Edith Hamilton's "Mythology"

The wonderful "Midnight Summer Festival"

is in full swing!

Be sure to visit the host blogs,

as well as the participating blogs,

for interesting posts related to mythology,

as well as terrific giveaways!

Today I'd like to feature a book that

has become a classic in

the literature of mythology.

Mythology

Edith Hamilton

Hardcover, 497 pages

Published by Little, Brown & Co.

January 30, 1942

From Amazon's Product Description

Since its original publication by Little, Brown & Company in 1942, this author's Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the world & established itself as a perennial bestseller in its various available formats: hardcover, trade paperback, & mass market paperback. Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman & Norse myths & legends that are the keystone of Western culture - the stories of gods & heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.  (description for the Back Bay Books 1998 trade paperback edition)

I have just purchased a copy of this book on Amazon, and hope to read it soon -- that is, after I've finished my current and soon-to-be-read books...( There's just so much great stuff to read, and so little time in which to do so!)

The author presents skillful retellings of the original, classic Greek, Roman, and Norse myths.  As far as I know, this book has been in print continuously since it was first published in the 1940's.  

Here's a partial list of the Table of Contents:

PART ONE

I) The Gods

The Titans and the Twelve Great Olympians

The Lesser Gods of Olympus

The Gods of the Waters

The Underworld

The Lesser Gods of Earth

The Roman Gods

III) How the World and Mankind Were Created

IV) The Earliest Heroes

Prometheus and Io

Europa

The Cyclops Polyphemus

Flower-Myths: Narcissus, Hyacinth, Adonis

PART TWO

I) Cupid and Psyche

II) Eight Brief Tales of Lovers

Pyramus and Thisbe

Orpheus and Eurydice

Ceyx and Aleyone

Pygmalion and Galatea

Baucis and Philemon

Endymion

Daphne

Alpheus and Arethusa

And here's a quote from the book:

We do not know when these stories were first told in their present shape; but whenever it was, primitive life had been left far behind.  The myths as we have them are the creation of great poets. 

Aside from Bulfinch's Mythology, this is probably the book most read by those who love mythology, being used as an introductory textbook in many high schools.  It's impressive how long it has endured.

The author, Edith Hamilton, was a noted American educator and classical scholar.  Her first book The Greek Way, was published in 1930.  Another work, The Roman Way, was published in 1932, and yet another, The Echo of Greece, in 1957.

Born in Dresden, Germany, on August 12, 1867, she grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the United States.  She would return to Germany in 1895 to study humanities and classics at the University of Munich.

She had originally intended to pursue a doctoral degree in Leipzig, but was discriminated against merely because she was a woman.  She then planned to obtain it at Munich, but never did.  Instead, she accepted a position as head of the newly opened Bryn Mawr Preparatory School for Girls in Baltimore, in the U.S.  She remained for twenty-six years.

She received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Rochester and the University of Pennsylvania, both  in 1950. 

In 1957 she was awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of Benefaction by King Paul of Greece, thus becoming an honorary citizen of Athens. 

She wrote several other books related to classical studies, and died on May 31, 1963, in Washington, D.C.

The Wikipedia article I used as source contains more detailed information about this fascinating scholar.

Edith Hamilton

Classical scholar and author

(1867 - 1963)