A Brief History of the Greek Myths

Brief Histories

By: Stephen P. Kershaw

Narrated by: Cameron Stewart

Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths leads the listener through the vibrant stories of ancient Greece, from the origins of the gods through to the homecomings of the Trojan heroes. All the familiar narratives are here, along with some less familiar characters and motifs. In addition to the tales, the audiobook explains key issues arising from the narratives and discusses the myths and their wider relevance.

This long-overdue audiobook crystallizes three key areas of interest: the nature of the tales; the stories themselves; and how they have and might be interpreted. For the first time, it brings together aspects of Greek mythology only usually available in disparate forms - namely children's books and academic works.

©2012 Stephen P. Kershaw (P)2012 Audible Ltd

A summary and insight into Greek Mythology

This is really very well done, beautifully read and yet it can be tedious at points because it covers so much. It is more a lesson or a lecture than entertainement but quite worthwhile if you want to refresh your knowledge of Greek Mythology. It is very detailed (more than I wanted) but very well done.

excellent

I like mythology anyway, and Campbell's analysis etc., and so I enjoyed this though Kershaw doesn't go into Campbell's views. It is an excellent review of the history of Greek mythology, it's stories and heroes etc. But what I really like is that after relating each major myth, he then gives some info on theories of history, meaning, factuality, and talks a lot about the use of the myths in Greek drama and relates passages from the plays, and also traces some references to the myths in film, literature, painting etc. Now all we need is Robert Graves' Greek Myths and Joseph Campbell's lectures.

Monotonous speach

What did you like best about A Brief History of the Greek Myths? What did you like least?

The subject is fascinating , but the NARRATION is HIGHLY monotonous - highly dissapointed, would not recommend

What was most disappointing about Stephen P. Kershaw’s story?

narration is not inspiring

Too Scholarly for Me

Would you try another book from Stephen P. Kershaw and/or Cameron Stewart?

No, not from Stephen P. Kershaw. It was too dry and boring. I suppose that it's my fault for choosing something that could probably be used as a textbook (assuming it's accurate).
Cameron Stewart was fine.

Has A Brief History of the Greek Myths turned you off from other books in this genre?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I like the way the author explaines the way the different sources have details. For example, he'll say something like so-and-so either killed himself or was strangled to death by his enemy or went on a hunting expedition.