Gods Heroes And Men Of Ancient Greece

The Adventures that Shaped the Western World First published in 1934, Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece has become one of the most popular, enduring--and captivating--retellings of the ancient myths for modern readers. Recognizing the sheer entertainment value of these timeless adventures, world renowned classical scholar W.H.D. Rouse delighted his students at the Perse School in Cambridge, England, with a conversational style and childlike wonder that made the legends come alive--a rare storytelling gift that continues to engage young and old alike. Many of the characters in this book are familiar to us--Helen of Troy, Icarus, Zeus, Athena, to name just a few--but rarely have their stories of war and adventure, bravery and romance, been so simply and thrillingly told. From the strong-arm heroics of Heracles, to the trickery of the Trojan Horse, from the seductions of Circe the sorceress, to the terrors of the Cyclops and Minotaur, these legends have outlived the culture that bore them. But while the ancient Greeks may be long gone, their fables and morals, their heroes and heroines, live on today…

The author never forgets he is a scholar, and never allows us to forget that he is a wit and a humorist. Let us pretend that the phrase has never been used before, and therefore declare because we mean it: This book will please children of all ages from ten to eighty. The heard-for-the-first-time, or the familiar stories of Greek mythology are told as parts of a connected whole; this book is The Rise and Fall of the Olympian Empire. The Greeks had a clear conception of the family histories of their gods, godesses and demi-gods; here it is, complete with a family tree, and the stories remembered by celestial or earthly Nannies when their charges had grown up and become celebrated.

Lively, modern version of the Greek myths.