to the truth or a bastardised take on Christianity (surely a native goddess who is depicted holding a baby is just their version of Mary and Jesus, and so on) is a topic I would love to read more about in the future. Graziosi once again did a great job, though, of highlighting that not everyone thought the same way. While missionaries might’ve been led by this Christian chronological take on religion, mythographers and artists became interested in different mythologies without a need to make them all line up or the same.
I would recommend this book happily to anyone interested in the history of the Olympian gods. Graziosi doesn’t spend a whole lot of time explaining who they are or what their central myths are, which might make the book slightly inaccessible to people with no background information on them. But there is an appendix at the back explaining them a bit more, and, obviously, a quick google search will get you far. The writing can, at times, be a bit confusing and I do wish Graziosi had spent more time explaining out some of the more philosophical debates, but, overall, I enjoyed this book, learned from it and will happily keep it on my shelves in my ever-growing collection of antiquity nonfiction.
Interesting facts I learned:
- In ancient Greek, the word for a stolen thing is hermaion, a “thing of Hermes”
- Parthenon, in the 5th century AD, became a temple of Virgin Mary and in the 1460s it became a Mosque
-Dionysos is an older god than, for example, Apollo (Linear B tablets prove this), despite him being, in mythological stories, always the new god
- One of the reasons why people disapproved of the Delian league’s move from Delos to Athens was that the league, in some ways, went from being under Apollo’s protetion to that of Dionysos, whose theater-based worship became integral to the league
- In Athens, poorer people were given financial support so they could take part in democracy (and thus take time off work) without suffering from it – eventually this financial aid also extended to theater, which was a crucial part of civic life
- The ritual cult of Bacchus was banned in Rome in 186 BC – it was seen as too anti-hierarchy, too dangerous, too chaotic, too much
- The olympic torch is a callback to Prometheus gifting fire to humans and thus a reference to this myth of human elevation, human endurance and a god seeing something special in humans
- You could only visit the Oracle of Delphi for a brief time in the summer – the rest of the year, Apollo was away, not giving his oracle any prophecies
- Romans were not the most accepting and welcoming people, but their religion did adapt at times – for example, foreign gods such as Cybele, Isis and Mithras became widely popular in Rome
- Marc Antony wore his tunic really short and showcased his thick thighs partly because he wanted to remind people that he was said to have descended from Hercules, the ultimate muscle man of myth
- Augustus ordered the Aeneid to bolster his position as Rome’s new number one guy – the poem ends with Jupiter explaining that one day a Julius Caesar (Augustus) will establish an “empire without end”, indicating that Augustus’s rule is destined, necessary and god-given
- In Islamic art, Heracles became a man with a turba and a scimitar, while Hermes, due to an unfortunate translation error and a word that means both staff and penis, became a man who wields a penis – to be fair, I don’t think Hermes would mind this at all
3,5/5!
The Gods of Olympus is a biography of sorts about the twelve Olympian gods of antiquity. Graziosi traces how they survived the loss of their worshippers and status as internationally known and worshipped gods, how they were developed and interpreted from archaic Greece to the Reneissance, what they mean to us now and why we still retell stories about them and create art based on them.
I will begin by stating that my rating is not an indication of the quality of Graziosi’s research or analysis, but solely based on my personal enjoyment of the book. Though I am a huge antiquity nerd, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find really in-depth discussions of ancient philosophical debates superbly fascinating, and, understandably since the topic is religion, there was a lot of that in this book. I also think, at times, there were, especially in those chapters that focued more on really abstract conversations, debates and so on, ideas and thoughts that Graziosi could’ve spent a little bit more time explaining. My one last critique, and the only major one in terms of the actual substance of the analysis, is to do with the shocking lack of Vesta. Hestia, Vesta’s Greek counterpart, was crucial to ancient religion and worship, and, in Rome, she became literally a force that, as it was understood, kept Rome alive through her sacred flame. It is true Hestia isn’t always counted as one of the Olympians, but neither is Dionysos, of whom Graziosi wrote about a lot. If you are gonna discuss Rome and its religious practices, how can you not focus, at least a little bit, on Vesta? But now, with my criticisms and disclaimers out of the way, let’s get into what I liked and found fascinating about the book.
The Olympian Gods are figures I have always loved. They remain endlessly fascinating to me. It was thus really intirguing to read a book all about how they have changed over time and how they continued to survive despite becoming, at times, branded as demonic and dangerous. I thought the way Graziosi explored their endless appeal to us really moving – they are, despite their powers and excesses, relatable to us, they are a recognizable family, they can be interpreted in so many ways which helps keepthem alive, their stories are simply intriguing and because they spread so far and wide, they belong to so many peoples and are cultural touchstones we all recognize on some level. I was especially intrigued by the chapters about how the Greek gods mixed with other divinities, how Alexader’s conquests led the way to a new mingling of cultures, how the Greeks approached other culture’s gods as similar to their own just with different names, how the Hellenistic era and the meeting of Greek, Egyptian, Persian and Near Eastern myths gave birth to horoscopes and made planets out of the gods, and how, in Alexandria, often combined different religious practices so they could be enjoyed by everyone who lived in this multicultural cosmopolitan city. Graziosi also did a great job challenging the commonly held belief that the Romans simply stole the Greek gods – they were not the only “foreigners” who adopted the gods and modified them, and it was clever for them to do so, because to present themselves as one of the myriad of peoples who worshipped the same gods made people less hostile against them, less angry (to deny their conquests their versions of the Greek gods probably would’ve caused them to rebel). The adopting of Greek gods into Rome was also not as easy as people tend to claim, as the gods didn’t stay the same: chaotic, hated Ares became the respectable, central, collected Mars, for example. Sure, some gods were brought wholesale, like Apollo, when there was not a direct counterpart to merge him with, but, yeah, this project of “translating” the gods was not without hiccups. The gods’ role in culture also shifted in Rome significantly: the Roman gods were less meddlesome, there were less wild stories told of them and they became, above all, protectors of the city as a whole rather than individuals (until, of course, the late Republic when powerful men began to adopt the gods as personal ancestors and protectors, model themselves after them and, eventually, declare themselves as their fellow divinities).
Graziosi also did a wonderful job showcasing how, in Greek city-states, belief was not as widespread and homogenic as we might think. Religion played a significant role in people’s lives, but just because religion was dominant, doesn’t mean everyone believed in it in the same way or at all. In the Archaic era, people fiercely debated how the gods should be depicted – are antropomorphic depictions okay, are the gods metre elements given human names, can the gods truly be as morally bankrupt as poets like Homer make them out to be? This continued in the Classical era, where philosophers from Socrates to Plato (who especially struggled with the depition of the gods as humanly fallible and morally corrupt) to Aristotle challenged typical ideas of the gods, sometimes so fiercely they got killed because of their impiety (Socrates). In the chapters about the Classical era, I especially liked Graziosi showing, through discovered curse tablets and the like, that even if the gods were slowly pushed out of legal debates, speeches and so on, people still relied on them in private to solve their issues and arguments. The curse tablets, addresed to gods like Hades, Hermes and Demeter, show that even if culture slowly went from god-focused to a more androcentric one, people still found comfort in the gods and saw them as figures who can change a person’s life. I hadn’t before heard that even in antiquity, some philosophers and authors arrived at the conclusion that the gods, considering how human they seem, must’ve originally been humans who became myth, who were deified by their fellow humans for their services or because of their strength – moments like these were really interesting glimpses into history of atheism and agnosticism.
As an Alexander the Great enthusiast, the chapters on him and his legacy were some of my favorites. I loved reading about how he modelled himself not just after Achilles, but also after Dionysos, whom he wanted to surpass on his travels. The image of him and his men, spurred on by the myths of Dionysos, seeing vines everywhere as they move further into India, and being excited cause they think they are signs that the god really was here, was fun, as was reading about how people struggled against Alexander starting to, more and more, depict and understand himself as a god. I liked Graziosi emphasising that though Alexander became known as someone who mixed Greek and Persian culture, he did begin and end his long conquest by erecting statues for the 12 gods – he was still, above all, a Greek conqueror.
I had never before read a book that focused this much on the 12 gods after antiquity. It was fascinating to read about them adapting into Christianity, becoming mere allegories, historical figures as well as demons (I knew Christians destroyed pagan statues, but I had no idea that for centuries they went around expelling the pagan demon gods that were thought to have hidden within them). I liked how Graziosi emphasised that interpretations of the gods were really varied, depending on who was doing the interpreting: while a religious figure might see the gods as demonic, an artist might appreciate depictions of them as beautiful art. And of course perhaps the most glaring contradiction of all is that even though ancient religion was branded as potentially dangerous and pagan, ancient art and literature remained a staple part of a “civilised” education. Graziosi also challenged the typical narrative of Constantine’s conversion – he didn’t suddenly become hyper-Christian (he allowed his personal worship as a divine emperor, he erected tons of statues of the Olympians in Constantinopole and he didn’t ban pagan worship) and his conversion didn’t suddenly wipe away thousands of years of practice. Graziosi did a great job as well with explaining how the idea of the Reneissance as this rebirth of the gods is false, as they never went anywhere in the medieval period, they just adapted. Sure, as Church control over art, literature and culture lessened, they lost their status as these demonic figures and became regarded as beacons of human imagination, allegories and symbols of human civilization, but it wasn’t like Reneissance poets, artists and philosophers revived them after centuries of slumber.
One final major topic I wanna mention is the the meeting of the 12 Olympians and newly “discovered” native peoples and their religions during the Reneissance. I liked how Graziosi described the time period as a time of both looking back into the ancient past and its wisdom but also researching the world, “finding” new places and thus looking toward the future. Graziosi makes it clear how during this time, the discoveries of both old and new faiths and peoples were used to prop up western and European hegemony and superiority. There was a text from a man who visited an island and encountered local indigenous folks, and from his insistence on comparing them to European nations and measuring how civilized they are based on European standards you can see just how European-centric their point of views was. It was, frankly, infuriating to read. I found the prevalent, contemporary notion that all began in Eden, that peoples then drifted apart which led to pagan religions and that everyone will, eventually, find their way back to the “correct God” fascinating and appalling. This insistence on seeing everything through a European Christian lense, of seeing every pagan and native faith system as either a temporary detour on the way to the truth or a bastardised take on Christianity (surely a native goddess who is depicted holding a baby is just their version of Mary and Jesus, and so on) is a topic I would love to read more about in the future. Graziosi once again did a great job, though, of highlighting that not everyone thought the same way. While missionaries might’ve been led by this Christian chronological take on religion, mythographers and artists became interested in different mythologies without a need to make them all line up or the same.
I would recommend this book happily to anyone interested in the history of the Olympian gods. Graziosi doesn’t spend a whole lot of time explaining who they are or what their central myths are, which might make the book slightly inaccessible to people with no background information on them. But there is an appendix at the back explaining them a bit more, and, obviously, a quick google search will get you far. The writing can, at times, be a bit confusing and I do wish Graziosi had spent more time explaining out some of the more philosophical debates, but, overall, I enjoyed this book, learned from it and will happily keep it on my shelves in my ever-growing collection of antiquity nonfiction.
Interesting facts I learned:
- In ancient Greek, the word for a stolen thing is hermaion, a “thing of Hermes”
- Parthenon, in the 5th century AD, became a temple of Virgin Mary and in the 1460s it became a Mosque
-Dionysos is an older god than, for example, Apollo (Linear B tablets prove this), despite him being, in mythological stories, always the new god
- One of the reasons why people disapproved of the Delian league’s move from Delos to Athens was that the league, in some ways, went from being under Apollo’s protetion to that of Dionysos, whose theater-based worship became integral to the league
- In Athens, poorer people were given financial support so they could take part in democracy (and thus take time off work) without suffering from it – eventually this financial aid also extended to theater, which was a crucial part of civic life
- The ritual cult of Bacchus was banned in Rome in 186 BC – it was seen as too anti-hierarchy, too dangerous, too chaotic, too much
- The olympic torch is a callback to Prometheus gifting fire to humans and thus a reference to this myth of human elevation, human endurance and a god seeing something special in humans
- You could only visit the Oracle of Delphi for a brief time in the summer – the rest of the year, Apollo was away, not giving his oracle any prophecies
- Romans were not the most accepting and welcoming people, but their religion did adapt at times – for example, foreign gods such as Cybele, Isis and Mithras became widely popular in Rome
- Marc Antony wore his tunic really short and showcased his thick thighs partly because he wanted to remind people that he was said to have descended from Hercules, the ultimate muscle man of myth
- Augustus ordered the Aeneid to bolster his position as Rome’s new number one guy – the poem ends with Jupiter explaining that one day a Julius Caesar (Augustus) will establish an “empire without end”, indicating that Augustus’s rule is destined, necessary and god-given
- In Islamic art, Heracles became a man with a turba and a scimitar, while Hermes, due to an unfortunate translation error and a word that means both staff and penis, became a man who wields a penis – to be fair, I don’t think Hermes would mind this at all
November 4, 2014
Barbara Graziosi (Classics, Durham University) has written what she calls a “history” of the Olympians, defining them by a depiction of the twelve on the Parthenon frieze. The list includes Zeus (Latin, Jupiter), Hera (Juno), Ares (Mars), Demeter (Ceres), Dionysos (Bacchus), Hermes (Mercury), Hephaistos (Vulcan), Poseidon (Neptune), Apollo (Apollo), Artemis (Diana) and Aphrodite (Venus). Her treatment of them is periodized, chapters surveying archaic Greece, classical Athens, Hellenistic Egypt, imperial Rome, Christianity and Islam, and the Renaissance. In fact, however, The Gods of Olympus is not quite so neat, the Pantheon serving more as a symbol for classical culture. Her actual discussion ranges more widely than the rubrics suggest. This book is more about archetypes and symbols, their appropriations and re appropriations, than it is about history.
As regards origins, Graziosi depends almost entirely on Homer and Hesiod. Similarly, her treatment of Hellenic beliefs is almost entirely based on literary and artistic evidences. This is not a book about theogony, about the hypothetical origins of religion, nor is it about cultic or ritual beliefs and practices in the Greek-speaking world. Rather, it is about the idea of Greek religion, of classical culture, as retrospectively reconstructed through the ages—an ideal which, like the gods, never actually existed.
Indeed, in her discussion of the classical Athenian paradigm, Graziosi gives substantial attention to how, even then, the gods and goddesses were contested, criticized, even denied. Such critiques ranged in character. Some of the Presocratics proposed various kinds of scientific naturalism as alternatives to supernatural explanation. Xenophanes treated the gods and goddesses as human projections. Herodotus related them to the deities of other lands, thereby relativizing them. Theogenes allegorized them. Socrates purportedly propounded an alien theology. Protagoras admitted agnosticism. Meanwhile, comics and tragedians played loosely, often quite irreverently, with traditional beliefs.
The treatment of Hellenisticism begins with the conquests of Alexander of Macedon, describing the processes of syncretism, adaptation and globalization which were to profoundly influence, then be extended by, Rome. Conversely, Egypt and the East introduced astronomical factors as well as the belief that living men could themselves, like Alexander, become divine.
Roman religion, ancestor and state oriented, was radically changed by the Greek—a transformation particularly well described in this text. The “Romans did not originally recognize a preeminent group of twelve gods.” That was “itself a foreign import.” So, too, few of the Olympians had “viable Roman counterparts” and Apollo had none. Still, an amalgamation occurred, political and intellectual, old Roman gods and rites coexisting with the more lively and poetically fruitful imports from Greece and further afield.
While monotheism was prefigured in Hebrew and pagan henotheisms, it only became hegemonic under mature Christianity and Islam. While this spelled a retreat of the gods, it did not destroy them. Instead, they became the demons--sometimes, covertly, the saints or angels--of the new faiths. They abided also as powerful symbols, in astronomy, in astrology, in alchemy and in the arts.
It is in her handling of the Renaissance that Graziosi becomes enthusiastic, as evinced by her meaty portrayal of Petrarch. Here, of course, the Olympians have been almost entirely shorn of their supernatural power, but not of their glamor, of their symbolic richness and relevance to the new, and apparently perdurant, humanism.
As regards origins, Graziosi depends almost entirely on Homer and Hesiod. Similarly, her treatment of Hellenic beliefs is almost entirely based on literary and artistic evidences. This is not a book about theogony, about the hypothetical origins of religion, nor is it about cultic or ritual beliefs and practices in the Greek-speaking world. Rather, it is about the idea of Greek religion, of classical culture, as retrospectively reconstructed through the ages—an ideal which, like the gods, never actually existed.
Indeed, in her discussion of the classical Athenian paradigm, Graziosi gives substantial attention to how, even then, the gods and goddesses were contested, criticized, even denied. Such critiques ranged in character. Some of the Presocratics proposed various kinds of scientific naturalism as alternatives to supernatural explanation. Xenophanes treated the gods and goddesses as human projections. Herodotus related them to the deities of other lands, thereby relativizing them. Theogenes allegorized them. Socrates purportedly propounded an alien theology. Protagoras admitted agnosticism. Meanwhile, comics and tragedians played loosely, often quite irreverently, with traditional beliefs.
The treatment of Hellenisticism begins with the conquests of Alexander of Macedon, describing the processes of syncretism, adaptation and globalization which were to profoundly influence, then be extended by, Rome. Conversely, Egypt and the East introduced astronomical factors as well as the belief that living men could themselves, like Alexander, become divine.
Roman religion, ancestor and state oriented, was radically changed by the Greek—a transformation particularly well described in this text. The “Romans did not originally recognize a preeminent group of twelve gods.” That was “itself a foreign import.” So, too, few of the Olympians had “viable Roman counterparts” and Apollo had none. Still, an amalgamation occurred, political and intellectual, old Roman gods and rites coexisting with the more lively and poetically fruitful imports from Greece and further afield.
While monotheism was prefigured in Hebrew and pagan henotheisms, it only became hegemonic under mature Christianity and Islam. While this spelled a retreat of the gods, it did not destroy them. Instead, they became the demons--sometimes, covertly, the saints or angels--of the new faiths. They abided also as powerful symbols, in astronomy, in astrology, in alchemy and in the arts.
It is in her handling of the Renaissance that Graziosi becomes enthusiastic, as evinced by her meaty portrayal of Petrarch. Here, of course, the Olympians have been almost entirely shorn of their supernatural power, but not of their glamor, of their symbolic richness and relevance to the new, and apparently perdurant, humanism.
August 9, 2014
Unlike Burkett's study, Greek Religion this eschews detailed and dry study of each individual god in favour for a fascinating study of the ways in which the gods have been received and used by successive generations and cultures and the problems all have had with them: be they worried Greeks, traditionalist Romans, or monotheistic Christians. I finished wanting to go back to the Homeric Hymns and read some Petrarch: always a good sign.
April 2, 2022
What are the Olympians, where did they come from, and why do they endure even today? This is a really good overview of the Greek pantheon, its legacy, and how the gods became embedded in modern European history. It’s absolutely meant as a broad overview as opposed to a thorough Walter Burkert-esque examination, so expect a lighter reading experience on the whole. It pairs well with additional research on the gods while providing a concise timeline for their changes and how they were received, so I would absolutely recommend this as an introduction for readers that have a basic working knowledge of Greek and Roman history — while cautioning that it’s a beginning, not an ending, to the subject.
What I find most interesting about this book isn’t the historical timeline, but the overarching thesis running through Graziosi’s work: That the gods adapt to the times. Sometimes villains, sometimes political symbols, sometimes allegories, and sometimes, yes, just gods, it’s clear the Olympians withstood the ages because they met the needs of the people across a given time. A really stunning paradoxical example: Early institutional Christianity demonized the gods, effectively granting them power in the tail end of antiquity by turning them into antagonists. The gods find ways to survive, not necessarily thrive.
Graziosi provides plenty of considerations why the Olympians remain with us. But in the end, it’s ultimately left up to the reader to conclude whether it’s because they provide endearing “fictions and fantasies,” carry a spark of divinity that can’t quite be denied, or maybe a bit of both. It’s a heartfelt and sincere close to a book that implies there’s something truly special about these gods.
What I find most interesting about this book isn’t the historical timeline, but the overarching thesis running through Graziosi’s work: That the gods adapt to the times. Sometimes villains, sometimes political symbols, sometimes allegories, and sometimes, yes, just gods, it’s clear the Olympians withstood the ages because they met the needs of the people across a given time. A really stunning paradoxical example: Early institutional Christianity demonized the gods, effectively granting them power in the tail end of antiquity by turning them into antagonists. The gods find ways to survive, not necessarily thrive.
Graziosi provides plenty of considerations why the Olympians remain with us. But in the end, it’s ultimately left up to the reader to conclude whether it’s because they provide endearing “fictions and fantasies,” carry a spark of divinity that can’t quite be denied, or maybe a bit of both. It’s a heartfelt and sincere close to a book that implies there’s something truly special about these gods.
March 1, 2025
This was a terrific book that provides a framework to examine almost the whole of Mediterranean history, from Aryan pre-history right up until the Renaissance. The book is short but dense and taught me something new on nearly every page about Greek mythology, different historical eras, and religion in general. The author incorporates a range of traditional as well as relatively obscure sources, but certainly has a lot to say about Homer, Greek tragedies, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Virgil, Ovid, Petrarch, et cetera and so on. I especially loved the chapter that dealt with the evolutions of Greek gods in the Hellenistic era, but chapters touching on the Romans, Judaism, and the Arabs were wonderful too. Very well-written and well-researched and powerfully analytical.
January 9, 2018
Very pleasant writing style. More narrative than textbook. Plenty of footnotes and references. A great, condensed overview of the main Greek gods from the earliest Cycladic culture through Classical Greece, then through the adoption by Rome and the rise of Christianity, all the way up to modernity.
July 11, 2018
This is a book I feel I should’ve enjoyed a lot more than I did. It’s got everything I like: classical mythology, history, theology, art, culture, literature. But although well-written and wearing its author’s learning lightly, it never seems to get going. It doesn’t help that it’s a short book, ironically. It never really gets under the skin of any of the many areas it covers, leaving one oddly unfulfilled. I feel the concept deserves better, and I wonder how much of a compromise this is between Graziosi's initial pitch and the publisher's subsequent demands. Or perhaps it was written at their (the publisher's) behest, and Graziosi is dancing to their tune? Either way, it falls between two very different stools - a fact even betrayed by the books' footnotes (yes, it's nothing if not scholarly) which unhelpfully appear section by section rather than chapter by chapter, making quick referencing while reading unnecessarily frustrating.
September 5, 2026
I have mixed feelings about this book. I have learnt quite a bit but as an academic study it feels disorderly. I have noted some of my thoughts is no specific order:
Graziosi explicitly uses language to describe Christianity’s othering of paganism that is now used to describe Islam’s othering of Christianity. Generally, both faiths are caricatured within the book, seen to be synthesis/adopting of the more superior Greek framework as created by the Greek gods. Bit of a weird one.
More broadly, the book repeatedly conflates the cultural and linguistic legacy of the Greek gods with their actual enduring vitality. Classical culture remained enormously influential, obviously, but that doesn't mean the gods themselves remained important in the same sense.
This becomes more frustrating because she doesn't really delve into what worship actually looked like. What did people do? What did these gods mean in everyday religious life? Instead, she often seems to treat literary portrayals as evidence of how people actually understood them. To be fair, this does tend to a thread she mentions as a belief held by many (Christians included) that they were either bad people that were immortalised or moral conceptions that gained weight. Perhaps this is the only place where she offers more detailed understandings of their nature. They were stories and entertainment too, even in antiquity.
The lack of any substantial comparison with Norse mythology is therefore strange as well. If cultural significance and the later survival of pagan gods are central to the thesis, Norse mythology is an obvious inclusion and substantial omission. The Jewish tradition is similarly marked by its absence, despite the extensive interaction between Greek and Jewish (and Hellenistic) culture and the relevance of Jewish engagement with Greek thought to this whole question.
The book has a few anachronisms (unavoidable, I know, but they feel particularly off.) A pope dressing himself in classical imagery isn't automatically evidence that the Greek gods remained culturally important; it can simply demonstrate the prestige of classical antiquity and the usefulness of its imagery. The edging portrayal of Mehmet II as a cruel conquering as compared to Alexander the Great’s skilful mastery of military tact was also glaring.
There are also plenty of moments where she introduces historical facts that don't really advance the argument. I don't mind interesting information, but sometimes I genuinely wonder why it's there, only for her to bring it back to the thesis almost tangentially. It makes some of the argument feel imposed on the material rather than emerging from it. For example she exhibits at one point: - ‘Many historians have noted discovery of the New World inspired by ancient culture’ and moved swiftly on. I was stumped at this point.
Overall, I think Graziosi demonstrates very convincingly the *afterlife* of Greek mythology much more than the continued vitality of the Greek gods. She ends with the enduring importance of the Greek gods themselves, again, unconvincing. The survival of names, stories, imagery, architecture, and ideas and so on is not the same thing as the survival of the religious phenomenon that produced them.
I actually hope to read the book with fresh eyes in the future and hope I am to reconcile some things myself.
Graziosi explicitly uses language to describe Christianity’s othering of paganism that is now used to describe Islam’s othering of Christianity. Generally, both faiths are caricatured within the book, seen to be synthesis/adopting of the more superior Greek framework as created by the Greek gods. Bit of a weird one.
More broadly, the book repeatedly conflates the cultural and linguistic legacy of the Greek gods with their actual enduring vitality. Classical culture remained enormously influential, obviously, but that doesn't mean the gods themselves remained important in the same sense.
This becomes more frustrating because she doesn't really delve into what worship actually looked like. What did people do? What did these gods mean in everyday religious life? Instead, she often seems to treat literary portrayals as evidence of how people actually understood them. To be fair, this does tend to a thread she mentions as a belief held by many (Christians included) that they were either bad people that were immortalised or moral conceptions that gained weight. Perhaps this is the only place where she offers more detailed understandings of their nature. They were stories and entertainment too, even in antiquity.
The lack of any substantial comparison with Norse mythology is therefore strange as well. If cultural significance and the later survival of pagan gods are central to the thesis, Norse mythology is an obvious inclusion and substantial omission. The Jewish tradition is similarly marked by its absence, despite the extensive interaction between Greek and Jewish (and Hellenistic) culture and the relevance of Jewish engagement with Greek thought to this whole question.
The book has a few anachronisms (unavoidable, I know, but they feel particularly off.) A pope dressing himself in classical imagery isn't automatically evidence that the Greek gods remained culturally important; it can simply demonstrate the prestige of classical antiquity and the usefulness of its imagery. The edging portrayal of Mehmet II as a cruel conquering as compared to Alexander the Great’s skilful mastery of military tact was also glaring.
There are also plenty of moments where she introduces historical facts that don't really advance the argument. I don't mind interesting information, but sometimes I genuinely wonder why it's there, only for her to bring it back to the thesis almost tangentially. It makes some of the argument feel imposed on the material rather than emerging from it. For example she exhibits at one point: - ‘Many historians have noted discovery of the New World inspired by ancient culture’ and moved swiftly on. I was stumped at this point.
Overall, I think Graziosi demonstrates very convincingly the *afterlife* of Greek mythology much more than the continued vitality of the Greek gods. She ends with the enduring importance of the Greek gods themselves, again, unconvincing. The survival of names, stories, imagery, architecture, and ideas and so on is not the same thing as the survival of the religious phenomenon that produced them.
I actually hope to read the book with fresh eyes in the future and hope I am to reconcile some things myself.
March 1, 2025
Whatever else I expected from Barbara Graziosi’s book on the Olympian Gods, it was not a scholarly and well-researched volume on the history of the Gods. She writes with an easy, graceful style that renders her book entertaining even to non-historians and non-classicists, unfamiliar with both Greek and Roman literary tradition.
The main thesis seems to be, “How did a pack of murderous, man-hating women, women-loving men, shape-shifting, pathological sadists, drunken, perverted and misshapen monsters survive till the present day and probably well into the future?”
And Graziosi's answer is very Darwinian: they adapted, took on different names, assumed the culture of the land they were in, and accepted the offerings of incense or human flesh or flowers. They lived up to people's expectations of them, whether as Isis or Cybele or Thoth, and further afield as far as India, as some of the old Vedic deities.
The Olympians sneaked into people's consciousness even when the great monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam forbade the worship or the identification of God or Christ with any of the Olympians; but by this time it was already too late for such prohibition. Under the growing rise of literacy, and the books available to read, they crept through fable, art and literature. Even Dante, a devout Catholic, “could ask Apollo for inspiration at the beginning of his Paradiso, treating him as the Holy Spirit. He even referred to Jesus Christ as “the highest Jupiter,” ‘il sommo Giove’.”
Although Christian doctrine sternly forbade the worship of the pagan deities, Graziosi points out that had it not been for mediaeval monks painstakingly transcribing Greek and Roman texts, including Homer, we would today not even be aware of the Olympians.
Or astrologers, who cured illness as well as forecasting the future, deciding whether Jupiter or Saturn was in the ascendant over the afflicted body part, and prescribing accordingly. The horoscope of every king was cast at birth, using the names of the twelve Olympian gods - Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, and the rest.
Renaissance artists painted their lovely Venuses, but not necessarily from a religious fervour - just the sight of pretty and naked women were sure to get the artists large commissions. So the Olympians knew the value of money as well as any mortal! And the book is generously sprinkled with photographs, of which my favourite has to be the “Jupiter in the guise of a monk on the bell tower of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence (late 1330s).”
And today? Certainly their commonest presence is to be in the science of astronomy, but there are other fields too: “The Olympian gods, in any case, found other ways of infiltrating the Muslim world. If science was what mattered, then it was through science they would make their presence felt. Besides medicine, Arabic scholars were assiduous students of mathematics, astronomy, and astrology. Indeed, they regarded all those enterprises as connected, because the stars and planets were thought to have a direct influence on the human body.”
An invigorating new way of reappraising the wicked old Greek Gods!
The main thesis seems to be, “How did a pack of murderous, man-hating women, women-loving men, shape-shifting, pathological sadists, drunken, perverted and misshapen monsters survive till the present day and probably well into the future?”
And Graziosi's answer is very Darwinian: they adapted, took on different names, assumed the culture of the land they were in, and accepted the offerings of incense or human flesh or flowers. They lived up to people's expectations of them, whether as Isis or Cybele or Thoth, and further afield as far as India, as some of the old Vedic deities.
The Olympians sneaked into people's consciousness even when the great monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam forbade the worship or the identification of God or Christ with any of the Olympians; but by this time it was already too late for such prohibition. Under the growing rise of literacy, and the books available to read, they crept through fable, art and literature. Even Dante, a devout Catholic, “could ask Apollo for inspiration at the beginning of his Paradiso, treating him as the Holy Spirit. He even referred to Jesus Christ as “the highest Jupiter,” ‘il sommo Giove’.”
Although Christian doctrine sternly forbade the worship of the pagan deities, Graziosi points out that had it not been for mediaeval monks painstakingly transcribing Greek and Roman texts, including Homer, we would today not even be aware of the Olympians.
Or astrologers, who cured illness as well as forecasting the future, deciding whether Jupiter or Saturn was in the ascendant over the afflicted body part, and prescribing accordingly. The horoscope of every king was cast at birth, using the names of the twelve Olympian gods - Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, and the rest.
Renaissance artists painted their lovely Venuses, but not necessarily from a religious fervour - just the sight of pretty and naked women were sure to get the artists large commissions. So the Olympians knew the value of money as well as any mortal! And the book is generously sprinkled with photographs, of which my favourite has to be the “Jupiter in the guise of a monk on the bell tower of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence (late 1330s).”
And today? Certainly their commonest presence is to be in the science of astronomy, but there are other fields too: “The Olympian gods, in any case, found other ways of infiltrating the Muslim world. If science was what mattered, then it was through science they would make their presence felt. Besides medicine, Arabic scholars were assiduous students of mathematics, astronomy, and astrology. Indeed, they regarded all those enterprises as connected, because the stars and planets were thought to have a direct influence on the human body.”
An invigorating new way of reappraising the wicked old Greek Gods!
March 19, 2019
This is a smart, fun book that covers over two millennia of material about the ancient Greek gods. The prose is very readable and often broken up by helpful images that illustrate something being discussed. Ranging from the earliest texts of the Mycenaeans to modern authors like Borges, Graziosi is at her best when situated in the earlier Greek material. The chapters on later receptions of the gods in the Middle Ages and Renaissance are easier to read than slogging through Seznec's Survival of the Pagan Gods, but lack the depth and masterful touch that G. demonstrates in the earlier chapters. Surprisingly, there isn't much on Greek tragedy, but perhaps this isn't really a surprise, since tragedy is more about men than gods.
I'm assigning this as a textbook to give students in my Mythology class a basic outline and rough historical narrative to follow. There is a decent amount of plot summary in here, but I see that as a good thing. This book is a good bouncing off point to get into the texts themselves. If you are planning on reading this book alone, you might end up wishing for more in the way of direct engagement with the texts, e.g. in the chapter on Petrarch she mentions 3 major passages about the gods in P.'s Africa, but never quotes any of them. The endnotes give helpful citations to enable you to consult the texts directly and each chapter has a thorough list of suggested further readings.
I'm assigning this as a textbook to give students in my Mythology class a basic outline and rough historical narrative to follow. There is a decent amount of plot summary in here, but I see that as a good thing. This book is a good bouncing off point to get into the texts themselves. If you are planning on reading this book alone, you might end up wishing for more in the way of direct engagement with the texts, e.g. in the chapter on Petrarch she mentions 3 major passages about the gods in P.'s Africa, but never quotes any of them. The endnotes give helpful citations to enable you to consult the texts directly and each chapter has a thorough list of suggested further readings.
May 12, 2017
Verwacht geen uitgebreid overzicht van mythes gelinkt aan de Griekse goden. Het is eerder een beschrijving doorheen de eeuwen van de culturele, politieke en godsdienstige impact van de inwoners van de Olympus. Ook al in de tijd van de antieke Grieken kwam het geloof onder druk te staan door filosofen zoals Xenophanes en Socrates (die van een gebrek voor de goden werd beschuldigd) en de Atheense democratie die de aandacht naar het wereldse verplaatste. Onder Alexander de Grote gingen de Griekse goden op hellenistische wereldreis, in Rome kregen ze een Italiaanse jasje aan. Zeus werd Jupiter, Hera Juno,... De oorlogsgod Mars kreeg wel meer aanzien dan zijn Griekse tegenhanger Ares.
Onder het jonge christendom woedde een theologische en culturele oorlog die in dit tranendal werd beslecht. Constantijn gaf het christendom aanzien, maar omringde zich in Byzantium wel met heidense godenbeelden. Erna zouden de Griekse goden nog op cultureel vlak blijven opduiken in schilderijen (Botticelli), gebouwen, beeldhouwwerken,... De nukkige, bonte familie van de Olympus mag dan wel op godsdienstig vlak nog weinig gelovigen tellen, cultureel blijft ze op vandaag inspireren.
Onder het jonge christendom woedde een theologische en culturele oorlog die in dit tranendal werd beslecht. Constantijn gaf het christendom aanzien, maar omringde zich in Byzantium wel met heidense godenbeelden. Erna zouden de Griekse goden nog op cultureel vlak blijven opduiken in schilderijen (Botticelli), gebouwen, beeldhouwwerken,... De nukkige, bonte familie van de Olympus mag dan wel op godsdienstig vlak nog weinig gelovigen tellen, cultureel blijft ze op vandaag inspireren.
February 26, 2022
This was an interesting look at the evolution of the Greek pantheon throughout the centuries. Graziosi follows their evolution from how the ancient Greeks themselves understood them, and the debate surrounding their significance, to their transformation into allegories during the Middle Ages, their rebirth during the Renaissance and their return to bawdy and earthy beings after the Romantic period. She highlights the ever present protean nature which allowed their exportation by Alexander the Great to the many peoples in his empire as well as the Romans in theirs. Perhaps most surprising was the path they took during the height of the Middle Ages when their presence had to be accommodated in both Christian and Muslim cultures. Definitely an interesting read for anyone who has wondered how these gods managed to keep their hold in our collective imaginations.
December 1, 2023
Quite a lot of filler but very interesting and good primer on the topic nonetheless.
It’s very interesting to read about what are essentially the “base” deities in Western civilization and how they evolved through time. The depictions and stories of these gods changed a lot, but what they meant to people and how they were perceived throughout wider culture was interesting to read about.
It was especially interesting to read about the instances where even Christian religious leaders, down to the pope, have used Olympian gods as a way to get across a narrative or hook people’s attention. The way the Olympian gods just keep on finding their way into our language and culture is a rabbit trail with no end.
It’s very interesting to read about what are essentially the “base” deities in Western civilization and how they evolved through time. The depictions and stories of these gods changed a lot, but what they meant to people and how they were perceived throughout wider culture was interesting to read about.
It was especially interesting to read about the instances where even Christian religious leaders, down to the pope, have used Olympian gods as a way to get across a narrative or hook people’s attention. The way the Olympian gods just keep on finding their way into our language and culture is a rabbit trail with no end.
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June 30, 2026Outstanding, thoughtful, insightful review of the evolving reception of the gods of Homer and Hediod
Olympic gods have sparked criticism and controversy about what it means to be a god or to be worthy of admiration, much less worship. This wise and well crafted overview highlights the continuing emancipation of human ideals. Some readers will regard this as a critique of all religion, but I read it as a careful effort to elevate the human while still leaving room for a divine unencumbered by a mythology of pettiness, adultery, rape and countless other human failings. Regardless, this is an extraordinary book of profound and provocative insights that will richly reward any reader.
Olympic gods have sparked criticism and controversy about what it means to be a god or to be worthy of admiration, much less worship. This wise and well crafted overview highlights the continuing emancipation of human ideals. Some readers will regard this as a critique of all religion, but I read it as a careful effort to elevate the human while still leaving room for a divine unencumbered by a mythology of pettiness, adultery, rape and countless other human failings. Regardless, this is an extraordinary book of profound and provocative insights that will richly reward any reader.
June 23, 2018
At some point you've got to ask, "What WAS Homer talking about? Where did this pantheon come from?" Christianity has its historical points of origin, but the ancient mythologies? What did the ancients - Greeks, especially - think they were worshipping? How does this shed light on man's inherent spiritual orientation? (How does this set a backdrop for the New Testament?)
With respectful treatment of all faiths, Graziosi comes as close as perhaps is possible to answering most of these question. Thorough, engaging, interesting at every turn, and easily read - I really enjoyed this book and found it immensely helpful as I continue my journey through the classics.
With respectful treatment of all faiths, Graziosi comes as close as perhaps is possible to answering most of these question. Thorough, engaging, interesting at every turn, and easily read - I really enjoyed this book and found it immensely helpful as I continue my journey through the classics.
February 12, 2025
Graziosi examines the Greek gods, not just when they begin to appear in the record and how they were worshipped - but what happened to them after.
Graziosi makes an excellent case that nothing ever really ends or disappears - it just gets translated, transformed, repurposed, and she shows here what happened to the Greek gods from the early Christian era to the 20th century in this fascinating look at World History through the eyes of the gods who have seen it all from the earliest writings to today.
September 4, 2017
While it wasn't exactly as I expected, I still enjoyed this one. I had anticipated an in-depth look at/discussion of each of the gods and goddesses and their evolution over time. Instead it looked at the gods and goddesses collectively, which worked out fine in the end. The book was strongest at the beginning, but overall I enjoyed it. I would've liked to have seen some color photos, particularly when discussing some of the artwork of the Renaissance.
May 28, 2019
While I did enjoy this book, I didn't find the style to be very engaging. It had everything I wanted as far as the fact/history of the Olympian Gods and chronicled their history well, but the author's writing style wasn't really for me.
If you are interested in learning about Greek/Roman mythology I would recommend this book as it does tell a pretty complete story of how they came to be and how they evolved in the minds of people over the centuries.
If you are interested in learning about Greek/Roman mythology I would recommend this book as it does tell a pretty complete story of how they came to be and how they evolved in the minds of people over the centuries.
July 23, 2017
I read this after Tim Whitmarsh's Battling the Gods (BtG) which covers much of the same material in the first half of this book in a more rigorous and informed fashion, although this has some interesting anecdotes missing from BtG. The second half of this book deals with medieval and later ideas about the Greek gods where it is much better.
October 26, 2017
A fantastic read. Traces the history of the Olympic gods from their inception through Roman assimilation as well as Egyptian and Babylonian influencing all the way to modern times. Great pacing and flow, and never really got dry, which was wonderful. I wish it was a bit longer so it could go more into depth, but that's just my personal preference.
July 14, 2018
Really well written and witty history of how the gods of Olympus have remained immortal. Too little focus on the post-renaissance period but otherwise, a good overview of how the gods have changed their appearance through the ages, been manipulated for political and religious reasons but somehow maintained their divinity and sense of permanence. Good read.
June 20, 2026
Interesting historical saga of how the Olympian gods have been perceived (and preserved) through the past few thousands of years. Especially when things strayed further and further from the Greeks, it was fascinating to see how different cultures and eras adapted them to their own values. Narration by Flosnik is very good. [LIBRARY AUDIOBOOK]
色んな面白い歴史、オリンポス山神様のいつも変化されてる生き残り方。思ったより面白かった
色んな面白い歴史、オリンポス山神様のいつも変化されてる生き残り方。思ったより面白かった
October 12, 2017
Excellent book tracing the Olympians from their earliest known beginnings in Greece, through their aassimulation in Rome, through the Renaissance, and onwards.
Interesting and absorbing.
Highly recommended.
Interesting and absorbing.
Highly recommended.
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