Book/ podcast reccommendations for Classics?

I’m taking Latin A level in September (going into year 12) and am interested in doing Classcis at university maybe, but I have very limited knowledge of mythology, which I know is a big part of the subject. No mythology was covered in the Latin GCSE except from time to time a myth/ character being mentioned, so I’d like to deepen my knowledge independently. Any book or podcast reccommendations would be appreciated!!

Reply 1

lemonpepsi222

Original post by ejhhh

Hi! I have just completed my Classics A-level, I will say I was much like you, not knowing many mythological stories and mainly interested in the history, I would recommend the in our time podcast and look out for the classics discussion and the scholars who lecture, If you want to read the odyssey and the illiad and the aenied go for it but I studied those and they aren't exactly a fun fairytale (although maybe look at summaries as they are quite important epics)😅 look at authors like Natalie Haynes, stephen fry, mary beard etc and maybe look at the BBC documentaries as well they have a lot! I will also say if u wanna know like bog standard mythology get the osborne myth for children book, seems stupid but its all in there. And finally don't worry too much, there's lots I still don't know but that's the beauty of learning and when you go to uni yes it might be intimidating but if someone references a myth you don't know you can always look at it after its been mentioned!! :smile:

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by ejhhh

I think just read Latin and Greek texts in translation - that's how you'll generally encounter the "myths" in practice anyway I would expect. Lots of material you could read through that way! I don't think it's typical to have a systematic study in the context of "mythology" outside of optional material, you just normally come across the material as you're reading the texts themselves (as you've experienced yourself).

From what I've read across a couple of modules I took and/or audited relating to (primarily Greek) myth(/texts), the following provide different representations of the Greek gods and associated activities (such as rites and cults):

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Euripides: The Bacchae, Medea, Ion

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Sophocles: Oedipus Rex

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Aristophanes: The Clouds, The Frogs

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Hesiod: Theogony

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Homer: Various parts of The Iliad and The Odyssey

I'm not as familiar with the Latin texts but you may find the following worth exploring?

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Ovid: Metamorphoses

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Seneca: Medea, Oedipus Rex

I'm also aware there's a Latin learning textbook called "Latin through Ovid" or similar which uses original text passages from Ovid to teach Latin in a gradated way, which may be particularly helpful and interesting to explore that material in the original language while still learning :smile:

Outside of that there's probably some stuff you could read about social theoretic/literary critical approaches to myth and mythemes. I think there was an essay by Levi-Strauss (or maybe just an extract?) we read about structuralist approaches to the myth of Prometheus I think (?), and one on rites of passage in The Frogs by Moorton which might be interesting too in terms of understanding how scholars approached these texts and topics?

Also might be interesting to read about some of the parallels between Theogony with (the much earlier) Ancient Near Eastern (Sumerian) myth!

@elilast is an actual classicist (graduate I think now!) though and can probably provide some more (or more focused) suggestions (as I've just kind of encountered things as I went in a broader comparative manner in relation to other areas I study :redface:

Reply 3

elilast

@ejhhh -

@artful_lounger thanks for the mention.
Yep, I’ve just finished a degree in classics …and I never got that into mythology so it’s not a requirement! I would second the above comments - yes, you will need to know some for literature in particular, but also art and history. But ‘mythology’ is not really an area of study in and of itself. I recommend Stephen Fry’s Mythos, the podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby, and Helen Morales’ Very Short Introduction to Classical Mythology. There are also some interesting modern myth retellings like Circe (Madeleine Miller), The Bull From the Sea (Mary Renault), or Girl Meets Boy (Ali Smith).

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is great for Roman interpretations of myths. Hesiod’s Theogony is interesting for some early Greek interpretation of the stories of the gods.

But if you don’t enjoy these stories, I don’t recommend trying to learn them just for the sake of it. Mythology is mostly important in the context of something else (like literature) - so find a subject area that you enjoy, whether that’s literature, archaeology, history, art, linguistics or reception, and read more around that. (I am happy to give recommendations if you want!) I personally wouldn’t say you need much more than the basic outlines as in eg Percy Jackson before starting a classics degree.

Reply 4

dilllydilly

get hold of the oxford dictionary of classical studies like from a library or find a way to sneak into the online edition. amazing long entries on every possible area of classical studies and all the names of mythological characters and their backstories