Larousse Greek and Roman Mythology

All cultures have myths, legends and folklore, but in Greece and Rome they reached a zenith of evolution inseparable from religion and the arts. Mythology remains alive today because it is so close to human reality. Thus Greek and Roman gods are not abstract entities, but beings imbued with qualities and faults all too similar to those of humans. LAROUSSE GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY presents the lives of these heroes, their journeys, loves, hates, the dangers that they encountered and their often bizarre yet poetic transformations. Other entries explain inventions (Talos and the saw), early cultivation (Triptolemus and Demeter for wheat, Dionysus for wine), and first discoveries. Such concepts as friendship, birth, death, and deluge are included as well. These relationships and themes in mythology have been explored and developed in art, music, literature, morality, the humanities, and even the sciences. Meanings and associations are drawn with major countries, seas, cities, rivers, and mountains emerging from myths into modern reality in the arts and atlases of the world. Arranged alphabetically, each entry includes the fundamentals about each subject. In addition, an extensive special index gives all entries in which major subjects are treated as well as depicted in illustration. The numerous illustrations with accompanying captions extend the text even further. General readers and students alike will find this work useful as a reference and absorbing reading in its own right.