Gods, Goddesses, And Mythology

ISBN 10: 0761475591 ISBN 13: 9780761475590

Publisher: Cavendish Square, 2005

Synopsis

More than three hundred alphabetically arranged entries cover mythological beings, themes, and deities from around the world.

About this title

From Booklist:

In this latest addition to the substantial reference literature on mythology, more than 300 alphabetically arranged entries cover deities and mythological beings from around the world, although over half of the articles feature Greek and Roman entities. Ten of the 11 volumes focus on mythological characters and themes. Signed entries range from one to eight pages, summarizing the mythological story, contextualizing its importance, and providing the main sources of information. Frequent sidebar information supplements the main text, such as a description of Cheiron accompanying the entry on Achilles. Briefly captioned color art reproductions and photographs festoon nearly every page. Cross-references to related articles end most of the entries.

Twenty-eight entries focus on people and cultures; while largely dealing with Western classical civilizations, they do include Asian, Oceanic, and American regions. (It should be noted that Africa is confined to sub-Saharan areas; a separate article deals with Egypt, but the rest of North Africa is ignored.) These articles (usually eight pages in length) cover traditional and modern religions and beliefs and list the major deities for the regions. Thirty--eight articles focus on groups (e.g., Devils, Priests and priestesses) or themes (e.g., Animals, Dualism, Rites of passage). Usually the treatment is cross-cultural, with a clear effort to address non-European cultures.

Each volume has its own index, and volume 11 contains a cumulative index as well as six other brief thematic indexes, a list of major pantheons by major cultural region, a few deity family trees, and a glossary. Two bibliographies, one for general readers and another for younger readers, are arranged by region and suggest further reading. The titles that are listed tend to be general interest works rather than definitive scholarly volumes.

Resources from other publishers, such as ABC-CLIO's World Mythology series, cover non-Western mythologies in greater depth. Still, this set should attract readers because of its high visual content, manageable amount of information per entry, and cross-cultural thematic articles. Recommended for high-school and public libraries. Lesley Farmer
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up–Virtually every page in this set has a glossy, full-color photo of a stunning piece of relevant artwork, or a map. The layout is clean and inviting, the writing is clear, and the information, up-to-date. The more than 300 alphabetical signed entries vary in length, but most are two pages or more; each one has a bold headnote concisely summarizing key information and is followed by a brief bibliography and "see also" citations. In addition to entries on figures, there are essays on concepts ("Plants," "Paganism," "Ancestor Worship"). Articles on entire cultures, countries, and sometimes continents ("Africa," "Arabia," "Iran") are highlighted against yellow pages. In general, non-Indo-European myths are covered in these sections: major figures in Asian or other pantheons are not given separate entries, though some are cited under such general entries as "Creation Myths," "Animism," or "Polytheism." (The exceptions are the Mesoamerican gods: Kukulkan, Quetzalcoatl, and Tlaloc, and the Aztec, Olmec, and Maya cultures.) Other examples of imbalance: the mythology of Ireland gets more pages than the mythology of India. China and Korea each have individual cultural entries; there is none for Japan. Myths of the Inuit and West Coast peoples are underrepresented. Volume 11 includes 7 indexes, a pronunciation guide for selected names, short entries on members of the dozen major Western pantheons with family trees, a glossary, and more. All libraries would benefit from this appealing set, but should be aware of its preponderance of European myths.–Patricia D. Lothrop, St. George's School, Newport, RI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cavendish Square
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0761475591
• ISBN 13: 9780761475590
• Binding: Library Binding
• Edition number: 1
• Editor: Littleton C. Scott