fantastic mythos overview!

This will be a short and sweet review since I mainly read this to serve as part of my class prep for the upcoming spring semester! I think this volume serves as a very baseline and, without sounding derogatory, shallow look at the general overview of Greek and Roman mythology. I appreciated the book's distinct sections and organization of prominent gods and goddesses to monsters to lesser deities to famous Greek heroes. It certainly isn't easy to categorize mythos into neat and tidy chapters without any overlap, given the intricacies of immortal and mortal familial ties, monsters traversing the plots of multiple heroes' lives, and the beliefs of the ancient Greek people often blending together in terms of their region, worship practices, and sacrificial rites. Again, given these complications, I think this book gives fantastic summaries, key details, and illuminating descriptions for each of its topics, paired with beautiful images of paintings, sculptures, and busts from across eras that add to the prose. My students will definitely be reading vital parts of this work to supplement their reading of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey in all its complicated but ancient glory!

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