ApollodorusCritiques

Basically, I woke up one day and decided that I wanted to read about Greek mythology. I figured I would give these volumes a try, since they seem to be a no-nonsense re-telling of the whole of Greek mythology.

According this edition's translator, J. G. Frazer, this text was originally attributed to Apollodorus of Athens, who was born around 180 B.C., but the text was actually written by someone else during the first or second century A.D. This edition is heavily annotated, and you get the original Greek text and English translation side-by-side. Even if, like me, you can't read ancient Greek, it still looks cool, and makes you look smart when people see you reading it.

Informative.

BIBLIOTECA DE APOLODORO
Apolodoro de Atenas es para nosotros un perfecto desconocido, pero le debemos este tratado de mitografía, probablemente compuesto en el siglo I o II d.C., que constituye una útil y esclarecedora catalogación de una gran cantidad de material legendario.

En la elaboración del compendio el autor muestra su exhaustivo conocimiento de la tradición literaria que trasmitió el repertorio mítico. No tiene pretensiones estilísticas, pruritos filosóficos ni afectaciones poéticas, sino que con buena y transparente prosa se aplica a narrar las vicisitudes de dioses y héroes, con sus genealogías; los nombres se suceden y entrelazan en un entramado de mitos que transmite una visión arcaica del mundo divino y humano.

Se trata de una rigurosa obra de erudición sobre un material que, por su lejanía en el tiempo, ha dejado de formar parte de las creencias y la religión, para integrarse en el bagaje cultural y en una herencia ya literaria. Escrita con notable precisión didáctica, la Biblioteca es un excelente manual de mitología.
Traducción y notas de M. Rodríguez de Sepúlveda.

Apollodorus is good to have, but boring to read.

You want to know where all the ancient Greek gods are described? How about the Heroes? They are all here in this two volume set. Appolodorus compiled the Greek myths here. Undoubtedly used by all subsequent (post 140 AD) compilers of ancient myth, this is the source. Although Hesiod and Pindar (and possibly Ovid) were his sources, you would have to read each of them to find but a quarter of the material on mythology.

You want to know where all the ancient Greek gods are described? How about the Heroes? They are all here in this two volume set. Appolodorus compiled the Greek myths here. Undoubtedly used by all subsequent (post 140 AD) compilers of ancient myth, this is the source. Although Hesiod and Pindar (and possibly Ovid) were his sources, you would have to read each of them to find but a quarter of the material on mythology.

This book is now believed to have been compiled rather later than originally thought, probably in the 1st century BC. As a short summary of the whole of Greek myth, the Library is more of a reference work than an enjoyable read.½

I love greek mythology, am a big fan of Alexander and 300 movies cause of it. But it's really quite beautiful to read and to have an understanding of how they thought back then.

Start, if not here, then in the general vicinity of this... If you are going to be serious about Greek myth, for whatever reason, go back to the texts as far as possible...

Extensive notes that explain without tyring to "explain away" inconsistencies, and a good introduction.

A must have for any serious reader.

Not the edition to get.

"2012-10-26 12:00:00"