Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry

Whispers of the Story

Stephen Fry’s Mythos is like Greek mythology with a British accent and a great sense of humor. He kicks things off with chaos (literally), then brings in Earth, the Titans, and a whole dysfunctional family tree of gods. We get Zeus overthrowing his dad, Chronos, and then sleeping his way into creating the entire pantheon. There’s drama, divine weddings, jealous gods, and even a kidnapping or two. Prometheus gives humans fire, gets punished, and Pandora opens that box. Basically, it’s the ultimate ancient soap opera — with gods walking among humans, falling in love, throwing tantrums, and eventually deciding Olympus is a better neighborhood.

Review of Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry

I wanted to read this book for a very long time, since I enjoy reading about Greek mythology, but it was not what I was expecting. Stephen Fry narrates the old mythologies in a comical way, with modern dialogues that make the characters more relatable. Many times the gods are depicted like a normal family, slightly dysfunctional with behaviours similar to teenagers. For example, Zeus is the kind of man who loves his wife and family and would do anything for them, but cannot help himself to chase beautiful women when he is drunk. He also gets headaches when his children want something from him, but can never refuse Athena, who is his favourite. 

The gods are depicted as arrogant, self-centred, proud and very jealous. I always imagined them to be more righteous, but sometimes they are just petty, the type of people who do what they want without the consequences, like they do not have a conscience. At times, I had the impression that I am reading this like cartoons because of the funny dialogues, but the rape, incest and murder scenes are depicted in really great detail that it felt like they had a really kink in doing them. 

What I appreciate about this book are the notes. It is clear that Stephen Fry researches these myths in depth because he explains where there are different versions of the stories and where to find them. He really tried to arrange them in a timeline though sometimes the succession of the events are in question for the simple fact that people in ancient Greece people did not really care about this. He also gives explanations when there are more characters with the same name so there would not be any confusion. 

The book also contains different depictions of the characters immortalised in valuable paintings or on vessels. At the end of the book there is a list of names and a short description which can be verified on the way if you forget some things about them. 

Mythos by Stephen Fry is a book for the large consumers, since it is easily readable and offers additional information. But if you expect to read the classical stories in a romantic way as depicted in other books or movies, you will be disappointed. My advice is to envision it like a comical play, a retelling of the old stories in modern fashion.

Happy reading!