The Gods of Olympus: A History

Written by Barbara Graziosi

Narrated by Anne Flosnik

The gods of Olympus are the most colorful characters of Greek civilization: even in antiquity, they were said to be cruel, oversexed, mad, or just plain silly. Yet for all their foibles and flaws, they proved to be tough survivors, far outlasting classical Greece itself. In Egypt, the Olympian gods claimed to have given birth to pharaohs; in Rome, they led respectable citizens into orgiastic rituals of drink and sex. Under Christianity and Islam they survived as demons, allegories, and planets; and in the Renaissance, they triumphantly emerged as ambassadors of a new, secular belief in humanity. Their geographic range, too, has been little short of astounding: in their exile, the gods and goddesses of Olympus have traveled east to the walls of cave temples in China and west to colonize the Americas. They snuck into Italian cathedrals, haunted Nietzsche, and visited Borges in his restless dreams.



In a lively, original history, Barbara Graziosi offers the first account to trace the wanderings of these protean deities through the millennia. Drawing on a wide range of literary and archaeological sources, The Gods of Olympus opens a new window on the ancient world, religion, mythology, and its lasting influence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jul 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781630155582

Barbara Graziosi

Barbara Graziosi is Professor of Classics at Durham and Director, for the Arts and Humanities, of the Institute of Advanced Study. She has published widely on classical literature and its reception, and regularly contributes to radio and TV programmes on the arts.

Reviews for The Gods of Olympus

[dchaikin_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

76. The Gods of Olympus : A History by Barbara Graziosi 2014, 276 page paperbackread Nov 26-29Rating: 3.5 stars This was fun, but was a little less than what I was hoping. Graziosi traces the history of the Greek gods from their origins within the Greek cultural area through their evolution in time, merging with various Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern gods, falling out of their religious context then being reinvented anew. One of the interesting insights was how the Greek pantheon served as cultural unifying force, establishing norms across the Greek world and essentially establishing what was Greek. It was also interesting to see how gods were force-molded in such strange ways, such as how the Romans combined their very important god Mars into the minor and rather pathetic Greek God Ares. What was missing, I felt, was a good sense of who these gods were in the religious and mythological context. She not only doesn't bring them alive, but doesn't really even spend much time on them. She walks through the Elgin marbles and gives a short bit on each of the twelve gods there, which I did find of interest. But she pretty much leaves off the biographies at that and moves on to their evolution.

[jacobseifert-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Even though the tone was light and energetic, I just couldn't get into this book. Perhaps it's because I've been out of school for a while, but I felt like there was so much information being thrown at me but nothing was sticking, partly because the information was all so foreign and there were few points of reference to help me retain anything. So, it's not totally the author's fault. It's also the reader's fault (aka me). I guess I didn't want to learn about the gods as badly as I thought I did. Or maybe the author didn't go a good enough job of maintaining my interest. Or maybe both. I would, however, suggest this book to those who a) are already familiar with mythology, or b) willing to put in enough brainpower to ensure they retain enough information to make reading this book worthwhile.