Books To Read

Some of the stories told by the Ancient Greeks are still very well known today, which is a testament to the quality of the stories that were told. To this day, not only are the stories still known, but Greek myths are still used as the inspiration for films today. There are plenty of Greek mythology books which contain collections of different stories for you to read.

Two of the most famous Greek myths are the stories surrounding the Trojan War and the adventures of Odysseus- these myths have been passed down from two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Whilst attempting to summarise these two enormous texts would be pretty much impossible, there are plenty of good translations and films available that will tell you the story.

The Labours of Heracles

Many pieces of mythology are stories based around heroes, and the 12 labours of Heracles is a great example of this. Heracles or Hercules, according to the myth was driven mad for by the Goddess Hera and slew his six children. In order to seek penance, he decided to serve King Eurystheus for 12 years, and in the end he had to perform 12 incredibly difficult tasks, such as capturing the Cretan Bull and cleaning the Augean Stables.

Theseus and the Minotaur

This myth tells the story of Theseus, a prince of Athens who offered to join a tribute that was sent to Crete as a tribute to King Minos. In Crete was a labyrinth containing a monster, half human and half bull. The tributes were sent into the labyrinth never to be seen again, but Theseus managed to sneak a sword into the labyrinth along with a ball of string, which allowed him to find his way out of the labyrinth once he had killed the Minotaur.

Jason and the Argonauts

To gain his rightful throne, Jason was old that he had to find the golden fleece, in the land of Colchis. Jason realised that it would be an arduous task, so he created a crew of great heroes and called them the Argonauts, after their boat, the Argo. They had to pass through many difficult challenges, including killing Harpies and sailing through a pair of clashing cliffs. However when he arrived at Colchis he had yet more challenges to perform in order to get the fleece itself, including defeating the dragon that guarded it and ploughing a field with fire breathing oxen. Of all the myths, this is a great one as it includes plenty of interesting characters, particularly the Argonauts themselves.