Those who are able to read Homer in Greek have ample recourse to commentaries, but the vast majority who read the Iliad in translation have not been so well served—the many available translations contain few, if any, notes. For these readers, Malcolm M. Willcock provides a line-by-line commentary that explains the many factual details, mythological allusions, and Homeric conventions that a student or general reader could not be expected to bring to an initial encounter with The Iliad.
Who's Who in Classical Mythology is an indispensable guide to all the Greek and Roman mythological characters, from major deities such as Athena and Bacchus, to the lesser-known wood nymphs and centaurs. Also included, of course, are the heroic mortals, figures such as Jason, Aeneas, Helen, Achilles, and Odysseus, all brought to life in a fascinating series of portraits drawn from a wide variety of ancient literary sources. Each entry offers a small window into a timeless mythological world, one filled with epic battles, bizarre metamorphoses, and all sorts of hideous and fantastic monsters.
Gardens of the Gods: Myth, Magic and Meaning in Horticulture
Gardens of the Gods reveals the symbolic language of garden design, exploring the gardens of China with their moon gates and immortal rocks, the Zen gardens of Japan, and the paradise gardens of Islam. It even looks at Renaissance Italy with its richly mythological imagery, the landscaped parks of England, and the gardens of New Harmony in the US. Striking modern examples include the Tarot Garden of the sculptress Niki de Saint Phalle. Beautifully illustrated, Gardens of the Gods also includes a chapter with suggestions for creating your own "garden of meaning" and a selected catalog of plants with symbolic or mythological associations.
A Discourse for the Holy Grail in Old French Romance
The Holy Grail made its first literary appearance in the work of the twelfth-century French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, and continues to fascinate authors and audiences alike. This study, supported by a theoretical framework based on the psychoanalytic works of Jacques Lacan and the cultural theory of Slavoj Zizek, aims to strip the legend of much of the mythological and folkloric association that it has acquired over the centuries, arguing that the Grail should be read as a symptom of disruption and obscurity rather than fulfilment and revelation.
From the earliest days of oral history to the present, the vampire myth persists among mankind's deeply-rooted fears. This encyclopedia, with entries ranging from "Abchanchu" to "Zmeus," includes nearly 600 different species of historical and mythological vampires, fully described and detailed.
