Mythos - Stephen Fry

Both Stephen Fry’s Mythos and Heroes have been on my wishlist for ages so I was really pleased to receive them for Christmas. I have highly enjoyed reading Greek mythology retellings over the past couple of years (check out my last post to see my challenge for 2021 to read the big boys, The Iliad and The Odyssey), and I’m a big fan of Stephen Fry as well as his podcasts, so I thought these books would be right up my street.

This book, Mythos, is the first in Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology series, and gives a brilliant overview of the Greek gods and goddesses and their origin. We learn about the birth of Athena, the many lovers of Zeus and the quarrels and tribulations of siblings (who are sometimes also lovers!). Fry has a fantastic way of making complex mythology seem accessible to the layman, and his witty commentary makes for relaxing yet educational reading. He narrates as though he is chatting directly to you (much like in his podcasts), and his ‘paraphrasing’ of dialogue between characters is really hilarious.

The interesting thing about the Greek gods, as Fry points out himself as one of the reasons he finds the mythology so fascinating, is that none of the stories claim that the deities are perfect. Even the beautiful Adonis or lovestruck couple Eros and Psyche had their flaws, and this seems to be an obligatory quality. Of course, some are much more flawed than others! (The story about Kronos devouring his children fresh from the womb is pretty harrowing!)

The book reads both as a collection of stories as well as a lecture or class transcript (if it was a lecture, I’d be there!), and I imagine the audiobook (if narrated by Stephen Fry, of course) would be highly enjoyable and entertaining. I also appreciate how Fry would try to help readers along with the complex character list by referring back to an earlier story to remind us who is who - this was super helpful as there was so much information packed into this text. I’m excited to read Heroes, which is sitting on my shelf, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it just as much as this one!