War in Greek Mythology

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Even though war, and conflict generally, feature prominently in Greek mythology, comparatively little has been written on the subject. This is surprising because wars and battles in Greek mythology are freighted with symbolism and laden with meaning and significance - historical, political, social and cultural. The gods and goddesses of war are prominent members of the Greek pantheon: the battles fought by and between Olympians, Titans, giants and Amazons, between centaurs and lapiths, were pivotal in Greek civilization. The Trojan War itself had huge and far-reaching consequences for subsequent Greek culture. The ubiquity of war themes in the Greek myths is a reflection of the prominence of war in everyday Greek life and society, which makes the relative obscurity of published literature all the more puzzling. This book redresses this by showing how conflict in mythology and legend resonated loudly as essential, existentialist even, symbols in Greek culture and how they are represented in classical literature, philosophy, religion, feminism, art, statuary, ceramics, architecture, numismatics, etymology, astronomy, even vulcanology. AUTHOR: Paul Chrystal studied Latin and Greek at the University of Hull and then specialized in Latin love poetry for his MPhil at the University of Southampton. He is the author of numerous classical books , including From Republic to Empire, Roman Military Disasters and Women at War in the Classical World. He has contributed as a feature writer to the Daily Express, BBC History Magazine, Ad Familiares, Minerva and All About History, and is frequently on BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Tees, BBC Radio Manchester and BBC World Service. He is a reviewer for and contributor to Classics for All. He lives in York where he is editor of York Historian. 50 colour and b/w illustrations

Reviews

"Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of an Appendix (War Deities in Greek Mythology), nine pages of Notes, a nine page Further Reading bibliography, and a nine page Index, "War in Greek Mythology" is an extraordinary and expertly presented study that will prove to be of interest and value to students, academia, and non-specialist general readers alike."-- "Midwest Book Review"

Author Bio

Paul Chrystal studied classics at the University of Hull and then specialised in Latin love poetry for his MPhil at the University of Southampton. He is the author of numerous classics books, including The Romans in the North of England (2019) , From Republic to Empire (2019), Roman Military Disasters (2015) and Women at War in the Classical World (2020). He has contributed as a feature writer to the Daily Express, BBC History Magazine, Ad Familiares, Minerva and All About History, and is frequently on BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Tees, BBC Radio Manchester and BBC World Service. He is a reviewer for and contributor to Classics for All and a contributor to the Classics section of OUPs Oxford Bibliographies Online; he is an editorial reviewer for Yale University Press Classics books. In 2019, he was guest speaker for Vassar College New Yorks London Programme in association with Goldsmith University.