Table Of ContentClassical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction
VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating
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AFRICAN HISTORY BRITISH POLITICS
John Parker and Richard Rathbone Anthony Wright
THE AMERICAN BUDDHA Michael Carrithers
PRESIDENCY Charles O. Jones BUDDHISM Damien Keown
ANARCHISM Colin Ward BUDDHIST ETHICS
ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw Damien Keown
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY CAPITALISM James Fulcher
Julia Annas THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe
ANCIENT WARFARE CHAOS Leonard Smith
Harry Sidebottom CHOICE THEORY
ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman Michael Allingham
THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE CHRISTIAN ART
John Blair Beth Williamson
ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead
ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn CLASSICS Mary Beard and
ARCHITECTURE John Henderson
Andrew Ballantyne CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes Helen Morales
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard
ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland THE COLD WAR
THE HISTORY OF Robert McMahon
ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin CONSCIOUSNESS
ATHEISM Julian Baggini Susan Blackmore
AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick CONTEMPORARY ART
BARTHES Jonathan Culler Julian Stallabrass
THE BIBLE John Riches CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea Simon Critchley
COSMOLOGY Peter Coles THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE CRUSADES William Doyle
Christopher Tyerman FREE WILL Thomas Pink
CRYPTOGRAPHY FREUD Anthony Storr
Fred Piper and Sean Murphy FUNDAMENTALISM
DADA AND SURREALISM Malise Ruthven
David Hopkins GALILEO Stillman Drake
DARWIN Jonathan Howard GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS GLOBAL CATASTROPHES
Timothy Lim Bill McGuire
DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick GLOBALIZATION
DESCARTES Tom Sorell Manfred Steger
DESIGN John Heskett GLOBAL WARMING
DINOSAURS David Norman Mark Maslin
DREAMING J. Allan Hobson HABERMAS
DRUGS Leslie Iversen James Gordon Finlayson
THE EARTH Martin Redfern HEGEL Peter Singer
ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood
EGYPTIAN MYTH HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson
Geraldine Pinch HINDUISM Kim Knott
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY HISTORY John H. Arnold
BRITAIN Paul Langford HOBBES Richard Tuck
THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball HUMAN EVOLUTION
EMOTION Dylan Evans Bernard Wood
EMPIRE Stephen Howe HUMAN RIGHTS
ENGELS Terrell Carver Andrew Clapham
ETHICS Simon Blackburn HUME A. J. Ayer
THE EUROPEAN UNION IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden
John Pinder INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
EVOLUTION Sue Hamilton
Brian and Deborah Charlesworth INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary
EXISTENTIALISM INTERNATIONAL
Thomas Flynn MIGRATION Khalid Koser
FASCISM Kevin Passmore INTERNATIONAL
FEMINISM Margaret Walters RELATIONS Paul Wilkinson
THE FIRST WORLD WAR ISLAM Malise Ruthven
Michael Howard JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves
FOSSILS Keith Thomson JUDAISM Norman Solomon
FOUCAULT Gary Gutting JUNG Anthony Stevens
KABBALAH Joseph Dan PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
KAFKA Ritchie Robertson Raymond Wacks
KANT Roger Scruton PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner Samir Okasha
THE KORAN Michael Cook PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards
LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews PLATO Julia Annas
LITERARY THEORY POLITICS Kenneth Minogue
Jonathan Culler POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
LOCKE John Dunn David Miller
LOGIC Graham Priest POSTCOLONIALISM
MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner Robert Young
THE MARQUIS DE SADE POSTMODERNISM
John Phillips Christopher Butler
MARX Peter Singer POSTSTRUCTURALISM
MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers Catherine Belsey
MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope PREHISTORY Chris Gosden
MEDIEVAL BRITAIN PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
John Gillingham and Catherine Osborne
Ralph A. Griffiths PSYCHOLOGY
MODERN ART David Cottington Gillian Butler and Freda McManus
MODERN IRELAND PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns
Senia Pašeta QUANTUM THEORY
MOLECULES Philip Ball John Polkinghorne
MUSIC Nicholas Cook RACISM Ali Rattansi
MYTH Robert A. Segal THE RENAISSANCE
NATIONALISM Steven Grosby Jerry Brotton
THE NEW TESTAMENT AS RENAISSANCE ART
LITERATURE Kyle Keefer Geraldine A. Johnson
NEWTON Robert Iliffe ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway
NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner THE ROMAN EMPIRE
NINETEENTH-CENTURY Christopher Kelly
BRITAIN ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
Christopher Harvie RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
and H. C. G. Matthew RUSSIAN LITERATURE
NORTHERN IRELAND Catriona Kelly
Marc Mulholland THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close S. A. Smith
PAUL E. P. Sanders SCHIZOPHRENIA
PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone
SCHOPENHAUER TERRORISM Charles Townshend
Christopher Janaway THEOLOGY David F. Ford
SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer THE HISTORY OF TIME
SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt Leofranc Holford-Strevens
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
ANTHROPOLOGY THE TUDORS John Guy
John Monaghan and Peter Just TWENTIETH-CENTURY
SOCIALISM Michael Newman BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan
SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce THE VIKINGS Julian Richards
SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor WITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
Helen Graham THE WORLD TRADE
SPINOZA Roger Scruton ORGANIZATION
STUART BRITAIN John Morrill Amrita Narlikar
Available Soon:
AMERICAN POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and
PARTIES AND ELECTIONS David Herbert
L. Sandy Maisel GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds
ANTISEMITISM GERMAN LITERATURE
Steven Beller Nicholas Boyle
BESTSELLERS John Sutherland THE GREAT DEPRESSION
DOCUMENTARY FILM AND THE NEW DEAL
Patricia Aufderheide Eric Rauchway
THE EUROPEAN UNION MEMORY Jonathan Foster
(NEW EDITION) John Pinder MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter
and Simon Usherwood QUAKERISM Pink Dandelion
EXPRESSIONISM SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Katerina Reed-Tsocha Thomas Dixon
GAME THEORY Ken Binmore SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier
For more information visit our website
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Helen Morales
classical
mythology
A Very Short Introduction
1
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Helen Morales 2007
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First published as a Very Short Introduction 2007
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ISBN 978–0–19–280476–1
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Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain by
Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire
Contents
Acknowledgements xi
List of illustrations xii
Introduction 1
1 Without bulls there would be no Europe 5
2 Contexts, then and now 19
3 Gods and heroes 39
4 Metamorphoses of mythology 56
5 On the analyst’s couch 68
6 The sexual politics of myth 82
7 Mythology, spirituality, and the New Age 100
Conclusion 115
Timeline 118
References 124
Further reading 130
Index 139
