Ken Dowden is Professor of Classics and Director of the Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of Uses of Greek Mythology (1992), European Paganism (2000), and Zeus (2006). Niall Livingstone is a Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of Isocrates’ Busiris (2001) and, with Gideon Nisbet, a forthcoming book on Greek epigrams.

"Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." (Choice, 1 November 2011) "This collection of twenty eight articles on interpreting Greco-Roman culture presents a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to examining Greek mythology within the broader context of the intellectual and cultural development of the ancient world and provides an in depth discussion of the influence of traditional stories on the development of a shared historical culture." (Book News, 1 August 2011)

• List of Illustrations viiiList of Maps xiList of Tables xiiNotes on Contributors xiiiTo the Reader xviiiAcknowledgements xxiGlossary xxiiAbbreviations xxvApproaching Myth 11 Thinking through Myth, Thinking Myth Through 3Ken Dowden and Niall LivingstonePart I Establishing the Canon 252 Homer’s Use of Myth 27Françoise Létoublon3 Telling the Mythology: From Hesiod to the Fifth Century 47Ken Dowden4 Orphic Mythology 73Radcliffe G. Edmonds iiiPart II Myth Performed, Myth Believed 1075 Singing Myth: Pindar 109Ian Rutherford6 Instructing Myth: From Homer to the Sophists 125Niall Livingstone7 Acting Myth: Athenian Drama 141Jean Alaux8 Displaying Myth: The Visual Arts 157Susan Woodford9 Platonic ‘Myths’ 179Penelope Murray10 Myth in History 195Alan GriffithsPart III New Traditions 20911 Myth and Hellenic Identities 211Fritz Graf12 Names and Places: Myth in Alexandria 227Anatole Mori13 The Myth of Rome 243Matthew Fox14 Displaying Myth for Roman Eyes 265Zahra Newby15 The Myth that Saves: Mysteries and Mysteriosophies 283Ken Dowden16 Myth and Death: Roman Mythological Sarcophagi 301Zahra Newby17 Myth in Christian Authors 319Fritz GrafPart IV Older Traditions 33918 The Indo-European Background to Greek Mythology 341Nicholas J. Allen19 Near Eastern Mythologies 357Alasdair Livingstone and Birgit Haskamp20 Levantine, Egyptian, and Greek Mythological Conceptions of the Beyond 383Nanno Marinatos and Nicolas WyattPart V Interpretation 41121 Interpreting Images: Mysteries, Mistakes, and Misunderstandings 413Susan Woodford22 The Myth of History: The Case of Troy 425Dieter Hertel23 Women and Myth 443Sian Lewis24 Mythology of the Black Land: Greek Myths and Egyptian Origins 459Ian Rutherford25 Psychoanalysis: The Wellspring of Myth? 471Richard H. Armstrong26 Initiation: The Key to Myth? 487Ken Dowden27 The Semiotics and Pragmatics of Myth 507Claude Calame, translated by Ken DowdenPart VI Conspectus 52528 A Brief History of the Study of Greek Mythology 527Jan N. BremmerBibliography 549Index of Texts Discussed 605Index of Names 613Index of Subjects 635