Myths & Legends: Stories Gods Heroes Monsters

By Philip Wilkinson

Book Overview

Explore global mythology with this comprehensive visual guide

Discover the world's greatest myths and legends - from Greek mythology to Norse mythology - in this comprehensive guide.

What did Japanese mythology say about the beginning of the Universe? How did Oedipus become the classic tragic hero in Greek mythology? Who brought about the origin of death in Maori mythology? Combining vivid retellings of famous legends with over 1,000 illustrations of characters, famous artworks, and artifacts, Myths and Legends makes it easier than ever before to understand the stories that are central to every culture.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756643090
• ISBN13: 9780756643096
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 2.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.7" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Good introduction to myths and legends around the world

The world of myths and legends gets the DK treatment as stories from many cultures are described and illustrated. This book can only be a smattering (or it would be 100,000 pages) but it is broken into regions on every occupied continent. Variations on the stories are covered, since some of them have more than one version. Creation myths are nearly everywhere, and there is a surprising number of great flood and underworld stories around the globe. Comparisons with stories covered in other places in the book are indexed at the bottom of most pages. The text can become difficult to read at times, as the font switches between large and small on the pages. But otherwise a good effort.