Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology

Reviewed by Dshane Petersen, Associate Professor of Humanities and English, Community College of Denver on 3/21/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text covers a wide array of Greek myth, but I'd like to see more info. on theory and analytic practices within mythology. Maybe useful for a Junior High or High School class but not college.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The stories are more or less accurate tellings of the Greek myths, but do little to cover the many variations. And what little theory is discussed isn't up to date.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 1

Really doesn't mention any of the current trends in thought concerning mythology scholarship.

Clarity rating: 5

Easy to read.

Consistency rating: 3

Not sure consistency is a relevant issue. This is mostly a survey of Greek mythical stories.

Modularity rating: 5

Yes, well organized to use, perhaps, as a reader, to supplement another more scholarly text.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Easy to navigate.

Interface rating: 4

Nothing I found distracting.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No errors found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

Doesn't discuss any of the issues surrounding cultural appropriation that are common in mythological studies today.

Comments

As mentioned in another comment, this text might be useful as a reader in conjunction with another text more up to date on current theory and scholarship.

Reviewed by Jeana Jorgensen, Instructor, Butler University on 11/26/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This is a very comprehensive listing of the major figures of Greek mythology, complete with references to source texts, summaries of certain key narratives, and parallels to ancient Roman and Near Eastern mythology. Some minor deities were omitted - such as Eos, goddess of the dawn - but for the most part, readers will gain a thorough understanding of the contours of Greek mythology. In some ways, though the listing of gods and heroes was already quite extensive, the book would have benefited from more material, such as an introduction tying everything together (which would help out newcomers to the topic). Additionally, more attention to scholarship from related disciplines like folklore studies and religious studies would have provided a more well-rounded approach to myth (e.g., the section on the hero's life journey only references the work of Joseph Campbell, who while popular does not encompass the breadth of scholarship on heroic narratives; see for example the compilation by Alan Dundes, In Quest of the Hero, which brings together classic works by Otto Rank and Lord Raglan on patterns in the lives of famous heroes from folklore and mythology, many of them Greek or Roman).

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book does an excellent job of accurately summarizing and describing major events and figures in Greek mythology.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Since the source texts are so ancient, the book's content is not going to need much updating, unless the authors decide to add some supplementary material as recommended above, both to provide some useful framing for newcomers to the topic and to take into account relevant scholarship from related disciplines.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is written in clear, easy-to-understand language, though the style occasionally bounces between formal and informal language. There are a few short segments that seem like they came from the authors' notes when pairing this material with lesson plans, such as asking about the Aegis: "Can you explain what it means and how its current usage is connected to its mythological origin?" This is a bit jarring since it only appears in a few sections.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is overall consistent, though some entries are much shorter or longer than others as dictated by how important that figure was in Greek mythology and how many recorded narratives survived about them. The entries for deities are formatted differently from the entries for mortals (or those of half-mortals/half-gods...it gets complicated) in that they also have sections about that deity's symbols, epithets, Roman name(s), functions, and origins. This last part would have benefited from a little clarification, because every deity's origin story in the content of the myth (as in, the story told about that deity's birth, early life, etc.) differs from the textbook's take on their "Origin" (as in, possible historical and/or mythological underpinnings to their story, such as whether they're thought to have assimilated from the Near East into Greece).

Modularity rating: 4

On the one hand, this is a perfect example of modularity, as the individual sections can be easily excerpted if an instructor is doing a unit about certain deities or figures from Greek mythology. On the other hand, so many of the entries are cross-referenced with one another that it would make excerpting a little difficult (the instructor might have to replace links to other entries with brief footnotes if they decided to do a print version of the excerpts in a course reader). And this makes sense, because so many of the gods and other figures of Greek mythology are so densely intertwined. This is also a strong argument for assigning the book, whether in whole or in part, through the online portal to the e-book version, so that students can easily click around and follow links to other sections, even if those sections are not being assigned.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The deities and figures are listed alphabetically, which makes about as much sense as any other method of organizing a series of densely interlinked topics. One other way to do it would have been to separate the sections into gods, humans, and monsters, though this would create some problems for the demi-gods and the like, given that Greek mythology is full of hybridity.

Interface rating: 5

Based on the e-book version, the interface is easy to navigate and consistent across all the links.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors. However, the book seems to be coauthored and there was at least one "I" sentence.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Writing about Greek mythology necessitates writing about war, violence, rape, infanticide, and other potentially difficult or taboo topics. The authors seemed to handle these topics well for the most part, though sometimes rape was identified as such and sometimes it was called abduction or seduction instead.

Comments

To me, this text seems like it would be ideal when paired with other texts, or when framed by the instructor with a good deal of supplementary information and guidance. As a folklorist with knowledge of Greek mythology, I was able to navigate the text pretty easily, plus I learned a few new things, but I could imagine someone with absolutely no knowledge of Greek mythology feeling a bit overwhelmed by the "information dump" aspect to this guide. And it's not the textbook's fault - it is an online textbook for classical mythology after all - but I think this textbook would be the most helpful to students who are already on their way to having some experience with the figures from Greek mythology. For instance, it might make sense to assign this textbook as a companion to reading The Iliad or The Odyssey, or as in a course where there are tons of allusions to classical mythology in the various works being assigned, in order to help students gain a sense of the intertextual links in those allusions.