Gods of the Greeks

Rating:
Summary: Gods, Graves, Scholars...and Kerenyi...
Review: I could not pass up the opportunity to pun seriously with the title of a book by C.W. Ceram about archaeology. For that title shows how much I value this work by C. Kerenyi, but also the work by Robert Graves entitled *The Greek Myths.* If these two works, along with Kerenyi's *The Heroes of the Greeks* are read in tandem with Nietzsche's *The Birth of Tragedy* (I prefer the Dover edition with translation by Clifton Fadiman)... then wondrous insights into the mind and soul (psyche) and the spirit (pneuma) begin to be possible.

Kerenyi's "Introduction" to this volume says it all...so I would like to quote the most eloquent and insightful part:

This book owes its origin to the conviction, shared by the publishers and the author, that the time has come to write a Mythology of the Greeks for ADULTS: that is to say, not only for specialists concerned with classical studies, with the history of religion, or with ethnology; still less for children, for whom in the past the classical myths were either remodelled or, at least, carefully selected so as to accord with the viewpoints of a traditional education; but simply for adults whose primary interest -- which may entail an interest in any of the branches of learning mentioned above -- is in the study of human beings.

The contemporary form that this interest takes is, of course, an interest in psychology. And, as a great exponent of modern humanistic thought has admitted, it is precisely psychology that "contains within itself an interest in myth, just as all creative writing contains within itself an interest in psychology."

These words were spoken by in 1936 by Thomas Mann in his lecture on "Freud and the future." Whilst paying tribute to the services rendered by the psychologist of the Unconscious, of the DEEPER LEVELS OF THE SOUL, the great writer did, in fact look beyond him into the future. He depicted with unsurpassable clarity the spiritual situation in which the author of this book, for his part, finds justification for his mythological work. Psychology's thrusting back into the childhood of the individual soul, is to quote his words, "at the same a thrusting back into the childhood of mankind -- into the primitive and the mythical. Freud himself recognised that all natural science, medicine and psychotherapy had been for him a life-long and tortuous return to his primary youthful passion for the history of man, for the origins of religion and morals. The association of the words 'psychology' and 'deeper levels' has also a chronological significance: the depths of the human soul are also 'Primordial Times', that deep 'Well of Time' in which Myth has its home and from which the original norms and forms of life are derived. For Myth is the foundation of life; it is the timeless pattern, the religious formula to which life shapes itself, inasmuch as its charac- teristics are a reproduction of the Unconscious. There is no doubt about it, the moment when the story-teller acquires the mythical way of looking at things, the gift of seeing the typical features of characteristics and events" --

so revealingly, states the author of *Joseph and his Brethren* --

"that moment marks a beginning in his life. It means a peculiar intensification of his artistic mood, a new serenity in his powers of perception and creation. This is usually reserved for the later years of life; for whereas in the life of mankind the mythical represents an early and primitive sate, in the life of the individual, it represents a late and mature one." * * * If the entire mythological legacy of the Greeks is freed from the superficial psychology of previous presentations, and is revealed in its original context as material *sui generis* and having its own laws, then, as an inevitable result, this mythology will itself have the same effect as the most direct psychology -- the effect, indeed, of an activity of the psyche, externalised in images. A similar direct externalisation of the psyche is to be found, of course, IN DREAMS. The degree of directness of the images presented in dreams and in mythology is, to say the least, very much the same. In this respect, dreams and mythology are nearer to one another than dreams and poetry [read Nietzsche...and also Henry David Thoreau, in *A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers* for further insightful correlation of the interfacing between mythology and dream seeing]. For this reason the author [Kerenyi], in his *Introduction to a Science of Mythology (London, 1951, p. 32), written in collaboration with Professor [C.G.] Jung, considered himself justified in speaking of the "individual mythology" of modern men and women as a synonym for their psychology. With equal justification any great mythology might -- if one chose to ignore its artistic aspects -- be styled a "collective psychology." --"Introduction." by C. Kerenyi; *The Gods of the Greeks."

This wondrous presentation of the myths concerning the gods and divine spirits of the Greeks, along with a companion volume dealing with *The Heroes of the Greeks,* represent --with Robert Graves' *The Greek Myths* invaluable sources of insight and wonder, as well as scholarly source materials for anyone who has ever been inspired -- or has desired to be inspired -- by the profound psychological, metaphysical and aesthetic insights which powered the creative minds and spirits of the ancient Hellenic dramatists, artists, and thinkers. Dig deeply...breathe deeply...take in the breath from the spirits of the ancient gods...and "Know thyself."

Rating:
Summary: The Greek Gods in their shining glory, and darkest gloom.
Review: Never have I read a book quite like this one. This is not a book full of retelling of myths, but a book full of detailed info on the relevance of these gods to the ancient Greeks. Information on their worship, their origins prior to Olympian times, and many of the contradicting stories of their births, and how these stories relate to the times from which they came. If you love mythology, but are curious as to the more down to earth aspects of these gods, read this, and you will find yourself seeing the gods as more than just the vulgar fictions of a primitive society. Perhaps you will even begin to see them as they should be seen, as Gods.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Mythology book!
Review: This may be the most thorough and most readable book I've read on mythology, and I've read dozens. Currently, I'm using it as the primary source for the myth course I teach. It provides information about gods that most other basic myths neglect, often fascinating as well as significant. Get it now - it's been remaindered late in 2000 and will soon be out of print.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Mythology book!
Review: This may be the most thorough and most readable book I've read on mythology, and I've read dozens. Currently, I'm using it as the primary source for the myth course I teach. It provides information about gods that most other basic myths neglect, often fascinating as well as significant. Get it now - it's been remaindered late in 2000 and will soon be out of print.