Sense of History's Reviews > Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold

In this review, I address the problematic methodology behind the retelling of myths in general, and Greek myths in particular. The text largely aligns with my review of Robin and Kathryn Waterfield's book, The Greek Myths: Stories of the Greek Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold.

The main sources for Greek mythology, as Fry points out, are Homer (8th century BCE), Ovid (1st century BCE), and the (so-called) pseudo-Appolodorus (probably 2nd century CE). I don’t know if it’s starting to dawn on you, but that means that the written sources of the Greek myths are stretched over a time period of nothing less than a thousand years. And if you then add that a large number of the mythical stories in Ancient Greece almost certainly circulated long before Homer, in the so-called oral tradition, then that stretch becomes even larger.

What I mean is that the body of Greek myths was a very complex and, above all, very lively cultural entity. It "lived" across a geographical area that perhaps had an overarching Hellenic identity, but at the same time also very distinct regional characteristics. And —above all—it continued to live on and express itself in various (oral and written) forms over a period of perhaps a millennium and a half (roughly from the 10th century BCE to at least the 2nd century CE, and perhaps even later). Versions were regularly written down that reflected the characteristics of that particular time and place.

It is therefore not surprising that quite a few variations of the same Greek stories have come down to us. I always have to raise my eyebrows when I read a modern retelling of the Greek myths that gives the impression of offering a coherent whole, as if it were "canonized" at some point, to use a scholarly term (which also applies to the Bible, for example). No, on the contrary, virtually every Greek myth has several variants that differ from each other, usually in detail, but sometimes also in essence. This is most evident when you compare different editions of retellings, as I did with this one by Fry, and the slightly earlier one by Robin and Kathryn Waterfield (2011), the Greek Myths.

To be clear: in this superb book Fry (and also the Waterfields in theirs) clearly indicates that there indeed are multiple sources and therefore also different versions. But, like every reteller, he ultimately made a choice. I won't pass judgment on that, as I'm not at all qualified do so. But perhaps it is best that the fascinated reader is well aware of the enormous diversity that lies behind these apparently unambiguous stories. And, as a consequence, how great the impact is of the editor/reteller of these myths. That may be problematic (how are we sure he/she made the right choice?), the bright side of this is that these myths can go on to live forever, in ever-changing forms.