Oxbow (2014) p/b 528pp £29.95 (ISBN 9781782976356)
The first edition of this dictionary appeared in 1998 as The Cassell Dictionary of Greek Mythology and was very well received (e.g. Goldhill in TLS ‘… is exemplary, indeed the best I have consulted … clearly and engagingly written … it not only gives reliable answers but also encourages reading on.’). I imagine many have a copy, but I suspect that in its chunky paperback form (2001) it may be showing signs of wear and tear as the strain of holding over 800 pages together proves too much. If that is the case, or if you are just looking for a brighter, bolder book for the shelves, then relief is at hand: this new edition is a worthy replacement.
Many of the entries have been revised and expanded; 172 illustrations, many in the form of line-drawings of vase paintings by M.’s son-in-law, Neil Barrett, enliven the text throughout. The merits of the first edition are not lost: it remains concise and readable, and can usefully be consulted by experts and learners, by teachers and pupils. The stories are authoritatively and, in places, brilliantly retold; cross-referencing is easily handled; many entries have additional bibliographies in which relevant classical sources are given. These sources are sometimes discussed in the entries themselves so, for instance, in ‘Oedipus’ Homer, Sophocles and Seneca are mentioned, as well as Corneille, Stravinsky, Cocteau, Freud and Pasolini in a last, paragraph on ‘reception’. Also included in some of the longer entries are translations from the sources, especially Homer and the tragedians. There are additional appendices, four of which were in the first edition: maps, genealogical tables, a list of classical authors and a select bibliography (latest entry—2013); the index of place names has gone, perhaps regrettably, but the two new additions are a list of the illustrations and a very useful ‘List of Recurrent Motifs’—so for Parricide you may go to Deiphontes, Haemon, Jason, Jocasta, Laius, Medea, Oedipus, Pelias, Phoenix (3), Sphinx and Temenus (2).
Oxbow Books are to be congratulated on bringing this book back into print, as are M. and her son-in-law for breathing new life into it. I can heartily recommend it and predict that it will have a long and fruitful life.
Stephen Chambers – Balliol