Intro
| Chapter I | Chapter
II | Chapter III | Chapter
IV | Chapter V
Chapter VI | Chapter
VII | Chapter VIII | Chapter
IX | Chapter X | Magistra
Introduction
Welcome to Latin Via Ovid
Edith
Hamilton's Mythology
The
second text that we will use in the class is Mythology by
Edith Hamilton. This is one of the two great collections of myth stories
written in English. The other is Bulfinch's Mythology.I have
chosen Edith Hamilton's stories for this course because I know it
is readily available, and it is the book used over the years in many
classes. With this Introduction to Latin Via Ovid, please read
Hamilton's Introduction to her book, called "Introduction to Classical
Mythology." I will not detail page numbers for Mythology because
there are several editions out. Anything in quotations marks is an
actual title of a section from her book.
However,
if you wish to use Bulfinch, go ahead; just be careful to correlate
the stories in both books. Sometimes Bulfinch will use a different
title for a story than Hamilton.
One last comment is appropriate
here. Hamilton in her Introduction focuses on the Greek aspect of
the gods. Please keep in mind that the Romans had their own gods before
they encountered the Greeks. It is only later that the Greek and Roman
gods were considered the same. That is why we have two names for each
deity, i.e., Zeus and Iuppiter, and why sometimes the god or goddess
seems to have different traits or abilities, depending if he or she
is in Greece or Italy. Athena, for instance, is not exactly Minerva,
and vice versa.
Read on, and begin to enjoy the
best stories that have come down to us from ancient times.
intro-05