I Read Books: The Greek Myths (volumes I and II)

 

The Greek Myths

Robert Graves wrote a compilation of Greek Myths and also a commentary on each one. The (re-)telling of the myths is good, often excellently written. Sometimes they lose flow as he references alternative versions, yet this is an effective way to reflect the multi-faceted nature of the sources. These sources are meticulously referenced. Graves has a particular definition of myth which he notes in the foreword; these stories reflect ritual drama which in turn come from religious rites and calendars. He has extracted these from the sources.

His notes are based on his idiosyncratic personal theories about myth, pre-historic religion and poetics (fully explained in The White Goddess). He believed that pre-historic Europe was matrilineal, worshiped a creator goddess, and sacrificed their kings (the consorts of the high priestess) on a regular basis. Some of the Greek Myths keep elements of this religion, others record in allegorical form the overthrowing by the patriarchal Greek-speakers. This is not generally considered a well-sourced or likely explanation of events. Yet there are some elements of his structure that ring true. In particular the way that kingdoms are inherited by foreign princes marrying the female heirs, something familiar from fairy tales. (It’s notable that Graves believed that the matriarchal religion continued in vestigial form in European witch cults (extremely poorly attested to) and such legends as Robin Hood).

Which raises the question; if Graves’ interpretation is so at odds with expert understanding, and this is reflected in his choice of what is myth and his presentation of them, is this a good compendium? For a layman like me, yes, it touches on all the major and many minor figures, gives an explanation of what they do and who they are according to the sources. And it does it with a style and fluency that help to maintain the power and interest when a hero comes to the tenth stop of his journey and gets into another complicated scrape with yet another character previously mentioned in another myth.

Read This: Useful and stylish collection of Greek Myths
Don’t Read This: Graves’ idiosyncratic over-arching myth structure does not stand up to scholarship