A tongue-in-cheek but scholarly-grounded survey of Greek and Roman mythology, Gods and Other Odd Creatures offers some unique features. It begins with a careful comparison of the twelve great Olympians of the Greeks and the twelve Di Consentes of the Romans. They are generally considered equivalent but there are differences—in fact, they are not even exactly the same twelve. Ceres, for example, is a member of the Di Consentes, while Demeter is not an Olympian. The book discusses how the Romans group the gods differently than do the Greeks. For example, the Roman gods tend to fall into triads that have triple temples. Some of these triads are patrician, some plebeian, and their duties and the like are not quite the same as those of their Greek counterparts. Some important Roman gods have no Greek counterparts. The last part of the book is a detailed study of the two cultures' temples and festivals, which tell so much about a society and its worship. Throughout the book, Williams stresses the ancient attitude toward divinity, which was very differnt from the modern one. Excerpts from Cicero and other ancient writers commenting on the gods document the ancient attitude.
Special Features
- Discussion of Greek vs. Roman deities
- Citation of Greek and Roman sources about the gods
- Explanation of Greek and Roman religious festivals
- Descriptions of key Greek and Roman temples
- Eleven original black and white drawings
- Notes, index, and bibliography
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