The Gods of The Greeks

Book excerpt: Drawing on a wealth of sources, from Hesiod to Pausanias and from the Orphic Hymns to Proclus, Professor Kerényi provides a clear and scholarly exposition of all the most important Greek myths. After a brief introduction, the complex genealogies of the gods lead him from the begettings of the Titans, from Aphrodite under all her titles and aspects, to the reign of Zeus, to Apollo and Hermes, touching the affairs of Pan, nymphs, satyrs, cosmogonies and the birth of mankind, until he reaches the ineffable mysteries of Dionysos. The lively and highly readable narrative is complemented by an appendix of detailed references to all the original texts and a fine selection of illustrations taken from vase paintings. ‘...learned, admirably documented, exhaustive...’—TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ‘...it most emphatically must be the book that many have long been waiting for...’—STEPHEN SPENDER ‘Kerényi’s effort to reinterpret mythology...arises out of the conviction that an appreciation of the mythical world will help Western man to regain his lost sense of religious values....(His) theory of myth and his actual interpretations of mythical themes...help to point the way to...a new kind of humanism.’—A. Altman, Philosophy