| Classical Mythology: with The Odyssey of Homer |  | Authors: Homer, Mark P. O. Morford, Robert J. Lenardon
Creators: G. S. Kirk, Walter Shewring
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 6993097
Media: Paperback
Edition: 6
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 0195218795
EAN: 9780195218794
ASIN: 0195218795
Publication Date: January 24, 2002
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Product Description
Morford and Lenardon's best-selling introduction to classical mythology is a comprehensive survey focusing on the literary tradition of Greek and Roman mythology. It offers extensive translations of original mythological sources as well as comparative and interpretive approaches to the myths. In this package, Classical Mythology, 6/e is bundled with the Oxford World's Classic The Odyssey. The first English prose translation of Homer's The Odyssey to appear in over thirty years, Shewring's translation comes as close to the spirit of the original Greek as our language will allow.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 The best Book on the Subject in my Opinion November 8, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have a great passion for Greek and Roman mythology. This came about because of my involvment in the Christian Church for ten years. After having lost my faith due to certain cosmological facts that I couldn't reconcile with Scripture, I left Christianity. However I never lost my love for theology, mythology and philosophy. Thus I continued in my reading. Having moved into the reading of the classics I found a new love. While I have not read everything on the subject, to date this is my absolute favorite book that strictly deals with Greek and Roman myth. It contains extensive translations of texts with excellent commentary and insights. The authors deal heavily with the psychological interpretations of Freud and Jung, which I enjoyed. This book is absolutely awesome. GET IT!
Excellent source January 17, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is the standard text for several of the Classical Mythology sections at my college. It is an excellent source for both basic and detailed information on Classical myths. Primary texts are quoted, and all parts of the book are easy to read. There is a select bibliography for each chapter. Has a glossary of words that may not be familiar to reader, as well as a glossary/index of all the gods and goddesses with a short summary of who they are at the back of the book for quick reference. Some color picture sections, as well as black and white pictures throughout. Highly recommended as a reference if you are unable to take a class on the subject.
thru a distant lens August 24, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This well honed 8th edition is an entrancing and beautiful description of the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome. The emphasis is Greece, naturally, since the Romans based so much of their beliefs on the Greeks. No prior knowledge of the subject is assumed. But the book is not some simple entry level exposition, like some freshman texts.
Instead, Morford goes into a fair amount of detail about what we know. He refers and quotes liberally from surviving manuscripts. So that, even though these are given in English, we get some flavour of looking thru a distant lens at how others saw their gods. Plus, he has kept up with the latest archeological discoveries and their interpretations. Reminding the reader that our knowledge of those times is still incomplete and changing.
The many photos and illustrations also help in giving flesh to the text. Some are of the European perceptions from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Several colour plates are quite lovely. We are looking at the subject through at least two viewpoints. Ours and those.
 Ridiculously expensive. January 9, 2005
47 out of 61 found this review helpful
This is not a bad book. It is a standard, fairly decent introduction to mythology that's a heck of a lot better than Edith Hamilton. The reason why I give it one star is the price. It is not worth more than 45 dollars. Very few books are, and the ones that are, have hard covers. This is a disgraceful ripoff and there is absolutely no excuse for it. Morford, Leonardson, and especially the PUBLISHER should be ashamed. Yes, the book is well-done, with pretty pictures, but it's SOFTCOVER. It's worth perhaps twenty dollars, maybe thirty at most. It is a very typical example of the utter sliminess of the textbook shell game. Years ago, it once had a reasonable price. Then, when the publisher realized that it was being assigned as a textbook, they raised the price to a ridiculous level, and produced - and continue to produce - more editions so that any old edition you get will be slightly off pagewise. A minor rearranging of contents occurs to justify dupes buying the new edition thus to make the old editions worthless. Take a stand. Do not buy this book. Professors, do not assign it. If your professor assigns it, request that you may use an old version which you will be able to find for five dollars online. The changes in the book are NOT essential enough to justify this gross piracy.
By the way -- I'm a graduate student studying Greek and Roman history, religion, and literature at Berkeley. I believe I am fairly qualified, then, to make this argument. The price of this book is a disgusting shame and should not be tolerated.
 Excellent overview of everything with Classical Mythology October 23, 2003
13 out of 17 found this review helpful
This was a textbook assigned to me in my Classical Mythology course in college. I very much enjoyed working my way through it. It talked about everything in extensive detail and is pretty much what you'd expect of a textbook on Classical Mythology. Rather, I would like to explain why it didn't get five stars. When the authors quote the translations they did of classical works like the Homeric Poems or Greek tragedies, they certainly took poetic license with some of the lines. It was a very mediocre job of translation and you can see a few lines of modern day slang thrown in here and there (ex. "decked out like a corpse"). Decked out? This isn't 2003, this is thousands of years ago for goodness sakes. The other problem is that every once in a while, the authors will slip in their opinions of Christianity and how it is rediculous, though they don't say that in so many words. This is a book about a dead religion, it is NOT about the origins of Christianity and I wish the authors would have remembered that. The comments that they make at the end of certain chapters can be very offensive to the religious Christian. If you can look past these flaws it is certainly a good overview of everything Classical Mythology.
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