Antiquities

Reviews

I am very happy with this book, it has everything in it, there are illustrations, it is -huge- and has amazing information. Very glad I bought it.

Its obviously a book about Greek mythology so nothing to mess up but the book showed up without a scratch on it and it arrived fast

I love to transport myself to another time and place in some other world....ahhh what if all this was true? If it is I would have loved to been a part of it. Everyone interprets life how they see it and in this mythology book we see how others lived and believed. Be it true or fiction it didn't disappoint me.

This book is by far the best I have ever read in the field of Greek Mythology, even when the author takes the time to mention that no book can be truly complete this ones is as close as you can get in a single volume. Every theme is discused and explained, from archeology, topography, social customs and overall hystory and how they affected the creation and expansion of this stories. It is a joy to read, absolutely excellent, buy it now.

This book is the best volume I have seen as an introduction to Greek Mythology. The text is clear and the detail is deep, and the book is absolutely gorgeous. The amount and quality of the photographs in the book is excellent. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to know more about the subject.

Reviews

It makes the mean things the Greek Gods did in their stories seem almost nice and kid friendly. It really is packed full of all the things on Greek Gods

I wanted a book that gave an overview of Greek and Roman mythology. and also provided lists of various gods and their counterparts, i.e., the Greek god is ------ and the counterpart Roman god is ------. This book gives me what I wanted.

There are no pictures in this book so it's not much fun. The illustrations that are in the book are bad drawings of ancient sculptures. I'm returning it.

While this reference is quite basic, it is easy to follow the lineage and obtain a working knowledge of classical mythology from this book. HOWEVER, beware that there are several misprints that will confuse the reader, as well as references in the index to characters that do not appear on the mentioned page. Thus, the book is in dire need of a decent editor.

This "Everything" guide is a good book for younger readers and those who are only starting to get into mythology. At over 290 pages, it covers the major players and who's who of Roman and Greek mythology (as in Jupiter/Zeus, Venus/Aphrodite, the Trojan War, Odysseus, et al).However, more serious and 'seasoned' fans and scholars will likely prefer THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY by Kevin Osborn. We're not idiots, of course, but this book is meatier and has more background information on the various gods/goddesses, heroes and stories. At over 350 pages, it is 60 pages thicker than the "Everything" book and has smaller text and less white space. For instance, an entire chapter is devoted to the Trojan War hero Achilles while the "Everything" book only has a few pages, at the most.Fans who want more than classical mythology will want to explore MYTHOLOGY FOR DUMMIES by Christopher Blackwell. This book also delves into the Arthurian legend, Norse myths, Beowulf, as well as world mythology in general (Chinese, Jewish, Hindu, etc).These 3 books are all excellent. The choice lies on the readers' level of interests. I would recommend the "Everything" book to younger readers (middle or high schoolers, for instance) and those who just want the basics on classical mythology.

Reviews

Freke and Gandy commit a host of historical and logical errors in this work that leads to completely false conclusions. Whether you are a Christian or not, the issue with this book is its commission of numerous errors and assertions that have been proven false by scholarly historians. If you want to wrongly conclude and believe that the historical Jesus was nothing but a conglomeration of pagan gods, then this book is for you. But if you want the truth, then look elsewhere.

The necessity of faith is an important aspect of Christian doctrine, one which the authors of "The Jesus Mysteries" find fault with. The thesis they propound is that Jesus was a mythical figure based on pagan ideas and that Christians came to accept these myths literally. Their research supposedly proves this and negates the need for blind faith. Or does it? In order to believe that the original writers of the Gospels truly believed Jesus was a real person and that they were relating the story of His life and teachings as best they could, one needs to trust that they were not just trying to mislead people. Well, the same goes for "The Jesus Mysteries." Most people who read the book do not have access to all the texts quoted from. Thus, they can not easily refute the thesis. And so, if they aren't going to check up on the sources, they simply need to have faith in the authorship and scholarship of this work in order to accept the thesis. I'm not a Bible scholar and, like most people, am not going to check up on the sources. However, I have noted that many reviewers have found that the authors often misquoted their sources, took their sources out of context, and conveniently left out important details in order to support their thesis. One critic, James Hannam, pointed out that the gem depicted on the cover is considered to be a forgery! These things, for me, shed a lot of doubt on the accuracy of the "facts" presented. The possible motives for why the authors of "The Jesus Mysteries" might not have been entirely upfront are obvious to me. However, it is not as obvious to me why the authors of the Gospels would deliberately spread falsehoods. According to "The Jesus Mysteries," John was a Gnostic who did not really believe Christ had appeared in the flesh. When I read the Gospel of John, I don't see anything that would lead me to agree. In John 21:24 John says emphatically that he "is the disciple who spoke of these things, the one who wrote them down; and we know that what he said is true." Now, either John was a really bad person or he was really trying to tell the truth. Since his works are concerned with goodness, righteousness and getting in touch with God, I have trouble seeing him as a really bad person. I don't know what his motive would be either. A free trip to Patmos (the island where he was exiled)? Despite its flaws, "The Jesus Mysteries" does bring up a lot of interesting and valid points and it is an enjoyable read. Anyone who considers him or herself a Christian will probably end up wondering how far modern Christianity has departed from what it was supposed to be and perhaps even challenge traditional Christian beliefs. I personally don't believe we can take everything in the Bible literally and still see it as the work of a perfect and loving Creator. We absolutely have to account for human error. Yet we can still see the Bible as divinely inspired. What's important is that we never blindly accept what we are told and are always willing to ask ourselves the hard questions. This book helps us ask them. I found "The Jesus Mysteries" reassuring. It really couldn't "prove" much other than that there are many inconsistencies in the Bible. We can never know exactly what went down 2,000 years ago. Nobody can, except maybe the people who were there. We'll just have to come to conclusions for ourselves. And maybe that's ok.

A very revealing book. Appears to be very well researched & alot of facts brought to the table. If youre done with your sugar coated Christian or religious lifestyle, youve got to read this book! Socrates said " A life un-examined is not worth living"- You MUST question what you believe in order to grow! Trust me, if you keep reading books that support your current belief system, you'll never grow & your truly not using the brain that God gave you to use. This books yields the power for to to gain a new perspective & insight through well documented & written facts. It certainly opened up my closed eyes to consider new & different possibilities!

This book gives a wealth of evidence to the argument that Jesus was not an actual person, but a mythological composite of characteristics from the Pagan mythology. I learned that "Pagans" were not demonic barbarians, as the later Christians tried to characterize them, but some of the most thoughtful, compassionate thinkers of their time and that Christianity literally stole their philosophy and even many of their rituals. After reading the book, I have a new understanding as to the politics behind the promotion of a religion and how those in power create their own realities in order to sway the masses.

Finally somebody has the guts to present facts of the origins of Christianity without fear! I've never read anything more revolutionary and informative in my life! What the most amazing thing about this book is that Freke and Gandy back up every single thing they say with full documentation and sources, that they leave little to be doubted. All the while I was reading, I felt my world crumbling in a uproar of fear, uncertainty, shock and dismay! ...What I had thought was challenged...What I had learnt was challenged...What I felt was challenged...What I knew was challenged... This book has opened my eyes as no other book has ever done before, and is ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSIBLE for every single person who considers themself a Christian, or who want to understand the origins of the Christian religion. I could go on and wish I could, but there are over 200 other reviews to read up on this book! YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK WITHOUT A HESITATION OF A DOUBT!!!...but know, you will be challenged to the very marrow of you bones!