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Biblioteca mitológica
Obra de referencia imprescindible a la hora de abordar cualquier manifestación artística de la Grecia antigua, siempre plagadas de referencias y alusiones mitológicas, la Biblioteca mitológica es un compendio en el que Apolodoro reunió a modo de centón, con espíritu más recopilador que crítico, las diferentes versiones, a veces discrepantes o contradictorias, de dicho material mitográfico. El relato representa el testimonio de lo que los propios griegos pensaban desde los tiempos más remotos acerca de la creación del mundo, de sus dioses y de los protagonistas de sus antiguas leyendas y tradiciones. La presenta edición, a cargo de Julia García Moreno, incluye, además de la traducción íntegra y ampliamente anotada de los tres libros de la Biblioteca y de los sietes Epítomes, unos detallados cuadros genelógicos y un exhaustivo índice de nombres propios que facilita la consulta de la obra.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 200
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 187 reviews
December 4, 2016
All the Greek myths we know and love - and then some
19 July 2014
This manuscript was a pretty good find, or at least the sections that we did find to complete the manuscript that was handed down to us, because it gives us all of those Greek stories that we know and love, from this:
to this:
and finishes of with this:
but unfortunately it does not contain this:
The book is actually only a brief overview of each of the legends and is divided into a number of sections which outline various Greek families, or tribes, so the book is not strictly chronological. What the library does is that it gives us a brief rundown of the legends that make up the mythology of the Ancient Greeks as it existed at the time of Apollodorus. In fact, it is the earliest complete outline of Greek mythology that we possess (though it is not necessarily complete because sections of the manuscript were lost, however a fortuitous discovery in the Vatican library allowed us to reconstruct most of it). This is not the only complete source that we have because we also have Ovid's Metamorphoses, however the difference between Apollodorus and Ovid is that Ovid writes from Roman point of view, so is a lot more sympathetic towards the Trojans. Ovid is also wrote the Metamorphoses as an epic poem (which excludes the genealogies) as opposed to an outline, which is how Apollodorus wrote the library.
The library is full of genealogies, which outlines the parentage of many of the Greek heroes and demigods, and it also divides them into a number of tribes, being the Deucalionids (from which comes Jason and the Argonauts), the Argives (from which comes Heracles), the Anegorid, the Inachids, the Asopids, and the Pelopids. Each of these tribes (the members all have a common ancestry) come from different parts of Greece, which suggests that the myths that come out of the tribes originated from this part of Greece (and Ancient Greece was not a unified country, but rather a loose collection of city states that shared a common language and culture, and even then the various city states would war against each over because of an accent or a disagreement that originated in mythology – which is what still seems to be happening today, except on a much larger scale).
There is an interesting distinction between history and myth that comes out in Herodotus. The common understanding of myth is that it is a story that suggests an origin, and it does not necessarily mean that the story is not true. Herodotus takes a different position in that history is written down, where as myth is passed down by word of mouth. As such the writings that create history are written down while still within living memory, while myth comes about after generations of passing the story down, which suggests that the story may have been true, however it has become corrupted as it has been passed down from generation to generation.
Take for instance the story of Achilles. In the Illiad there is no mention of his invulnerability due to being dipped into a river. This is not even the story that occurs in the library as the story that occurs here is that Achilles' mother would bury him in fire at night and rub him with ambrosia during the day. The story about Achilles being dipped into the River Styx did not appear until the 1st Century AD, in a book (now lost) known as the Achilleid . As you can see, as time passes, the stories become more and more corrupted (and that occurs even with an original story having been written down).
This book gives me a lot of opportunities to speculate on the truth behind many of these tales, though we also have earlier sources which we can also refer to, being the tragic plays and the epic poems, however these sources tend to focus mainly on the Trojan War, with the other stories only touched upon (and I believe that the Library is the earliest source for the story of Perseus, though he does receive a mention in Herodotus, but there we are only told that he married Andromeda and that he because the ancestor of the Persians).
19 July 2014
This manuscript was a pretty good find, or at least the sections that we did find to complete the manuscript that was handed down to us, because it gives us all of those Greek stories that we know and love, from this:
to this:
and finishes of with this:
but unfortunately it does not contain this:
The book is actually only a brief overview of each of the legends and is divided into a number of sections which outline various Greek families, or tribes, so the book is not strictly chronological. What the library does is that it gives us a brief rundown of the legends that make up the mythology of the Ancient Greeks as it existed at the time of Apollodorus. In fact, it is the earliest complete outline of Greek mythology that we possess (though it is not necessarily complete because sections of the manuscript were lost, however a fortuitous discovery in the Vatican library allowed us to reconstruct most of it). This is not the only complete source that we have because we also have Ovid's Metamorphoses, however the difference between Apollodorus and Ovid is that Ovid writes from Roman point of view, so is a lot more sympathetic towards the Trojans. Ovid is also wrote the Metamorphoses as an epic poem (which excludes the genealogies) as opposed to an outline, which is how Apollodorus wrote the library.
The library is full of genealogies, which outlines the parentage of many of the Greek heroes and demigods, and it also divides them into a number of tribes, being the Deucalionids (from which comes Jason and the Argonauts), the Argives (from which comes Heracles), the Anegorid, the Inachids, the Asopids, and the Pelopids. Each of these tribes (the members all have a common ancestry) come from different parts of Greece, which suggests that the myths that come out of the tribes originated from this part of Greece (and Ancient Greece was not a unified country, but rather a loose collection of city states that shared a common language and culture, and even then the various city states would war against each over because of an accent or a disagreement that originated in mythology – which is what still seems to be happening today, except on a much larger scale).
There is an interesting distinction between history and myth that comes out in Herodotus. The common understanding of myth is that it is a story that suggests an origin, and it does not necessarily mean that the story is not true. Herodotus takes a different position in that history is written down, where as myth is passed down by word of mouth. As such the writings that create history are written down while still within living memory, while myth comes about after generations of passing the story down, which suggests that the story may have been true, however it has become corrupted as it has been passed down from generation to generation.
Take for instance the story of Achilles. In the Illiad there is no mention of his invulnerability due to being dipped into a river. This is not even the story that occurs in the library as the story that occurs here is that Achilles' mother would bury him in fire at night and rub him with ambrosia during the day. The story about Achilles being dipped into the River Styx did not appear until the 1st Century AD, in a book (now lost) known as the Achilleid . As you can see, as time passes, the stories become more and more corrupted (and that occurs even with an original story having been written down).
This book gives me a lot of opportunities to speculate on the truth behind many of these tales, though we also have earlier sources which we can also refer to, being the tragic plays and the epic poems, however these sources tend to focus mainly on the Trojan War, with the other stories only touched upon (and I believe that the Library is the earliest source for the story of Perseus, though he does receive a mention in Herodotus, but there we are only told that he married Andromeda and that he because the ancestor of the Persians).
November 23, 2015
Introduction
Note on the Text and Translation
Select Bibliography
Contents
Genealogical Tables
Map
--The Library
Appendix: Some Interpolations and an Unreliable Passage from the Epitome
Explanatory Notes
The Twelve Gods
References to Animals and Transformations
Index of Names
Note on the Text and Translation
Select Bibliography
Contents
Genealogical Tables
Map
--The Library
Appendix: Some Interpolations and an Unreliable Passage from the Epitome
Explanatory Notes
The Twelve Gods
References to Animals and Transformations
Index of Names
August 29, 2022
3.5***
There were just so many names to keep up with, even with the genealogical tables!
This was packed full of all the myths and the retelling of the odyssey was fantastic. It is definitely a book I’ll have to reread in future in order to clarify some of the myths/names.
There were just so many names to keep up with, even with the genealogical tables!
This was packed full of all the myths and the retelling of the odyssey was fantastic. It is definitely a book I’ll have to reread in future in order to clarify some of the myths/names.
January 31, 2018
finished this yall 😎😎😎 so 💪ima 💯 just 👅 flex 😩 for 😤 a 💪 sec 🙌 cuz 😍 we 😈 always 😜 grinding 💁
anyways lmao this was Really like dumb dry for the first quarter/third and then all of the heroes and gods started doin nasty shit so it got Interesting, i particularly liked (reading about mostly Not Them As A Person) heracles, hera, zeus, theseus, odysseus and athene (off the top of my head (💪) but i probs forgot some) because they were crazy lmao and interesting to read, zeus didn't really have any interesting like Long Passages like theseus heracles and odysseus but he was like Scattered Around but he was good to read about, i liked his kids (lmfao @@@@@hera) better than poseidons kids from what i remember of them they were Boring and Annoying. poseidon was wild sometimes tho lmao when he killin ppl bc it was always dramatic at this point
i really liked theseus because he was like heracles chapters except he had no personality Only To The Point which i liked bc he wasn't off raping ppl and Ensnaring Women heracles was good until he kept doing that shit he was also Too Dramatic, but theseus was killin like the Right Shit when he went down that road thingo that was a Action Pack'd section
also the Deeply Entrenched Entangled Every 1 Sentence Misogyny was Extremely wearing and tearing on my Soul not everyone need to rape ppl and women don't need to be Prizes and Passed Around i'msickofit
pasiphae was good when she had some time too but her and minos were just Toxic basically like if u get to the point where u need ur man to nut snakes and millipedes, maybe stop seein ur man?:) minos was a Beast tho lmao like when he made the architect man create the Labyrinth for the minotaur and then stuck him in it later like:) savage and all the smol kiddos to Feed It but minos lookin after his kid at least so:))))))
also,, ✋Stop✋ the incest and bESTIALITY for Goodness Sakes
also everyone Don't eat pomegranates you will be Stuck in hades, Left Is An Ill-Omen and So Are Screech Owls
anyways lmao this was Really like dumb dry for the first quarter/third and then all of the heroes and gods started doin nasty shit so it got Interesting, i particularly liked (reading about mostly Not Them As A Person) heracles, hera, zeus, theseus, odysseus and athene (off the top of my head (💪) but i probs forgot some) because they were crazy lmao and interesting to read, zeus didn't really have any interesting like Long Passages like theseus heracles and odysseus but he was like Scattered Around but he was good to read about, i liked his kids (lmfao @@@@@hera) better than poseidons kids from what i remember of them they were Boring and Annoying. poseidon was wild sometimes tho lmao when he killin ppl bc it was always dramatic at this point
i really liked theseus because he was like heracles chapters except he had no personality Only To The Point which i liked bc he wasn't off raping ppl and Ensnaring Women heracles was good until he kept doing that shit he was also Too Dramatic, but theseus was killin like the Right Shit when he went down that road thingo that was a Action Pack'd section
also the Deeply Entrenched Entangled Every 1 Sentence Misogyny was Extremely wearing and tearing on my Soul not everyone need to rape ppl and women don't need to be Prizes and Passed Around i'msickofit
pasiphae was good when she had some time too but her and minos were just Toxic basically like if u get to the point where u need ur man to nut snakes and millipedes, maybe stop seein ur man?:) minos was a Beast tho lmao like when he made the architect man create the Labyrinth for the minotaur and then stuck him in it later like:) savage and all the smol kiddos to Feed It but minos lookin after his kid at least so:))))))
also,, ✋Stop✋ the incest and bESTIALITY for Goodness Sakes
also everyone Don't eat pomegranates you will be Stuck in hades, Left Is An Ill-Omen and So Are Screech Owls
April 8, 2021
Excelente compendio de los principales mitos griegos, que sirve como enciclopedia básica y útil para cualquiera que quiera introducirse en la materia. Se hace patente que ya en la Antigüedad se vieron necesitados de resumir y ordenar los complejos relatos de la mitología helénica, y de ahí surgió esta Biblioteca, que cumple magníficamente con su cometido.
January 4, 2018
whoop! whoop! I'm done and I really enjoyed this but now it's time to move into Norse Mythology.
November 12, 2019
Brutal. Dense. Informative. Essential.
July 5, 2022
Apollodorus' 'Library' is frustrating to read; even for an ardent lover of Greek Mythology. It is written in a very perfunctory style, devoid of anything resembling standard literary prose. This is, of course, understandable given the time in which it was written, but nevertheless, it's a bit tedious and very heavy on the genealogy - which starts to make you feel dizzy after a while. I take my hat off to anyone who can accurately recount even a third of the characters listed. By their very nature, the Greek myths necessitate being retold with colour and vivacity. However, Apollodorus writes with little flair or flamboyance; so, if you are expecting something akin to Ovid, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. I will give it 3-stars due to the fact that some of the stories contained are undeniably brilliant. I would recommend ‘Library’ mainly for academic/reference purposes.
November 27, 2015
A pretty straightforward "who's who", not as artful as Ovid or Homer but hey, it was still fun to read.
I try not to think about all those lost works I will never get to read, I still have hope that we will some day find some more hidden somewhere...
I try not to think about all those lost works I will never get to read, I still have hope that we will some day find some more hidden somewhere...
November 3, 2020
Quest'opera è perfetta per chi vuole studiare il mito. La scrittura di Apollodoro è molto didascalica e procede spesso per elenchi come se fosse l'unione di più fonti antiche, rimaneggiate per formare un testo unico: di certo non è leggero e la sua lettura non è adatta a tutto, ma la completezza e la ricchezza di informazioni sul tema si trova solo in poche altre opere.
August 14, 2017
Actual rating 2.5/5 stars!
January 1, 2026
If you’re looking for a reliable, accessible compendium of heroic myths, this is where you go. The Library of Greek Mythology by Apollodorus serves as one of the most comprehensive sources for understanding the sprawling genealogies, cycles, and character arcs that underpin Greek mythic tradition.
What I especially appreciated about this text is its encyclopedic approach—it doesn’t embellish, dramatize, or interpret. Instead, it offers a remarkably straightforward, almost clinical narration of key mythological events and figures. While that might make it a bit dry for some, for students of classics or anyone writing academic work on heroic myth (like I was), this clarity is a strength. You can follow the entire arc of figures like Heracles, Perseus, or Theseus without having to wade through metaphor or conflicting versions. In fact, its compilation-style nature helps establish a useful baseline when comparing how myths evolved or were reshaped by later authors.
That said, this isn’t the place to go if you’re looking for poetic flourishes or vivid retellings—it reads more like a reference work than a narrative. But for those who need a sturdy anchor for their understanding of the Greek heroic canon, Apollodorus delivers exactly that.
Great for: students, scholars, classicists, and myth nerds who want to get their facts straight!
What I especially appreciated about this text is its encyclopedic approach—it doesn’t embellish, dramatize, or interpret. Instead, it offers a remarkably straightforward, almost clinical narration of key mythological events and figures. While that might make it a bit dry for some, for students of classics or anyone writing academic work on heroic myth (like I was), this clarity is a strength. You can follow the entire arc of figures like Heracles, Perseus, or Theseus without having to wade through metaphor or conflicting versions. In fact, its compilation-style nature helps establish a useful baseline when comparing how myths evolved or were reshaped by later authors.
That said, this isn’t the place to go if you’re looking for poetic flourishes or vivid retellings—it reads more like a reference work than a narrative. But for those who need a sturdy anchor for their understanding of the Greek heroic canon, Apollodorus delivers exactly that.
Great for: students, scholars, classicists, and myth nerds who want to get their facts straight!
June 16, 2017
La biblioteca mitológica es muy fácil a leer aunque es relativamente amplia. Lo mejor que tiene es la capacidad de ordenar toda la mitología desde un punto de vista no sólo cronológico sino también espacial, con las principales "familias" de dioses y héroes establecidas en cada lugar de Grecia y el mundo. Es una obra obligatoria para todos los que nos encanta la mitología griega. Si alguna vez te preguntaste qué pasaba con algún personaje como Aquiles, Edipo y qué pasaba con sus hijos, éste es el libro que mejor puede responder a cuanta interrogante te surja.
February 14, 2021
Ingenuo de mi cuando pensé que esto iba a ser lectura ligera.😅
Si no se te ocurren nombres griegos para poner a tus hijos, agárrate porque en este libro tienes para rato.
En la segunda parte se vuelve más denso. En vez de terminar con un mito, mete otro entre medias porque aparece tal héroe, dios o monstruo y tiene que explicarte su procedencia. Es un poco caótico para mi gusto.
En fin, si te interesa la mitología griega igual este es un buen punto de partida para empezar a saber algo más.🤷🏻♂️
Si no se te ocurren nombres griegos para poner a tus hijos, agárrate porque en este libro tienes para rato.
En la segunda parte se vuelve más denso. En vez de terminar con un mito, mete otro entre medias porque aparece tal héroe, dios o monstruo y tiene que explicarte su procedencia. Es un poco caótico para mi gusto.
En fin, si te interesa la mitología griega igual este es un buen punto de partida para empezar a saber algo más.🤷🏻♂️
May 12, 2018
Apollodorus' Library of Greek Mythology is a very informative overview of who's who in Greek mythology and the legends surrounding the various different gods, demigods, and heroes. It is in no way written to be as enthralling as, let's say, Homer's epics but still very fun to read nonetheless. Would highly recommend to those who are Greek mythology fans like me, or to those who would simply like to read an abridged version of the myths.
November 9, 2022
i'll admit i thought this one would have been a lot denser to read than what it actually was. that said, i'm not a classist, i've said that before, but all that to say that i just read these for fun (and to see what versions were told when this book was written. it is all very fun actually, i had fun)
January 4, 2023
lots of words brain explosion purr
HOWEVER HE CONFIRMED ACHILLES AND PATROCLUS WERE LOVERS WOOOO
HOWEVER HE CONFIRMED ACHILLES AND PATROCLUS WERE LOVERS WOOOO
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2024
A booktuber I used to subscribe to recommended this, saying it was "a collection of short stories." It is not. They are summaries of Greek myths with many passages of catalogs and genealogies (think Book II of The Iliad). I would have been more irritated about having been duped had it not been for the Introduction written by Robin Hard because lol, THE SHADE IS REAL.🔥🔥🔥 Here are some murderous excerpts.
[After explaining that this Apollodorus could not have been the Apollodorus of Athens] ... we must ask whether the Library is in any case a book which we could reasonably accept as the work of a scholar of Apollodorus's stature and period. In truth, it is not at all what we would expect from a learned Alexandrian scholar. ... Apollodorus was a fairly common name, and it is conceivable that the Library was compiled by an author of that name who was later confused with the famous scholar of an earlier period; but it is more likely that our book is sailing under a flag of convenience. [italics mine]
[On whether scholars of antiquity would have studied the Library] It may be suspected ... that readers of much education would have preferred more solid fare, and scholars at that period would surely have found little use for an elementary work of this kind when they could refer to more scholarly and comprehensive handbooks by the Hellenistic mythographers.
In such a short work, the author devotes a surprising amount of space to these catalogues, which sometimes take up more than a page. [read: He's trying.] In certain cases such catalogues could be of practical interest ... But generally this is gratuitous information. [italics mine]
The value of such a work will not derive from any originality or serious scholarship on the author's part. He is simply an editor. Nor should we expect such a work to have any literary merit (beyond a tolerably clear presentation of the mythical narrative, which is generally the case with the Library). If Apollodorus' main sources had survived, the Library would be no more than a historical curiosity, and the work as a whole would possess no greater value than the summary of the Iliad on p.153. [italics mine]
Naturally we would prefer to have the works of Pherecydes and Acousilaos (and the early epics too), but we should be grateful ... .
Read
February 4, 2026necesita leerse varias veces dada la gran cantidad de nombres que aparecen a lo largo de la obra
October 27, 2020
We don't actually know when the author of the Bibliotheca lived. The earliest source is ninth century, but most agree to Greek origins of an earlier date, possibly in the late first or early second centuries. We don't know who the author was either. The attribution to Apollodorus, while old, is mistaken, so purists assign the text to an unknown Pseudo-Apollodorus.
This is more an encyclopediac geneology than just a literary collection of stories. Consequently, it's not an easy or very pleasant read. I skimmed it more than read it myself, using it as a resource for other works.
My particular edition was done in 1975 and includes a great deal of critical apparatus.
This is more an encyclopediac geneology than just a literary collection of stories. Consequently, it's not an easy or very pleasant read. I skimmed it more than read it myself, using it as a resource for other works.
My particular edition was done in 1975 and includes a great deal of critical apparatus.
July 22, 2022
More like an ancient Wikipedia than a book, this book is a collection of epics and poems that make up most of Greek mythology. The work is readable and at times fascinating but ultimately it is rather boring. I think a modern reader would be better served by reading the Wikipedia entries on the same topics.
September 25, 2021
Como digo en comentarios anteriores, este libro es más como un árbol genealógico.
Te dice los hijos de los dioses en hilera y hace que te confundas un montón, luego te cuenta por encima resúmenes de sus mitos... No era lo que esperaba sinceramente.
Pdt: No tengo exactamente esta edición, es otra pero dice mismo autor y título así que creo que está bien.
Te dice los hijos de los dioses en hilera y hace que te confundas un montón, luego te cuenta por encima resúmenes de sus mitos... No era lo que esperaba sinceramente.
Pdt: No tengo exactamente esta edición, es otra pero dice mismo autor y título así que creo que está bien.
March 2, 2022
This book was informative, accurate, and detailed. I think going into it I expected something more like a short story format, but it was incredibly academic…a little bit too much for me and my brain. There are so many names to keep track of! But I still really enjoyed it, and I think as I read more Greek mythology retelling novels having read this will come in handy.
October 22, 2022
Who knew 2nd century Greeks had Sparknotes, too?
January 10, 2021
Um enorme resumo, que nos introduz aos mitos gregos, às histórias que estão por detrás das tragédias, das comédias e dos poemas épicos que nos chegaram aos dias de hoje. Ler esta Biblioteca é ler um catálogo seco de personagens míticas e das suas principais histórias. Falta a poesia, o langor de contos milenares, mas permite mergulhar no longo historial destes antigos mitos. Cujo fascínio de terem sido tão duradouros, de um imaginário criado por homens que viveram há milénios e que ainda hoje nos intriga, é uma sensação extraordinária.
March 8, 2025
Questo livello di dettaglio era ciò che desideravo (perché sono molto nerd).
Grazie Apollodoro, ho preso degli ottimi appunti.
Grazie Apollodoro, ho preso degli ottimi appunti.
August 14, 2011
Not the most entertaining of reads as it is just a recitation of the bare bones of most of the myths.
But very informative, good notes too. Ties most of the myths together into some semblance of order, puts them in context...and the notes point out the clashes and inconsistencies.
However the tedious and passionless use of the phrase "had intercourse with" started to grate after a while...these are deities being talked about, surely a more poetic, or even earthy, phrase could have been used.
Things I learned:
1) Don't stand too close to anyone throwing a discus...if you know or are related to the thrower you will be killed.
2) Zeus will hump (best I can do at the minute) anything or anyone...
3)...and Hera will be very disappointed and angry with the humpee and any resultant offspring.
4) Atalanta was nails...and probably hot too.
But very informative, good notes too. Ties most of the myths together into some semblance of order, puts them in context...and the notes point out the clashes and inconsistencies.
However the tedious and passionless use of the phrase "had intercourse with" started to grate after a while...these are deities being talked about, surely a more poetic, or even earthy, phrase could have been used.
Things I learned:
1) Don't stand too close to anyone throwing a discus...if you know or are related to the thrower you will be killed.
2) Zeus will hump (best I can do at the minute) anything or anyone...
3)...and Hera will be very disappointed and angry with the humpee and any resultant offspring.
4) Atalanta was nails...and probably hot too.
September 3, 2023
يتحدث عن الاساطير الاغريقيه بشكل منمق وجميل
رالاساطير الاغريقيه هي اقدم القصص. في التاريخ التي مازالت متداوله حتي اليوم
الياذه والادوسه
حرب طرواده
كيوبيد
اريوس
شكرا افلاطون ارسطو سقراط هيرودوت هوموريس.
رالاساطير الاغريقيه هي اقدم القصص. في التاريخ التي مازالت متداوله حتي اليوم
الياذه والادوسه
حرب طرواده
كيوبيد
اريوس
شكرا افلاطون ارسطو سقراط هيرودوت هوموريس.
April 13, 2017
I started reading this when I was about 100 pages from the end of Ovid's Metamorphoses. For me, the best part were the notes with their quirky asides and tangents.
June 27, 2020
Useful but not particularly enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 187 reviews