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Article: Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths.(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- September 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths. By Mary Lefkowitz. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. Pp. xi, 288. $30.00.)
This is an important book that emphasizes the centrality of the divine in ancient Greek stories--at a time when the popular media tell these myths without gods. Mary Lefkowitz uses literary sources to point out the "true" role of the gods, which modern re-tellers of Greek myths often distort for their own purposes. She argues that the gods are central to ancient Greek myths; they do not care for humans unless a specific matter of worship, honor, or justice affects them or one of their mortal favorites. Humans do not ...