Summary
Hamilton begins by highlighting the common misunderstanding that
mythology depicts the blissful state of man in his original harmony
with nature. On the contrary, Hamilton notes, the lives of ancient
people were not romantic and beautiful, but full of hardship, disease,
and violence. For Hamilton, the Greek myths are remarkable in that
they show how far the Greeks, an ancient civilization, had advanced
beyond a primitive state of savagery and brutality. By the time
Homer wrote his epic, the Iliad, a new way of looking
at the world had come into being. According to Hamilton, this new
perspective is critically important, revealing a great deal not
only about ancient Greece but about modern America as well—as so
much of our own culture comes directly from the Greeks.
One of the most important aspects of the Greek worldview
was that it was the first to put humans at the center of the universe. Unlike
the animal deities of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, the gods
of the Greeks are human in form. Not only do they possess human
physical characteristics, but they embody the emotional flaws of
humans as well. Unlike the gods of other ancient civilizations,
Greek gods are not infinitely omniscient and omnipotent, manifesting
typical human foibles such as philandering, feasting and drinking,
and obsessive jealousy. To the Greeks, the life of the gods so closely
resembled human life that the gods felt real and tangible, rather
than incomprehensible and remote.
In this way, Hamilton argues, the myths of the Greeks
reflect a view of the universe that acknowledges the mystery and
beauty of humanity. Even the most magical of Greek myths contain
real-world elements: the supernatural Hercules lives in the very
real city of Thebes, and the goddess Aphrodite is born in a spot
any ancient tourist could visit, off the island of Cythera. In general,
Greek myths involve less strange and frightening magic than the
myths of other ancient civilizations. In this more rational world,
individuals become heroes by virtue of bravery and strength rather
than supernatural powers. Hamilton contends that this revolutionary
way of thinking about the world elevates humans and the worth of
their abilities, making it a far less terrifying place in which
to live.
Hamilton points out a downside to this rational view
of the supernatural—like humans, the gods are often unpredictable.
They do not always operate on the highest moral grounds, and they
get angry and jealous, sometimes doing terrible things like exacting vengeance
or calling for sacrifices. Even though Greek myth lacks wizards
and demonic spellcasters, there are still plenty of horrible magic
creatures—the snake-haired Gorgons, for instance—that appear to
be relics of that older, primitive world. In the end, however, as
Hamilton points out, the Greek hero always manages to defeat these
-creatures.
At the same time, Hamilton reminds us that these myths
do not really constitute the religion of the Greeks. These myths
are more akin to proto-scientific stories that are meant to explain
natural phenomena, such as thunderstorms or the setting of the sun.
Some myths are pure entertainment and are not meant to explain anything.
On the whole, the later myths appear more religious, as Zeus, the
primary god, begins to resemble the sort of omnipotent God-figure
familiar to modern readers—in the Iliad, he is
very human and moody, but by the Odyssey he is
more wise and compassionate. Zeus changes so much from the old philanderer
he once was that he begins to look very much like the Judeo-Christian
concept of God.
Having traced the origins, characters, and changes over
time of the content of the myths, Hamilton now tackles their literary record.
In this book, she explains, she has compiled myths from a wide variety
of sources. The Roman poet Ovid is an especially important source,
as he recorded more of the myths than anyone else, and many of the
tales we have now have only survived as result of his efforts. However,
Hamilton says she has tried to use Ovid as sparingly as possible
because, as he appeared so late in the game, and he did not believe
in the myths he was writing and merely treated them as tales. Homer,
in contrast, is the earliest known Greek poet, and Hesiod, who lived
in the eighth or ninth century b.c., is another very early source.
Hesiod was a poor farmer, and his myths reflect his deep religious
piety and the harshness of his life. Chronologically, the next source
is the cycle of Homeric Hymns, though Hamilton never uses them outright
in her text. The earliest Hymn was written in the seventh or eighth
century b.c., and the latest in the fourth or fifth century b.c.
Pindar, at the end of the sixth century b.c., was the greatest lyric
poet of Greece, while Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were three
famous tragic playwrights from the sixth and fifth centuries b.c.
Next, Apollonius of Rhodes—important for his epic about the hero
Jason—and Apollodorus, whose writing dates from the first or second
century a.d., are the last two Greek writers Hamilton studies. Among
the Roman authors who wrote their own versions of the original Greek
myths, Virgil is most notable. Though, like his contemporary Ovid,
he did not believe the myths as religious truth; he treated them
seriously, seeing the important humanity at their cores.
