Mythology: An Illustrated Journey Into Our Imagined Worlds

by Christopher Dell

人类创造了神话，而神话成就了人类的艺术。

从古代美索不达米亚的浮雕到古埃及的墓葬绘画，从古希腊的彩陶图案到古罗马的庞贝壁画，从中世纪手抄本插图到波斯细密画，从欧洲古典油画到亚洲经典水墨画，从美洲阿兹特克人的器物到非洲原住民的木雕……艺术所到之处，都留下了神话的影子；神话传唱的故事，都成了艺术的主题。理解神话，也就掌握了打开艺术奥秘的钥匙。

《无神话，不艺术！》是由神话解读艺术秘语的实用读本，也是由艺术进入神话世界的图像指南。作者选取世界神话中的82个关键词，精选世界艺术史中的400余件作品，以图文并茂的形式阐释神话的基本内容，并呈现出由神话滋养的想象世界。本书立足比较神话学的学术视角，探讨在全球范围内反复出现的符号与图像——从世界起源、人类诞生，到英雄人物、传奇史诗，内容涵盖希腊神话、北欧神话、古埃及神话、美索不达米亚神话、中国神话、日本神话、印度神话、阿兹特克神话、玛雅神话等重要地域和文明。丰富的图文内容，揭示出古人对世界的朴素认知和浪漫想象，展现不同地域文化的共性与个性，为品味多样的艺术、解读古老的文明提供关键线索。

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, History, Art, Reference, Witchcraft, Magic

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2012

Reviews

[kay! ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 STARS HOLY CRAP I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE

RTC!

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars. Really? Pardon the over reaction. But I couldn't help but be so overwhelmed with the pages. It's like having a museum on our shelf. The descriptions are brief (making it an easy read), but all-encompassing and organized.
So glad I got the unplanned urge to visit the bookstore after work. I stumbled upon this treasure worth so much more than its price.
Waited a few weeks after purchase before browsing this book, just to save the best for last. I'll want to go back to it again and again, so I didn't set a finish date.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really good, comprehensive guide to world mythology, but it didn't go into as much depth as I had hoped. Whilst myths are placed side by side based on different topics, there is very little actual comparison between them. It was also a little heavy on Greek and Roman mythology in comparison to others. Overall, I would highly recommend as an introduction because it is so visually engaging and easy to read.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very superficial book, but then that is what happens when you try to include all the mythologies of the world. So why the 4 stars? The illustrations provided are worth every star. I spent hours just looking at them.

[Suyog Garg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profusely illustrated and erudite in its knowledge, loved this wonderful book. Christopher Dell brings us the crisp of the mythological ideologies of all the culturals around the world and retells the mythical stories in short side notes to the various illustrations, which are in particular, I should say, the blood and bone of this book. The chapters are divided based on their ideas instead of the locality or the culture it originated from, which provides a nice opportunity to contrast the different ways in which the same subject was viewed in striking different views by different people at different times. As becomes evident, the mythologies are themselves hardly devoid of changes and alterations, with many retellings of famous legends highly modifying the original one to include the thinking of the current time. In all, an informative coffee table book, I would recommend it for a quick recapping of the numerous myths from around the world rather than, as would have been a case with a more rigorously written book, for academic study or thorough analysis of cultural thinkings.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really only had three issues with this book:

(1) Some information was repeated multiple times because it fit multiple categories.

(2) Since it's just an overview a lot of information had to be truncated (ie. stories I know well, I was left thinking "well... There's definitely more to that..." which had me wonder what was left out of ones I didn't know as well.) I can't fault him, though, because it's meant to be a quicker glimpse at many mythologies - and he did great in bringing them all together somehow.

(3) IT'S SO BIG. That was partly what caught my attention... But then it was hard to carry around lol.

Minor issues, overall. It was actually really great and one of the best parts is that it got me searching stories I didn't know yet to find out more. Now I know I absolutely adore the story of Saif Ul Malook and Badr Ul Jamal. :D

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book with illustrations from around the world, covering the major myths of the world. Instead of going mythology by mythology (Greek-Roman, Egyptian, Norse, etc.), it covers overall mythology by topic.
Chapters are: The supernatural realm; The Earth; Humankind; Gifts from the gods; The animal kingdom; Symbolic substances; Heroes; Quests, journeys & epics; Overview of World Mythologies.
The Overview covers the specific mythologies in a skimpy but sufficient fashion. This is not a book to study any mythology in depth, but it's great to get pictures you've never seen before. It also covers how each mythology handles similar topics.
Recommended.

[Fiachra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating compendium encompassing elements and stories of all the major religions, belief systems and myths: Native American, Judeo-Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Mesopotamian, Norse, African, South American, English, Celtic, and of course Greco-Roman myth. All accompanied by amazing illustrations, paintings and photos of ancient artefacts.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well covered in terms of different mythology but not very in depth.

[Tommy Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for Mythology 101. It covers a broad range without getting terribly bogged down. This was a much quicker read than I expected due to the illustrations.

[Farah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ulasan Bahasa Indonesia untuk buku ini sudah tayang di Far's Books Space.

"The desire to tell stories is a fundamental part of the human condition. When it's coupled with an innate need to make sense of our surroundings and to understand the origins of things, the result is mythology."

Mythology: An Illustrated Journey Into Our Imagined World is the type of book that I bought thanks to its gorgeous cover. Yes, I "judge" the book by its cover some times (shame 🙈). Thankfully, this book works for me because I have a great time reading it. My mind is happy thanks to the short & informative sections in each chapter. My eyes are blessed thanks to around 400 illustrations spread throughout the book.

As a newbie mythology enthusiast, I am looking for a book that will give me an overview of various mythology in the world. With this approach, I can choose which one caught my interest the most & would love to explore more later. This book also works so well if you make it a companion to Crash Course's World Mythology playlist on Youtube. This combo makes for a rich reading experience for me.

It's always a pleasure to read the various way human try to make sense of the world they live in from time to time.

If you a newcomer in mythology & looking for a 101 book full of gorgeous illustrations, I think this book is for you.

I acquired the physical copy of this book from Periplus Online Book Store.

Farah is also on Blogger | Instagram | Twitter

[Lateef Amodu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good introductory book on mythology. Each chapter of the book covers a specific concept such as the supernatural realm, humankind, the animal kingdom, heroes and more. There's examples of these concepts, using various mythology from around the world like Hindu, Celtic, Aztec, Yoruba, Greek and more. Also, the book is packed full of great images and photographs, particularly from ancient times, of the various myths discussed in the book. Something to note, this book isn't very thorough. It doesn't go into detail on the concepts it covers. You only get a summary of these concepts, containing outlines of various myths as an example. So, this book is better suited as an initial step into mythology and from there more in-depth books should be sought.

[Waleed Alballaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good as a coffee-table kind of book. Full of interesting illustrations but textual information tends to be shallow.

[Mr Shahabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated book with enough "General" information regarding Mythology


..and quite the amount of nude pictures and illustrations as well

[Sogol · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very easy read and visually fascinating book, giving short summaries and introductions on different Mythologies based on specific topics.

[Matthew Gurteen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple but informative collection of various mythologies from around the world. I had read Christopher Dell's book Monsters: A Bestiary of the Bizarre before this, and I can say that this is a marked improvement purely based on how much better the material is referenced and the amount. His introduction, in particular, although short, shows that Dell does know what he is presenting. His discussion on the difference between myths and religion was very learned, and I appreciate his decision to give both in this book cautiously.

That being said, partially because of the sources, Mythology: An Illustrated Journey Into Our Imagined Worlds does fall into the trap of presenting a large amount of Greco-Roman antiquity than any other mythology. I was personally excited when Dell mentioned the Shinto religion in his introduction, but it is rarely discussed in detail. Of course, much of the surviving material from millennia ago is from Greece and Rome, but I would still like to have seen more of a discussion of other cultures.

On top of this, although the book is mostly well-researched and presented, it is not free from a few mistakes. These should have been fact-checked in editing unless Dell's source is different from the common one. The most apparent instance of this is in his section on the Trojan War. Dell talks about Achilles dying in the battle that ensued after the Trojan horse was accepted when in fact, as far as the Illiad is concerned, the Trojan horse happened after Achilles death.

Partly because of inaccuracies like this, if the reader already has an interest in myths, they will not get much from the book. It is more of a collection of mythological artwork than an in-depth study. All of Dell's books are always well formated and beautiful. They are worth having in your collection for no other reason than this. If you are interested in mythological art, I would recommend it, and I plan to pick up his other book, The Occult, Witchcraft and Magic: An Illustrated History, soon.

[Samantha van Buuren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm never sure what to say about nonfiction so this review will be short and sweet.

This is a great book for those just looking for the facts of mythology (is that an oxymoron?) without a full narrative attached. The book is decided into elements of myths, such as the God's, animals and objects of mythological significance, rather than the civilisations from which the myths originate. This allows for a clear comparison of all myths which I found really interesting.

Until this book is read mostly Greek and Roman mythology so it was really great to learn about the myths of other civilisations. It's written well and easy to follow. A lot of the names are difficult to pronounce but that's the fault of the myths, not the author.

The information is short and sweet, often leaving me with questions that are answers along the way, but this book is dominated by pictures. Pictures of works of art involving the figures of myth for all the civilisations discusses, as well as artifacts related to them as well. Most of them are just beautiful to look at, I spent a lot more time exploring the photos than I did reading with this book.

I knocked this book down a star simply because I'd have liked it to be bigger and go into more detail, but otherwise I enjoyed a lot and I would definitely recommend it!

[Charlotte Bosler Writes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book that goes above and beyond to not only deliver engaging, well-written information on mythology, but to draw connections and distinctions between different mythologies as well, testifying to the wonders that exist across them.

Beautifully designed with a great selection of images, this is a great resource with a unique perspective on mythology, stoking any enthusiast’s passion with a varied breadth of knowledge, while also prompting us to reflect on what it means to be human.

Unless you are looking for more detailed content, Dell has created a memorable resource for anyone interested in learning about and investigating mythology through an intercultural lens.

[Terry's · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il libro è una meraviglia, iconograficamente intenso. Purtroppo non altrettanto si può dire del testo, ridotto chiaramente all'essenziale per valorizzare la forza estrema delle immagini. Volume dall'estetica appagante, per cui il primo pensiero è conservarlo, tornare a sfogliarlo per ispirarsi, trarne suggestioni avvolgenti più per l'inconscio che per il Logos. Possono amarlo gli antropologi di larghe vedute quanto i cultori dell'arte. Punto di forza: la grafica e l'impaginazione. Punto debole: la stringatezza del commento che può darsi solo quale punto di partenza.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if this book is indeed complete. How could there be a complete guide to any single person's imagination, let alone the collective imagination of all of humanity? Nonetheless, it's beautiful and a fascinating compendium of various ways humans have reacted to, and created a mythology around, the elements of daily life, such as the sun, the moon, the feminine, the masculine, and so on. A great book for inspiring the mind to rove the world's mythologies.

[Mery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect if you want a glimpse into mythology around the world and like to look at pretty pictures at the same time.
It also give a small introduction to non-western myths, which i was very glad about.
But my absolute favorite thing is that they treat Christianity as a myth as well.

[Londi The Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and brief. Now I really want to read that "Circe" book that everyone is recommending on the tube and I have bookmarked the movie titled "Medea" to watch at some later time. I think that I want to read further on some of the mythological figures, especially the Mayan twin gods.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely and inspirational discovery in this library. Altogether light on text, the real start of this composition is the immaculate, diverse sample of mythological art from many many cultures. The text provides general overviews of different myths, heroes, deities, and symbols with the art accompanying them.

I would have loved more thorough dives into lesser-explored mythological cultures (such as Indigenous North and South American, Australian Aboriginal, West African, and Polynesian mythologies, for example).

[Ruben · Rating 5 out of 5]

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