Greek Mythology Resource Page
Greek mythology refers to the entire corpus of fantastic and heroic stories used by ancient Greek people to make sense of the world in which they lived. Though they are studied now mainly from a literary and cultural perspective, for the people of the classical Greek world, they were the facts of religious life. Greek mythology was intricately bound up in notions of cosmology , the study of the origin and nature of the universe. Natural phenomena in the observable world were attributed to gods from the earliest times; this helped Greek people understand and cope with the natural world. As eras progressed, Greek thinkers developed an intricate, coherent view of the whole universe incorporating religious and philosophical elements. This same process went on across many ancient civilizations, but antique Greek thought devised one of the most intriguing mythological systems of early civilization. Because of the many qualities of Greek myth that help shed light on the religious, political, and scientific beliefs held in the ancient world, it is still eagerly investigated by scholars of today. The resources that follow describe Greek mythology, its stories, characters, and the cosmology and philosophy it contributed to.
- Greek Mythology from OpenUW: College-level course materials on Greek mythology provided by the University of Washington under its OpenUW project. Includes syllabi, lectures, and other supporting documents.
- Euhemerus and the Greek Myths: Compendium of academic articles by William Harris, professor emeritus at Middlebury College, providing in-depth discussions of various phases in Greek history and the relationship of mythological stories, characters, and conceits to these periods.
- Creation Myths: Academic comparison of creation myths in various traditions, including Greek, and their relevance to beliefs about the creation of the universe.
- Greek and Roman Gods: “Side-by-side” comparison of the attributes and character of various Greek and Roman deities.
- Introduction to Greek Mythology: Variety of Greek mythology resources intended for middle school students. Includes stories, plays, and facts all about Greek mythological characters.
- Greek Cosmology: Overview of ancient cosmology from Greece, Egypt, and several other nations. Includes information on the intersection between ancient science and mythology, including creation stories, from each area.
- History of Cosmology: Detailed introduction to the history of cosmology from the Neolithic period forward. Includes plenty of illustrations, diagrams, and facts on philosophies and thinkers who shaped cosmology over time.
- Introduction to Ancient Greek Mythology: Stories, gods, heroes, creatures, and other aspects of Greek mythology described in comparative perspective with Roman counterparts.
- The Internet Classics Archive: Archive of primary source documents on Greek mythology, such as the epics of Homer and various other classic tales. Provided as a free, publicly accessible service of MIT.
- Perseus Digital Library Project: More news, research, and primary source texts on the Greek and Roman world, including texts on mythology, philosophy, and ancient science, from the project at Tufts University.
- Classical Mythology: A series of informative articles discussing the similarities and differences of the Greek and Roman gods.
- Online Books by Thomas Bulfinch: Verified, full-text links for the works of Thomas Bulfinch, a celebrated 19th century scholar of Greek and Roman mythology. Site includes his seminal work, Mythology.
- Greek Mythology and Constellations: Information on Greek mythological stories that pertain to the constellations.
- The Cosmological Ideas of the Greeks: Cited, scholarly article on early Greek cosmological thought, hosted by Harvard. Originally published in Popular Astronomy.