"Sleipnir" by Linda Evans

 

Publisher: Baen Books

Copyright: 1994

ISBN: 0671875949

Sleipnir is I believe Linda Evans first book, and it is an extremely interesting one to say the least. We first meet the protagonist Randy Barnes when he is in the process of negotiating a Norwegian cave on his way to confront Odin, whom he intends on challenging to a duel and hopefully killing.

So why you might ask is Barnes looking to challenge Oden? Well Barnes himself is an ex-soldier who was recently discharged shortly after the death of his best friend Gary in a traffic accident. However, very shortly after his death he witnessed Sleipnir retrieving the body and taking it to Valhalla. Now for those of you who do not know Norse mythology, Sleipnir does not collect bodies of people who die accidentally, nor are they welcome in Valhalla, as this is where warriors who are killed in battle are taken, accident victims etc. go to Niflheim to serve the goddess Hel.

So what is going on? Well, you'll have to read the book to find out as I don't want to spoil it for you. But suffice it to say the story is well written, and well researched too. I reviewed another of Ms. Evans' books a while ago "The Far Edge of Darkness" which I thoroughly enjoyed as well. Unfortunately Ms. Evans hasn't published any books recently, but we can always hope she'll return to writing soon.

"The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times" by Adrienne Mayor

 

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Copyright: 2010 (Revised Edition)

ISBN: 9780691150130

This was without a doubt one of the better books on the history of palaeontology I have read recently. I came across this pretty much by accident as I was looking for some reference material that would give me insight into where the origins of the mythology of dragons might have come from as at the time I was writing an article on the subject. I'm not exactly sure as I write this exactly what got me interested in the topic to begin with, but then again that was a few years ago, but it likely could have been something one of the school children asked me while I was touring them through the our lab. Prior to finding this book, I was getting rather frustrated as there didn't seem to be much material on the subject - which was rather annoying to say the least. 

After finding this resource things began to click into place, as there really isn't a whole lot of information on the topic. As I learned from this book there is a great deal of fossil evidence in the Mediterranean basin with regard to palaeomammalogy, but very little prior to this as the area was quite geologically active. It also didn't help that many palaeontologists weren't overly interested in the topic, which was a shame.

This book has given me sufficient that I believe the mythological Griffin could easily have been influenced by the discovery of either Protoceratops, or Psittacosaurus, both of whom are from the Cretaceous period. But this still didn't satisfy my curiosity about dragons, after all they supposedly looked quite a bit different. As I moven through the text I feel it is rather likely that "dragons" were possibly influenced by prehistoric mammals such as Samotherium a giant Miocene giraffe found as the name suggests in Samos Greece - at least the skull sure looks like the head of a classical dragon, and with a long neck I feel it's a pretty good candidate.

Dr. Mayor has done a fantastic amount of valuable research on this topic, and this book is well worth reading and would make a great addition to any library. I would also recommend it as reference material to any Classics, Archaeology, or Palaeontology professors as a great resource. I look forward to reading her other work.

"Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook" by Liv Albert

 

Publisher: Adams Media (Simon & Schuster)

Copyright: 2021

ISBN: 9781507215494

Liv Albert is the creator, host and producer of the podcast "Let's Talk About Myths, baby!" which has been running now since July 2017. It is one of the most popular podcasts in Canada, as she tells it like it is, and doesn't mince words.

"Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook" is written in the same style, and portrays the Greek and Roman myths in an honest, but humourous way that acts as an excellent introduction for those people who have not taken or at least not referenced the myths for sometime.

The first part is a basic introduction to Greek mythology and the creation mythos that surrounds it. The second part deals with biographies of the Olympians themselves, e.g. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Here, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Area, Hermes, Dionysus, and Hestia. Some of these are more important than others, but for the most part these are the ones that most people have learned about in school. There are also related stores about Persephone, Hectate, and Cerebus.

The third part deals with the deities Prometheus, Leto, Daphna, and Erosalong with related stores dealing with Pandora, Echo & Narcissus and Typhon & Echidna. The fourth part is the largest and deals with a number of the Heroes and Mortals, such as Heracles, Perseus, Jason, Medea, Daedalus, Oedipus, and more. Once again there are accompanying stories about the Minotaur, Icarus, Medusa, and more.

Overall this is a great review of classical Greek mythology, with the twist of relating it to the many modern interpretations of the myths.

The artwork in this book is by Sara Richard, and is quite stunning in its styling, and I hope that prints of these panels will eventually be available on her site www.sararichard.com

Highly recommended. Looking forward the the second volume (Yes, Simon & Schuster, this is a hint).

"Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World" by Tim Whitmarsh

Publisher:New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.
Edition:First edition.
ISBN: 9780307958327
Characteristics: viii, 290 pages

This is a scholarly publication that looks in depth at the relationship of what we refer to as religion and Greek mythology. 

It examines the philosophies and writings of a number of different Greek philosophers who wrote on the subjects of atheism or at the very least the concepts that the gods may not exist. I say it this way, as in many context now-a-days atheism is automatically thought to be the non-belief in one of Abrahamic religions. However this took place many hundreds of year before any of that was thought up.

For the most the book it concerns itself that what is commonly referred to as Greek mythology but is in actual fact more of a system of folklore and folktales rather than an actual religion. The reason for this is because for the most part the religious figures that were present in Greece at the time we're not comparable in anyway to what we currently see as priests and clerics as they were more there to aid the populace and provide comfort as opposed to guiding them towards certain  deities.

This book is an excellent read however some readers may find it somewhat daunting due to the number of references made to the various Greek historical figures, playwrights and philosophers. I think it would make an excellent text for a class in comparative religions, classics, or cultural anthropology. 

"The Epic of Gilgamesh" English version with introduction by N. K. Sandars

Publisher:London : Penguin Books, 1972.

Edition:Revised edition, incorporating new material.

Copyright Date:©1972

ISBN: 9780140441000 

Characteristics: 127 pages :,map ;,20 cm.

The Epic of Gilgamesh who was the renowned king of Uruk in Mesopotamia, was discovered in 1839 by Austen Henry Layard when he was travelling in Mesopotamia and was delayed by excavations of the Assyrian mounds. He was there for a number of years and the result was a number of Assyrian sculptures and over twenty-five thousand broken tablets from the Palace at Nineveh being returned to the British Museum. These tablets were all written in cuneiform (wedge shaped characters, on clay tablets). The decipherment of the language took many years and was finally aided by the discovery by Henry Rawlinson of the 'Record of Darius' on the rock of Behistun near Kermanshah in Persia, which was written in cuneiform, Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian languages. The epic of Gilgamesh is typically considered to be the earliest existing work of literature.

Unlike many heroes told of in mythology Gilgamesh is was considered by most scholars to be a real person, a King who lived and reigned in Uruk sometime during the first half of the third millennium. The introduction to this book explains in great length the history of the region, of the story itself, it's discovery, translation etc. The introduction itself is 58 pages long which maybe somewhat daunting to your average reader, but it is extremely fascinating as well and takes the reader on a journey that helps to explain the story itself.

The first half of the story gives background information on Gilgamesh himself and a wild being called Enkidu who was created by the gods to oppose Gilgamesh and stop him from oppressing the people of Uruk. Enkidu becomes human after having sex intercourse with a prostitute. He then travels to Uruk and challenges Gilgamesh to a contest of strength, which Gilgamesh wins. The two men then become fast friends (some say lovers), and undertake a journey to kill Humbaba the Terrible the guardian of the sacred forest and then cut down the sacred cedar. After succeeding in this the goddess Ishtar attempts to punish Gilgamesh for refusing her sexually by sending the Bull of Heaven. The Bull is killed by the two men, and the gods decide to kill Enkidu as a punishment for Gilgamesh as they are the best of friends.

The second part of the story details Gilgamesh's distress over Enkidu's death and his quest for eternal life. He doesn't succeed in his quest because death is man's burden. During his travels however he does hear the tale of the great flood.

It is interesting to note that there are many similarities between the epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible such as the story of the Garden of Eden, and the flood. In the first case Enkidu is created from the soil just like the mythological Adam, he lives in a worry free world alongside all the animals, he is tempted by a female (who is created from one of his bones), accepts food from the female, then needs to cover his nakedness, and then must leave, etc. As for the flood similarities the flood narrative in the Hebrew Bible is so close to that from Gilgamesh that they can be considered the same and scholars have all agreed that Gilgamesh influenced the mythology of the genesis flood. There are many other similarities as well that I won't bother detailing here.

All told this is a very good story, and I would recommend it to all.

"Circe" by Madeline Miller

Publisher:New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2018.

Edition:First edition.

ISBN: 9780316556347 

Characteristics: 393 pages

In "Circe" (pronounced 'Keer-Kay') Madeline Miller gives ask a look at the life of Circe, and what caused her banishment, how she adapted and lived the rest of her life. Many people know the basics of her tale from the Odyssey by Homer, but she is just one small part of that epic.

In the Odyssey she is painted as a very badass witch. She is taking out her revenge of how she's been treated in the world, who liked her solitude and gets her thrills by enslaving the crews of ship who visit her island and turning them into pigs.

In this book she a totally different picture is painted. Her actions are explained as she is the victim of Helios - her father - and other members of the Olympian divinity who were essentially needing a scapegoat (or so it seemed to me). And even though she was banished to the island of Aiaia she adapted well and lived a full life. It gives plausible explanations of how she learned to use her power, and showed her obsession with turning wayward sailors into pigs was a means of self defence, as she was a woman living alone, and the sailors had plans for solitary women.

In this book we also learn of her involvement with the birth of the Minotaur, her relations with her brother and two sisters as well as her relations with other members of the Olympians - all very strained to say the least.

Now, not being a authority on Greek history, and literature I can’t say how many liberties Ms. Miller took with her story, but I found it to be a very engrossing story that was well worth reading. She has another book “The Song of Achilles” which I’m hoping to read in the near future as it has been recommended to me as a fantastic novel.

I was first introduced to Madeline Miller's work via the podcast "Let's Talk About Myths, Baby" by Liv Albert, and I would definitely recommend it to anybody who is interested in Greek and Roman mythology. The myths are told from a refreshing feminist perspective, and Ms. Albert doesn't pull any punches (especially when talking about Zeus).

"Don't Know Much About Mythology" by Kenneth C. Davis

ISBN: 9780060194604

This was an absolutely fascinating book that goes into a lot of detail about the world's various mythologies. What I found most interesting was that it didn't deal simply with the Greeks and Romans myths but also included the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Celts & Norse, India, China & Japan, African, and finally the America's & Pacific Islands.

What most people either purposefully ignore, or fail to realize is that these myths were historically  the religions of these various civilizations, just as other myths are the basis of today's religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and others. Most people are only taught the about the Greeks and Romans in school, and if they are very lucky might hear something about the Norse. But the rest are rarely if every taught in any grade school. When I had the opportunity to teach a class on Norse mythology, the students were quite fascinated, as it was something they'd never heard before.

Why don't they teach this? Who knows! My guess would be that it is because these mythologies are never taught in a University's Education faculty (or at least I never encountered them), or possibly because a given teacher believes they are simply stories, or don't want to offend someone. Mind you I can't totally blame teacher training, as I was never introduced to much of this even when taking anthropology courses either.

In any case this book is highly recommended, and should be in all school libraries.