/lit/ - Literature

Edith Hamilton's Mythology is a great place to start if you want a readable secondary source to get some context for what you're getting into. Stephen Fry also wrote a couple similar books recently, though I haven't read them.

For primary sources, you might be interested in the Homeric Hymns (which have different authorship from The Iliad and The Odyssey) and Hesiod's Theogony.

The tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles are also stuff you should look into.

Generally people will start with Hesiod’s Theogony to familiarize themselves with the pantheon he introduces. This poem was invented to hammer out all the inconsistencies and wildly different gods, and to ditch some of their original attributes. Hesiod of a misogynist, like most of his contemporaries, so none of the goddesses get a fair reading, but it’s just fiction and sets up the following stories. Homer.
There’s a cycle of stories to tell, but everyone’s favorites are the Iliad and the Odyssey, of course. Sample translations to see which feel right for you. There’s a lot to choose from (do not read Pope. It’s a reinterpretation and as bad as reading an abridgment).

For a contemporary overview that’s better than old Hesiod, I read Robert Graves extensive Greek Myths. He covers them all and tries to explain their cultural historical underpinnings.

>>15269183
Pseudo-Apollodorus' Library.

>>15269276
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

Edith Hamilton's Mythology is a great place to start if you want a readable secondary source to get some context for what you're getting into. Stephen Fry also wrote a couple similar books recently, though I haven't read them.

For primary sources, you might be interested in the Homeric Hymns (which have different authorship from The Iliad and The Odyssey) and Hesiod's Theogony.

The tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles are also stuff you should look into.

>>15269276
What do I gain exactly by reading Herodotus and other historians if I can't trust what they say anyway? Just to know what the greeks themselves believed to be true history?

>>15269265
Hey butterfly. I think someone upload a porn edit of you in a website

>>15269183
knowledge is nonlinear, pick a spot and start

>>15269303
Kek, is actually real

>>15269301
because it's comfy and a good read.

>>15269265
>Hesiod of a misogynist, like most of his contemporaries, so none of the goddesses get a fair reading, but it’s just fiction and sets up the following stories.
Picked up.

>>15269460
These stories layers start to get interesting when you consider that some of the tales are as reliable as Odysseus.
The previous order of Titans, the revivalism of Dionysus, Saturnalia, the older demoted gods that resurface in the Oresteia, all point to the briefly mentioned Golden Age in Ovid’s The Metamorphoses

>>15269456
So nothing essential? Thought there was more to it since the chart implies I need to read Herodotus before diving into any philosophy or the plays.

>>15269504
No one ever need dive into philosophy.
Take Herodotus as facts and fictions, the same as anyone would do with philosophy

>>15269504
>>15269301
You can't trust anything from this era. Ancient Greek history is 50% speculation. But Herodotus gives you the general doxa, what most of Greek citizens considered to be true.

>>15269183
>homershit
ngmi

I only read shit about Diogenes because I think he's cool.

>>15269518
I feel like it would be way more useful then to just read a textbook about greek history telling me what the people themselves believed and what actually happened.

>>15269183
>homershit

>>15269578
"Useful" is defined by your objective.
If you're preparing for university, just grab a general history/culture course (like this one https://www.coursera.org/learn/ancient-greeks).).
If you're just enjoying yourself, and you like mythology and anthropology, go with Hesiod, Homer and Herodotus.
If you want to be fast, just bypass the source and pick up a book contemporary book on the matter.
That said, anything serious or long term will go through Homer at some point.

>>15269655
d'oh

>>15269541
He was literally a street guy.

>>15269301
Because you don't read Herodotus for the "history" you numbnuts, you read him to get a feel of the culture and beliefs of Greek society. He also explicitly points out when his stories are tales that some dude in some far land told him, and when his stories are factual events. And ultimately, it's a very enjoyable and entertaining read.
If you want actual history look up a history book.

>>15269655
Thanks for the info. I'm reading Homer right now actually. I was just curious if reading these ancient histories was essential before I read the stuff that seems more interesting to me.

>>15269731
Go for what interests you. You'll see soon enough if you need to do more preparatory readings.

build a time machine and go back to something like 5000 bc