Classical Mythology

by Hélène A. Guerber

This book is part of Barnes & Noble's series-of quality leatherbound volumes. Each title in the series presents a classic work in an attractively designed edition bound in genuine bonded leather and with a satin-ribbon bookmark. These books make elegant additions to any home library.

Genres: Mythology, Classics, Greek Mythology, Fantasy, Fiction, Philosophy, Greece

480 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2016

About the author

Hélène Adeline Guerber (1859 – 1929), better known as H.A. Guerber, was a British historian most well known for her written histories of Germanic mythology.

Her most well known work is Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas - George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1908 in London.

Other histories by Guerber include Legends of the Rhine (A.S. Barnes & Co., New York, 1895; new edition 1905), Stories of the Wagner Opera, The Book of the Epic, The Story of the Ancient World, The Story of the Greeks, The Story of the Romans, Legends of the Middle Ages, The Story of the Renaissance and Reformation, The Story of the Thirteen Colonies, and The Story of the Great Republic.

Reviews

[Claudia Vickery · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is written from the perspective of a religious person, the book is extremely biased.

[Martin Petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations throughout the book.
Unfortunately the myths are inaccurate and "polished clean".
I would recommend reading Stephen Fry's "Mythos" and "Heroes" or Edith Hamiliton's "Mythology"

[Roger · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author expressed disdain for the subject matter in the preface and first chapter.

She states that she has removed "repulsive features of heathen mythology" and that they are not derived from "the Scriptures".

Why write a book on a topic you clearly do not like?


I am returning he book to the store where I purchased it.

[Naomi Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good selection and re-telling of myths. Nothing earth-shattering, but a good introduction and safe for kids. Definitely bought it for the cover love and because it included pictures of relevant oil paintings. Definitely annoyed at the white-washing that happened with renaissance art *rolls eyes* Mediterranean people just aren't that pale. Or French-looking. Not generally. BUT. Anyway. A decent introduction to some of the myths.

[Trevor Logeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

IF YOU ARE READING THIS I HOPE ITS BEFORE YOU BUY THIS TRASH BOOK

I got like 3 pages into this book before stopping. I bought this to have a nice little collection of classic myths to learn a it more. The author makes it clear early on they have no interest in the actual myths and want to insert their Christian views. Their is nothing wrong with religion but that’s not why I bought this book. They state in the preface they took out the “more heinous details.” Then in chapter 1 it becomes clear what they mean first stating in jarring fashion that “the hebrews alone were lead by god.” Why would you insert that opener in a book about classic Greek and Romans myths. They state in the first chapter as well that Chaos marrying his own mother is “a heinous sin” this is so jarring and I wish I picked a different book about the myths I just wanted to hear the stories that influence us not get the authors take on how Christianity is better than these filthy pagans. Absolute trash I would take it back to a used book store for a couple dollars but I don’t want someone else to pick this up and suffer. This book is going straight in the trash.

[Sarah Morgan Sandquist · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hugely disappointing. This work takes an aggressively Christian position while relating non-Christian stories. The very opening lines are such that 'the Jewish are the favored of God and given personal insight into Creation; the Greeks and Romans have made up a bunch of shlock.' This is a very problematic way to address mythology and belief systems. Its disrespectful, it too forcefully inserts the narrator as a party to the events and it needlessly alienates non-Christian audiences. Terribly disappointing.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, and while there is a note of Christian/Abrahamic religious bias in the preface and first paragraph of chapter 1 (the author/editor died in 1929 so it’s not exactly a recent edit), I didn’t notice it much throughout the rest of the book. I enjoyed the various artworks interspersed throughout the book and found that it’s a quick read. I do wish that the author hadn’t chosen to cut some of the details in many of the stories for the sake of their religious beliefs but it’s a decent introduction to the wide world of mythology.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Use for fire starter. Religiously biased from page 1. Useless for studying or learning, can't trust the author to tell the stories, cause he says in the introduction he's edited out ones he doesn't find suitable.

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to understand, complete collection of Roman and Greek myths. Perfect for anyone who likes reading classic fairy tales/ world fables as well as anyone who likes reading myth retellings.

[Madi Leonor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book both in imagery and writing. The features of the various paintings depicting the stories are an amazing element. I only took a star away just based on how long it took me to get through this book, as it wasn’t too long but very dense. Regardless, I really appreciate the style of providing the mythological excerpts and the further descriptions in more modern English. I feel like I understand some well known stories better than before, and developed a bigger appreciation for the lesser known stories.

I’ve also seen a lot of concerns about how this compilation is biased, as the author mentions in the forward. If my 2 cents are in any way valuable, I’d say it’s very important to read from biased perspectives, as long as it’s clearly labeled like this book. There are few better ways to understand a different perspective, and in that space is where we find empathy, education, and reflection. There are plenty of other works with unbiased or biased in a different way that can be just as useful and relevant to get a full understanding of art and culture.

[Alena · Rating 4 out of 5]

The vocabulary in this book was excellent, and I admired how the book was formatted. In addition, some of the myths in it were presented in a different light when compared to my previous myth readings, and I really appreciated seeing the differences between interpretations and such. Similarly, the litany of analogies between nature and the myths were interesting to read about.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it was very enjoyable, I wish there was guides to pronunciation with all the names and places! Otherwise a good read of the classic myths we all love.

[Izzy Crosland · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is just kind of a disgrace. I got maybe 8 pages in before I couldn’t read it anymore. The format is confusing and seems more like a text book than anything, and the so very obviously Christian author writes this like he was given a week to summarize all of greek mythology. The names used are not the original Greek versions, but the Roman. I was willing to get past that but there were inconsistencies with even that. If all the names are in the Roman vernacular, shouldn’t Eros (Greek) be called Cupid (Roman)? This honestly feels as though someone watched one of the Percy Jackson movies (yes, movies) and tried to summarize what they learned from memory. An 8th grader could do better.
“The Greeks and Romans...lacking the definite knowledge which we obtain from the scriptures,” is a real line in the beginning of this book, and if you don’t see anything wrong with that, please take a class on religion. To say that the author didn’t respect the ancient traditions is a gross understatement as his rhetoric and diction is particularly distasteful as he talks about certain traditions which happen to mean a lot to some people. I will be finding a book that takes the time to respect this beautiful culture and that actually put some thought into the content (or at least edited it. This feels like a second draft).

[Kipper · Rating 1 out of 5]

I went in open-minded, but this author is NOT capable of laying down an unbiased foundation for those interested in mythology.

In the preface, the writer stated that they would "avoid the more repulsive features of heathen mythology". Trying to be open-minded, I thought this could refer to how religions have stories for a society with a different culture, so there might be aspects that a modern audience might not well receive. Even being as generous as possible, the statement made me think the author didn't look positively on the subject matter.

Then the first chapter says that the Greeks and Romans made up these myths because they lacked the privilege of definite knowledge that Hebrews obtained from the Scriptures. This was enough for me to close the book and dismiss it. There was no reason for this author to allow Abrahamic beliefs to paint their depiction of mythology. I skimmed certain sections of this book, but I was very displeased with this author's approach. The best part of this was the illustrations.

[Brittany Conde · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got the book because I wanted to get a more in depth understanding of Greek myth since it serves as inspiration for so much. I read till page 28 before I got annoyed by how closely the myths resembled biblical stories. The thing is that I'm not new to Greek mythology and I know Greek myth and biblical stories are not 1:1.
As others reviewers noted, the author reveals her bias early on but I kind of shrugged it off thinking maybe the stories will still be interesting. But so far it just feels like reading the Bible which isn't bad but not why I got a book of Greek myths.

[Oakie Dokie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the format of this book and how each chapter is broken down into different topics and then from there different stories was simple to understand. The illustrations and literal quality of the book was very nice considering it was only $10.

From reading other reviews, I agree it might not be the best book to learn from but may be a good introduction to some of these concepts and stories with the illustration elements.

[Kellyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took my time reading this book, one or two myths at a time. And I’ll admit, I did skip a few. The book is well written and beautifully, no gorgeously, illustrated. Honestly, some of the pictures you could stare at longer than reading the myths. If you’re a fan of myths and ancient history, you’ll enjoy this book.

[Lori Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of myths purposely changed or left out entirely to serve a clearly Christian viewpoint. If I wanted to understand Christianity I'd read a Bible, not a book on Greek mythology. Atrociously biased storytelling and vocabulary used throughout. Huge thumbs down.

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was beautiful, but the stories lackluster. They often forgot important details. Anyone gay or lesbian relationship was either reduced to being friends or not mentioned at all.

[caesou · Rating 3 out of 5]

the most three starred book i could three star. the illustrations are lovely and i appreciate the incorporation of excerpts from actual greek/roman texts.

for a book aimed at a general audience, and for a book written in the 2010s (update: apparently other reviews have said its written in the 1900s, my bad, i couldn’t find that detail in my copy), its writing style is quite old timey. the translations they’ve picked are also old timey, and frankly, that’s quite disappointing as a classics student. the writing style used back in the day of pope’s translations is starkly different to today, and does not resonate well with a modern audience. this must be intentional, and it’s a terrible choice. classics already has a reputation for being elitist and inaccessible and the book’s writing style almost feeds into this image.

minus the writing style, the story-telling can get quite flat at the climaxes. “this person committed suicide after killing their family member. anyway, this happened.” maybe it’s just the nature of mythology and maybe i’m just being fussy, but i’d kinda like a bit of time and space to process that first.

i appreciate the inclusion of minor divinities and stories! it’s just a really nice detail. i would’ve liked to see retellings of the iliad and odyssey, but maybe that’s more greek mythology rather than roman mythology.
and i kinda would’ve preferred if this book were titled roman mythology instead of classical. a clearer little distinction, since the book focuses on roman mythology and/or uses roman names. maybe that’s just me.

idk if i’d read this again. it was a bit of a meh experience. i’d flip through it for the illustrations though, those were nice.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is informative enough, I guess, but it glosses over even the basic details of some of the myths; it doesn’t describe Cronus’s overthrow of Uranus or Zeus’s overthrow of Cronus beyond “X managed to catch his father by surprise and swiftly overpowered him.” And each chapter of the book is written to focus on the myths and attributes of one of the major gods in the pantheon, but it ends up grouping different gods and their myths together based on abstract concepts and ideas. For instance, the chapter on Apollo also lists him by the names “Sol” and “Helios”, without clarifying that these were separate gods often conflated with Apollo.

There are other small problems, too. Nowhere in the book does it tell you that it’s a reprint, let alone when the original book was published. The preface says it sticks to the versions of myths most often retold, but many of them contain details that even I’ve never heard of. And the chapter on the Greek creation myth compares it to the Judeo-Christian creation story as though the Greek one is less credible. I don't know what the author was going for with that, since the rest of the book doesn’t take that kind of tone, but it’s a strange way to open up a book about mythology.

[Jude’s TBR · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always been curious about mythology and especially Greek and Roman so I was excited to read this. It was really informative and interesting which I liked. However, it read a bit dry and slow and it seemed like a research paper that it took me quite a while to get through it because of the amount of information in every paragraph. I definitely need to reread this because I feel like a lot of the characters went way over my head especially since most of them have more than one name so often times when reading I would get lost or lose track of who’s who. I did nonetheless enjoy myself reading about the origin of a lot of stories and legends.

[Michael Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book serves its purpose very well by being a great source of knowledge for an individual starting their research in mythology. It has amazing summaries of the great Greek myths and legends. I was impressed by how detailed some of the gods were characterized and then described by entailing stories of their great feats or heinous actions. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a light read in mythology. If you want a general broader knowledge is Greek mythology, I do not know a better book that this!

[Rory · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF’d. Implies her disdain for the subject matter within the first page, says that Greek mythology has no use today and is only used for aesthetic purposes, calls original myths and writings “weak” before the “great English translators” transformed it, and doesn’t like Greek mythology because it doesn’t follow the scriptures. The myths are also very polished and clean, eliminating any mention of queer relationships and toning down any mention of sexual assault into either consensual acts or kidnapping.

[Haylee · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. It was taking me so long to get through this book and while I love some good mythology, I just wasn’t getting done with this fast enough. I probably would’ve enjoyed it more had I been able to finish it sooner. It had some good interpretations and I loved some of the poetry in it but other than that, it was meh. I think if I really want to read books on mythology especially greek, I’d go with Edith Hamilton’s version of the myths.

[Alena Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how most myths had an explanation of how they’re allegories at the end of the book. In addition, this book shed some light on various interpretations of the myths that I had previously unheard of. The vocabulary was excellent and I do recommend this book if you love reading Greek and Roman myths.

[Kimb Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried to give this book a chance but could only do so much, got about 30 pages in, as I do enjoy learning a lot about mythology. it is a good starter for sure but lots of myths in the book were purposely changed or left out entirely to serve a clearly Christian viewpoint. I'd read a Bible instead if I wanted a bias outlook. Pictures and illustrations were great.

[Madeleine Vest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information, just not exciting. I mean it seems more like a textbook so it’s to be expected, but I can’t give a text book more stars. As a mythology teacher, I’m definitely glad I read it! It summarizes lots of great myths and includes bits of literature where the myths are mentioned.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a very good introduction to Greek mythology, but this edition has several typos and at least one place where the text is just cut off. It is an otherwise a very nice looking book. Hopefully the errors are corrected in future revisions.

[Alex Benson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written from a Western Christianity perspective. Disdain and contempt for the subject matter comes through throughout. Not a book I would recommend for anyone interested in classical mythology or even a good read.