The Greek Myths

This is the best collection of the Greek Myths I believe, and of course covers the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, the direct inspiration for my book. In the classical myth the poet and musician Orpheus loses his love, Eurydice, and sings his way into Hades, overcoming all opposition, until even Hades agrees to let him have Eurydice back in the living world, so long as he does not look back at her until returned there. Once in daylight he does look back, and loses her forever as she hasn't stepped into daylight too. However, unlike Orpheus my young hero… show more.

Whilst there have been hundreds of books published about Greek myths, for me this is the one that appeals to my peculiar nature the most. Although the work has been heavily criticised by many academics, what I like is that Graves combines scholarly detail with the skill and imagination of the poet. Hence the characters are made to live and breathe again, as if the stories had been first recorded last month rather than thousands of years ago.  

I first became aware of Robert Graves at university when I studied his war poetry but his novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, captured my imagination especially after their famous adaptation into a TV series starring Derek Jacobi and John Hurt. When I began researching the Etruscans, I discovered Graves’ two-volume Greek Myths with his in-depth examination of the legends of the classical world. Reading Graves gave me insight into the difference between ‘myth’ and ‘cult’ which proved invaluable when researching the shared pantheons of the Romans, Greeks, and Etruscans. It also opened my eyes to the fact… show more.