Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths, 1)

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It is said that Daphne was the first love of Apollo but unfortunately the girl never responded to his love.

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths, 1)

Via the swirling haze of these distressing animals she saw the face of her husband as he came outside to see what was happening. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes (epic poet, scholar, and director of the Library of Alexandria) tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the mythical land of Colchis. In Northern Europe, Greek mythology never took the same hold of the visual arts, but its effect was very obvious on literature. In 1871 Edward Burnett Tylor published his Primitive Culture, in which he applied the comparative method and tried to explain the origin and evolution of religion.Nevertheless, according to Burkert, the iconography of the Cretan Palace Period has provided almost no confirmation for these theories.

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths, 1) Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths, 1)

The most widely accepted version at the time, although a philosophical account of the beginning of things, is reported by Hesiod, in his Theogony.In art and literature Heracles was represented as an enormously strong man of moderate height; his characteristic weapon was the bow but frequently also the club. The Trojan War cycle, a collection of epic poems, starts with the events leading up to the war: Eris and the golden apple of Kallisti, the Judgement of Paris, the abduction of Helen, the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis.

Greek mythology - Wikipedia

In some cases, the first known representation of a myth in geometric art predates its first known representation in late archaic poetry, by several centuries.Ever since William Godwin persuaded Charles Lamb to retell The Odyssey as a novel for younger readers in The Adventures of Ulysses (1808), the myths of ancient Greece have been retold in contemporary prose by every generation.

Mythos review – the Greek myths get the Stephen Fry treatment

In Mythos Stephen Fry retells the Greek myths and tries to understand the chronology, as well as the significance as well as cultural effect the myths have actually had on our very own civilisation. He has a touching mission to inform the public about some relatively arcane issues of classical scholarship: as might be expected in a celebrity who has chaired television quiz shows on etymology and quirky facts, he often explains the meaning of Greek or Latin terms, or appends learned footnotes that provide historical or cultural details to illuminate the meaning of a myth. At the same time, the Stoics and the Neoplatonists promoted the moral significations of the mythological tradition, often based on Greek etymologies. She was already pregnant with Athena, however, and she burst forth from his head—fully-grown and dressed for war. People who enjoy his media personality and particular style of post‑Wodehouse English drollery are in for a treat.Fry’s collection is the equivalent of a book advertising itself as retelling “the stories from Shakespeare” that leaves out Hamlet, Othello, Lear, Julius Caesar, Romeo, Juliet and Henry V. Heracles attained the highest social prestige through his appointment as official ancestor of the Dorian kings. She goes on however to commend Fry for putting his fame to constructive use and to say that his "distinctive voice undoubtedly adds something lively, humorous and intimate to myth's psychological dimension. Arachne, her name meaning spider in Greek, was a beautiful woman that had a great talent in weaving. Cicero is also generally disdainful of myth, but, like Varro, he is emphatic in his support for the state religion and its institutions.