The universe and Greek Heros ~~~

" The Universe, the Gods, and Men " 

In this enchanting retelling of Greek myth, Jean-Pierre Vernant combines his deep knowledge of the subject with an original storytelling style. Beginning with the creation of Earth out of Chaos, Vernant continues with the castration of Uranus, the war between the Titans and the Olympian gods, the wily ruses of Prometheus and Zeus, and the creation of Pandora, the first woman. His narrative takes readers from the Trojan War to the voyage of Odysseus, from the story of Dionysus to the terrible destiny of Oedipus to Perseus's confrontation with the Gorgons.

Jean-Pierre Vernant has devoted himself to the study of Greek mythology. In recounting these tales, he unravels for us their multiple meanings and brings to life the beloved figures of legend whose narratives lie at the origin of our civilization. With remarkable psychological acuity, Vernant presents a picture of the world as the Greeks understood it. The relationship between the human and the divine -- realms that have always been intimately connected -- and their place within a world of potent natural forces are evoked effortlessly in a narrative that retains the magical quality of myth and reads with the compelling momentum of a good novel.

In my opinion, you need to first have some knowledge of the Greek Gods in order to connect all the stories together smoothly without flipping back and forth the reference for the names. He not only tells the story of the gods and also the Ancient history of man and Greece, so that we have the opportunity to travel through time to explore the inner minds of these heroes and monsters.  In addition, the author provides an in depth thoughts on how the Ancient Greeks perceived the creation of the universe and the philosophy they withheld, which was not far beyond the Ancient Indian and Buddhist thinking. For instance, he said, there are three categories of the perception of the time: first is  the Eternity, with no beginning and end and no consistent perception of good and bad; secondly, the cycle of lives as human beings and the whole phenomenon, which consists endless cycles of birth, growth, deterioration and death; thirdly, in  the gods world, everything is created by mind and their life span is at least 500 times longer than man. 

Therefore, to have a clear diagram of the Greek Ancient Mythology, I recommend to read the other interesting book as a complimentary, " Heros, Gods, and Monster of Greek Mythology" , in which portrays every god's characteristic and related stories through a list of different stories. Besides, the audio reading was fantastic, as the narrator was actually telling a dramatic story to children. It was very entertaining !