Greek Mythology - Katerina Servi

Greek myth owes its immortality - often in many varied versions
- to the fact that it was cultivated for at least fourteen
centuries in the places where it was born by a host of epic,
lyric and dramatic poets, who wished to make of it a vehicle for
the ideals of the Greek world. Many typical features of the Greek
spirit are imprinted on the myth - a tendency towards
competition, the affirmation of life, the worship of beauty, and
the interest of the Greeks in man as man, leading to the creation
of an idealised picture of him, which served to promote rules of
life of general authority.A great many people from one end of the
earth to the other have a mythology of gods and heroes. It is,
however, only ancient Greek mythology which, thanks to its
quality, has transcended every geographical and chronological
frontier and has become a possession of the human spirit as a
whole.The purpose of this volume is to provide a Mythology which
is not addressed only to specialists - though without losing its
scholarly character - but which will be accessible to a wide
range of the public; a Mythology which will be read with pleasure
by children and adults, by scholars and intellectuals, but also
by ordinary people who, without any interest in the specialist
questions of academic research, wish to be entertained by
discovering what stories the ancient Greeks told about their gods
and heroes and to enjoy in a straightforward manner the beauty of
the ancient myths.