Button Books £12.99
ISBN: 978-1-78708-179-6
www.buttonbooks.co.uk
The stories of the gods and heroes still resonate today. Plays that are around 2,500 years old are still performed regularly, and big Hollywood blockbusters as well as TV series use these as source material. What is it about them that have managed to survive to today whilst the ancient Greek world is just a series of impressive ruins.
Inside Factology’s latest release we will meet the gods and even their ancestors – did you know that Cronos had a penchant for eating his children? The Trojan wars get a lot of coverage as well as Odysseus journey with his men. But what of Homer the mysterious author of the Iliad? Maybe he was a prisoner, a blind man or even a woman.
The standard format of 98 pages, a glossary (Ambrosia anyone), index and the big quiz with questions at the end of each section, is followed. Most topics have a two page spread all in bright colour with some amazing graphics, and a few colour photos (parthenon frieze, the real Mt Olympus and yes – ruins!). The 12 labours of Hercules actually take 4 pages so the format is not too rigid.
Even if you have studied these at school there is bound to be something in here that you didn’t know before. Of particular note are the brief but detailed notes on key gods and a retelling of the Icarus story to boot.
The important thing to realise is that of all the ancient civilisations it is the Greeks that are most relevant today and the stories that were created in those times are as vibrant as when they were first written.