Stephen Harris,
California State University, Sacramento Gloria Platzner,
California State University, Sacramento
ISBN: 0072818492 Copyright year: 2003
What's New
The fourth edition offers fresh new translations of Homer's Odyssey and Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days by Stanley Lombardo, making the epic tradition more accessible to students.
Much of the book has been reorganized for greater coherence, combining material such as the Prometheus-Trickster tradition in a single chapter on human origins and creating a new chapter on the heroines of myth.
Both heroes and heroines are placed in a more specific cultural context, including fuller discussions of the rituals and ceremonies associated with such figures as Heracles, Perseus, and the female devotees of Artemis (Diana).
Two complete plays of Euripides—The Bacchae and Medea—now appear in the same chapter, affording a new perspective on the tragedies written by the most controversial Athenian dramatist.
Coverage of “The Olympian Family of Zeus” (Chapter 6) has been significantly expanded to provide a more comprehensive discussion of all the major Greek gods, with new artwork also added.
Virtually every chapter has been modified to make the presentation more student-friendly, beginning with Chapter 1, which includes new explanations of myth's social and political functions and illustrates these functions with works of art.
Hesiod's Theogony is now placed in the context of other ancient traditions of creation, with a new account of Egyptian creation myths added to those from Babylon and the Hebrew Bible.
An updated discussion of the Great Goddess, a figure worshiped in prehistoric Europe, now includes recent archaeological and anthropological studies.
New material focuses on female figures such as Ariadne (Chapter 8) and Persephone (Chapter 9).
New archaeological findings at Delphi, famous site of Apollo's inspired Oracle, are added to explain the tradition of intoxicating vapors that the Oracle breathed in to induce her trance-like utterances (Chapter 7).
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education