The Complete World of Greek Mythology - Cover May Vary Hardcover – Illustrated, 17 May 2004

My copy of 'The Complete World of Greek Mythology' came with a completely different cover to the one shown here, however, I don't care because the book itself is excellent!It's a complete encyclopaedia of Greek Mythology (or should that be en-CYCLOPES-pedia... groan) and covers everything from the creation of the Universe, the birth of the Gods and the Titans, the origins of humanity, right the way through to the Olympic games, and of course, all the stories we have come to know and love.The book combines a retelling of all the myths along with detailed and thorough accounts of the world in which they took place. It covers their themes, their relevance to Greek religion and society and even the relationship to the landscape - of which it includes many maps and snaps.In fact, if you're ever going on a holiday to the region, forget the travel guide and tour operators - plan you journey using this book instead and visit Athene's temple at Lindos, Epidauros, Arcadia's Mount Kyllene - birthplace of Hermes, or Delos - birthplace of Apollo (see?! I sound like a right expert now, don't I!)... anyway, every place of interest is listed here for you to peruse.The pages are littered with beautiful photos and illustrations of pottery, paintings, ancient artefacts, and even a recovered skull of an early Olympian - the young athlete with his original gold leaf victory crown still in place on his brow.There are hundreds of family trees so you can trace the linage of the Gods, heroes, and monsters you read about, and the book itself is well written, if perhaps a little blandly (but it is at least clear at least), and well thought out and organised.The pages are lovely and glossy, the pictures clean, crisp and reproduced well, and overall, the book has a good quality feel to it. I should perhaps mention here that it's a hardback book with the usual paper outer.It ends after a thorough walkthrough of ancient Greek Mythology, with a short summing up of the effect it's had on modern day society, in fields such as psychology and politics.Now, I'm not an expert on Greek Mythology (although after reading this - that's debatable, LOL), but I used to love the stories as a child and so thought I'd revisit them in depth as an adult. This book proved to be ideal and provided an interesting and thorough account of stories and events that I could dip in and out of, as and when I pleased.I'm very happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in the subject or who would like to study it in more depth. I'm pretty sure you'll find what you're looking for in it's pages. A footnote on the inside cover and a quick check by myself tells us the book is 256 pages thick with 330 illustrations, 139 of them in colour.If this review was helpful to you at all please give it a thumbs up - and if not, comment on why so I can do a better job for you next time. Thanks :-)

Perfect

Very nice book but be warned Amazon will send you the older print version with a different (but better) cover. But it's still a great book!

Great product . Arrived on time

Bought this as really wanted to read up on Greek mythology.So many businesses have mythology-related names - Argos, Hermes - and I was interested to learn about something not routinely covered at school.The book is very well illustrated and very informative.

Very interesting and full of information

Bought this for my Goddaughters 21st Birthday as she likes Greek Myths, efficient delivery, she was very happy.

Covers areas of Ancient Greek mythology left out by most books by historians and experts. Gives one a better view of what it was like back then.