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Genre  

Classical lore and legends, Norse legends

Narrator  

An omniscient narrator, suggestive of the author herself

Point of View  

Edith Hamilton’s level and even-spirited scholarly voice provides the general point of view. The stories are told by omniscient narrators who are sympathetic to the protagonists yet instantly aware of their weaknesses or foolishness whenever it comes into play. Even these omniscient narrators have plenty of equanimity and are not terribly engaged in the stories they are telling.

Tone  

Edith Hamilton clearly admires the greatness of antiquity, although at the same time posits myths as important mostly as progenitors of “us” and “our culture.”

Tense  

Past

Setting (time)  

Ancient times

Setting (place)  

Greece and Rome, and, at the very end, Northern Europe

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