The Complete World of Greek Mythology by Richard Buxton (Thames & Hudson)

After having used all the popular books on the Greek Myths, including the rebarbative, but highly detailed book by Robert Graves, "The Greek Myths", I have come to the conclusion that this new, modern, book by Richard Buxton is by far the best primer for the general reader who is not a specialist of Antiquity. This is an enormously engaging and highly explanatory work which details ancient greek religious beliefs and the works of the major playwrights and poets alike. What is of particular interest is how Gods and the stories of Myths of Gods and Godess's helped to explain the surrounding world to the people of the time. What is remarkable is these stories really were the first kind of documented evidence of humanity making sense of it's exsistance, purpose and meaning. A phenomena which has been occuring in revised and multi-cultural forms ever since.

This book combines a retelling of Greek myths with a comprehensive account of the world in which they developed―their themes, their relevance to Greek religion and society, and their relationship to the landscape.

• "Contexts, Sources, Meanings" describes the main literary and artistic sources for Greek myths, and their contexts, such as ritual and theater.
• "Myths of Origin" includes stories about the beginning of the cosmos, the origins of the gods, the first humans, and the founding of communities.
• "The Olympians: Power, Honor, Sexuality" examines the activities of all the main divinities.
• "Heroic exploits" concentrates on the adventures of Perseus, Jason, Herakles, and other heroes.
• "Family sagas" explores the dramas and catastrophes that befall heroes and heroines.
• "A Landscape of Myths" sets the stories within the context of the mountains, caves, seas, and rivers of Greece, Crete, Troy, and the Underworld.
• "Greek Myths after the Greeks" describes the rich tradition of retelling, from the Romans, through the Renaissance, to the twenty-first century.

Complemented by lavish illustrations, genealogical tables, box features, and specially commissioned drawings, this will be an essential book for anyone interested in these classic tales and in the world of the ancient Greeks.

250 illustrations, 120 in color

This primer is outstanding for its coverage and presentation. It has to be acknowledged as the best overall introduction to the multiple aspects of ancient Greek story-telling. This Buxton book is a high-quality hardcover, printed on heavy, glossy paper that renders its 330 illustrations beautifully. Nearly half of the sagaciously selected pictures are in eye-catching colors. Those pictures, many of them universally famous in the field of ancient mythology, are indispensable, as they relate the information taken directly from the primary Greek texts to the interpretations made world-famous by the ancient Greek artists: in sculptures of marble and bronze, vases, mural paintings, mosaics, mirrors, rings, gems, etc. The mental images retained by future generations of the Greek myths have been based on their magnificent original versions by the greatest Greek artists of Antiquity.

One highly convenient feature of the book is presenting on p. 12-13 a great, nearly complete, map of the Greek world with the locations of all the names met in the book, instead of at the end of the book. I noted some omissions though: Petelia (near Croton, South Italy), Selinus (Sicily), Polis Bay (Ithaca island), Kefalonia (island opposite Ithaca), Pisa (near Olympia), Derveni (NE of Thessaloniki), Thessaly, Pitsa (near Sikyon, in Argolid), Vari (S. of Mt Hymettos, in Attica), Ismaros (Thrace), Troad (region of Troy), Kysikos (S. shore of Propontis), Samos (Aegean island).

One valid suggestion to the author: Setting up a Web page giving the correct English pronunciations of all the Greek names and words met in the book, with its Internet address also shown in the first pages. Having a good image of how each name sounds would enhance our memory of the material.

“Myth” essentially meant “story”, originally conveyed in oral and written communication. Buxton’s text is sprinkled with quotations from the ancient texts themselves, allowing us a more intimate connection to the emotional spirit of the ancient storytellers. Richard Buxton is not without humor, making some slightly amusing or ironical comments on the recurrent patterns of the stories—“If challenging Apollo was rash, challenging Zeus was the height of folly”—or the qualities and foibles of his heroes— “Resourceful as always, Daidalos constructed wings…”.

Buxton also makes a systematic and rather successful attempt to extract some general principles that were unconsciously followed by the original mythmakers and their scribes, a kind of anthropological analysis that often clarifies the bizarre and mysterious happenings dotting all the stories of triumphs, defeats, and sufferings.
One remarkable and inescapable principle of Greek story-telling that can be derived from the structures of the myths—and one that Buxton does not insist on or highlight enough—is the enormous, fundamental role played by CONNIVING in order to take advantage of credulity, using RUSE, GUILE, and TRICKS (including disguises, stratagems, and metamorphoses) to effect persuasion, and repeatedly using DECEPTION to create MISUNDERSTANDINGS and DELUSION. Pretences, stealth and lies, and treachery are means of personal escape in tight situations, solving challenging predicaments, or preparing some unannounced aggression. Inciting MADNESS in others, even feigning it on oneself is an available fall back ploy.
Oracles are constantly used to dispel doubt, anxiety, and obtain reassurances of success in new enterprises and adventures. But the future disasters predicted in the warnings of the oracles cannot be avoided, in spite of all precautions. The myth inexorably rolls on towards the final distress and misfortunes. Mortals are powerless against the ill-will of the gods. The only chance of survival or success is to have one of the powerful immortals actively rooting for your side. Odysseus without Athene's guidance would have never reached Ithaca.
Cheating on vows, or on sacred obligations, can be tempting to deluded mortals, even if this extreme transgression is bound to lead to disaster. Because every act of transgression calls for vengeance, and gets punished in horrifying events, which in turn generates guilt, provoking a new stage of extraordinary actions. The sagas continue, each act of bloodshed setting off another round of bloodshed.
Females play their part in the general deceptiveness: Pandora, Medea, Clytemnestra, Deianeira, Eriphyle (inciting the battle of the Seven Against Thebes), among many more. Their subterfuges, misrepresentations and lies often drive the fateful unfolding of the story.

In all those turbulences, to maintain their honor and standing, all the gods and heroes tend to resort to CLEVERNESS and PRACTICAL SMARTS to outwit their opponents and overcome the traps set by their enemies and the accidents of life. Odysseus embodies the value of constant “crafty intelligence”, with the help of supersmart, thoughtful Athene and the sound advice of Circe.
Whatever the causes and motives, the stories describe extreme happenings way beyond the lives and motivations of ordinary mortals.

The quantity of killings in Greek myths is truly phenomenal. As if it reflected some of the violence inherent in the psychology of the times. The heroic deeds are extreme, but so are the passions, the curses, and the punishments for transgressions. Most confrontations turn out to be lethal.

Another remarkable aspect is the primordial importance of women in initiating and driving the complex stories involving most key characters. Not only was the whole Trojan war undertaken by all the chieftains of Greece just in order to retrieve Helen from her kidnapping by Paris, but Odysseus endured all the incidents and sufferings from his long voyage driven by the hope of returning home to Ithaca and be reunited with his dear wife Penelope. Which did not discourage him from paying attention to the other females he was encountering during his trip.

The ancient Greek world was structured, ruled and governed by men. Women moved from their father’s house to the husband’s, managed the household, raised the children, and provided company and comfort. But they never participated in public life.
However, in myths they suddenly occupy dominant positions and play important roles. Gaia was the earth, mother of everything. Zeus pursued females incessantly, but he was equally pursued by his wife Hera’s angry jealousy. Hera set into motion a huge number of interactions leading to sufferings and deaths in many of the stories. In most myths the action appears driven by the passions and decisions of goddesses and heroines.
Athens considered itself as the epitome of Greek civilization, looked down a bit on other cities, and viewed the remote corners of the Greek world as wild, savage, at the threshold of civilization. Beyond that was the dark world of “barbarians”. It is striking that Athens chose as its god protector a goddess, Athene, embodying intelligence, and a more hospitable and “civilized” attitude towards social interactions. She was the one to guide and support Odysseus in his long travails and saved him from impossible hazards. As an intermediary and intercessor she often brought a touch of gentleness and human concern to the brutality of the ages.

In Greek mythology active women are present everywhere. Let’s remember the role of the Furies, or the Fates. The maenads who follow Dionysos are usually a harbinger of trouble and calamity. The Graces are an embodiment of female beauty, while the Muses inspire artists to their best work. The sister of Apollo, Artemis, is a champion of hunting, and the protectoress of wild animals. Demeter is the goddess of fertility, and the incarnation of motherly love, in her obsessive search for her daughter Persephone abducted by Hades to his Underworld. Eros can induce love, but it is Aphrodite that incarnates its passion and drive. And what would Orpheus be without his Eurydice? And the Greeks managed to imagine in the Amazons a society of women enjoying themselves among themselves, who cannot bear the company and rule of men, turning into ferocious warriors in their confrontations against males. In the overall overview of the Greek mythological world, we cannot but be struck by the fair balance of meaningful male characters versus indispensable females, both at the divine level and the heroic one.
Overall women, either as goddesses or heroines, seemed to have a much larger role in the telling of the myths than they may have had in the real Greek life of the times. If all the myth tellers, tragedians, poets, and philosophers were male, the huge presence of women in their ancient stories is a sure indication that those ancient male minds were constantly preoccupied with their relations to women.

With only 256 pages, the Thames & Hudson book is still a very heavy book. Its main drawback is the smallish font used to enable packing such an immense quantity of information in a reasonable format. This tendency to small, even minuscule print becomes worse in the final 11 pages of references, "Further Reading", with a wonderful list of the best books related to each chapter; "Sources of Quotations”; the "Illustration Credits”; and the "Index of Names". English readers must have very good eyes, others may need a magnifying glass to be able to use all this precious info.

Remarkably, Richard Buxton, to the best of my observation, never mentions Robert Graves and his fundamental book, "The Greek Myths" (Complete edition Revised, 1960), either in his text, or in his end-of-book reference lists.
This classic by a great English writer is a compendium of the myths, a complete collection of the information and references in primary sources Graves was able to identify. As a result, it is exhaustive, and exhausting. No general reader will be able to get a working grasp of those ancient myths, and an overview of the vast and confusing world of Greek myths. The Graves book is usable only to advanced readers who already have a general exposure to the key stories and characters, and who wish to go more specifically into the fine details of the original texts. They become then fully equipped for the exciting scholarly game of disputing Graves's interpretations and speculations.

Buxton's apparent neglect (Todschweigen, as Germans say) of Graves's book is a bit surprising, and an omission that calls for some explanation. We can only surmise that Buxton wishes to be seen as an impeccable scholar of the highest repute and does not want to dilute the purity of his presentation with the mixed reputation of Graves's book.
But, in his way, Robert Graves was no less of a conscientious scholar. However, Graves was, in addition, a thinker and a poet, with an overworking imagination. And Graves does not hesitate to load his presentation of the Greek Myths with speculations as to the nature and the meaning of the myths.

Graves's portraying of a specific myth is much more detailed than Buxton's, and I often complement, or amplify Buxton's text with Graves’s description. But it is certain that Graves's text is too complex, too comprehensive for a primer aimed at the general reader. It can only confuse and mystify the non-specialist.
In addition, it is a bare text, without any illustrations from the great Greek sculptures, vase paintings, murals, coins, medals, that are intimately connected to the stories of the great myths. This is a major drawback of the Graves book, on top of its complexity and the scholarly obsession to encompass everything, and more. Again, Buxton himself could best explain his perplexing silence about the Graves book.

By contrast, it is the great merit of this Buxton book to illustrate his terse and taut text with abundant, and well selected reproductions.
For Buxton is conscious that in our modern age, it is next to impossible to gain a mental grasp and develop a memory of the Greek Myths without the support of multiple and varied images of their artistic representations.
For us, as it already was for the ancient Greeks, and Romans, (who so fell under the spell of the sophistication of the Greek mind, and the fascination of its myths, that they immediately copied them in their own Roman style and with their own Roman names), the Greek myths and the products of ancient Greek art are intimately connected. They are in fact inseparable.

Our age prides itself on a systematic authenticity in historical research. Buxton follows this trend, rejecting the Latinized names which have polluted for so long the study of Greek myths. No more “Daedalus”, but now “Daidalos”. Good-bye Jupiter and Juno, hello Zeus and Hera. And who was “Minerva”? Even I at times can’t remember, as Athene is my true goddess. This decided return to authentic Hellenic names is tempered by the wise decision to respect “commonly understood” (whatever that means) names. So the systematic transliteration is subjected to some personal arbitrary choice. Buxton keeps Oedipus, hesitating to adopt “Oidipous”, retains Athens instead of “Athenai”, Mycenae instead of “Mukenai”.
But we deplore that he got cold feet about “Moirai” (the Fates), “Horai” (the Seasons), “Charites” (the Graces), “Erinyes” (the Furies). Graves has no qualms using Erinnyes.

One major objection is to Buxton’s timidity in using the correct hellenic names of Greek vases. Since he’s decided, like Graves, to restore the authenticity of Greek names, why not go all the way when it concerns the products of Greek art?
The very first reproduction (p. 6) showing Herakles leading the monster hound Kerberos to terrorized Eurystheus hiding in a jar, comes from an anonymous “vase painting” of the 6th c. BC. But this vase is a “hydria”, the most common water jar. This one came from Caere (Etruria, N. of Rome), attributed to the Eagle Painter, and is kept at the Louvre Museum. On p. 14 Priam comes to dining Achilles begging for the corpse of his son Hektor, on an “Attic cup”, c. 490 BC. This is probably a “kylix”, another most common name for a Greek vase. Why be so shy and not use this lovely name? I am stupefied. On p. 19 comes an “Etruscan vase”, late 6th c. BC showing Dionysos changing pirates into dolphins. This could well be another hydria. But Buxton, strangely, seems to find those vase names too “technical”. Pity. Then, p. 25, comes the most famous François vase. It is a “volute krater”, a wide-mouth bowl to mix wine with water, with volute-shaped handles rising above the mouth. This extraordinary krater is signed by the great Kleitias and kept in Florence. And so forth, vase shapes remain anonymous throughout the whole book. What is the big deal in using the interesting, instructive names of Greek vases? Again, every mind has its mysteries.

Not only ancient Greek artists, but also a long line of Western artists up to our modern ages, have been inspired by the memorable stories of the Greek myths. Christian art has tried to obliterate the gods and heroes of Greek mythology with the products of a Greco-Hebraic myth focusing on a new, local hero of Judaea, Jesus Christ, as related to the divine in his local tribal god as all Greek heroes were to theirs. His deeds and sufferings are also recounted by multiple Hellenistic storytellers, with the usual variations characteristic of ancient myths, but with a rather limited environment when compared with the richness, variety, and intense drama of the Greek mythological world.

But this effort of displacing, even negating the role of the Greek myths has not succeeded, fortunately for Western civilization. The early Italian humanists of the 14th to 16th c. of the early Renaissance, from Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio onwards, undertook the heroic epoch-making challenge of methodically recovering and rescuing all that could be found and saved from the ancient classical texts and works of arts, leading to a recovery of the complex Greek mythology as well.

A huge portion of Western art cannot be understood and appreciated without the knowledge of ancient Greek myths. Many of the great Greek stories have proved to be fundamental in the mental story-making of modern mankind, and they have been adapted in different versions in all the genres of Western literature and Western art, including movies, theater, opera, and Internet games.
The final chapter of Buxton's book, "Greek Myths After the Greeks" covers this legacy aspect very well. It goes through the treatment of the original myths by their posterity in Western civilization. Buxton describes a major factor of the immediate survival of Greek culture in "How Rome Re-imagined Greece”; the treatment of the myths in "The Middle Ages”; their resurrection and renewal in "From the Renaissance to the 20th Century”; and some valuable insights about the continuing effect of Greek storytelling in "Present and Future". This legacy chapter is a mind-opener and the brilliant conclusion of an extraordinary book..