Author Description

Mythology is common to all cultures, and every attempt to trace the pattern of human development has to take it into account. It is the expression of humanity's early efforts to find an explanation for the world they lived in, for the forces that governed their life--and their need to ascribe to them the good or evil things that befell them. When man gave names to these forces he started on the path that led to the formalizing of belief, and so to religion. The gods, devils, heroes and monsters that arose from this process were as varied as the societies which produced them, ranging from the primitive to the sophisticated, and mythology was the mainspring of the thoughts that produced the lofty tragedies of Sophocles and the classic Hindu Ramayana no less than the folk memories familiar to us as Brer Rabbit or the Celtic stories of the Little People. Here is the world's mythology presented in a highly attractive form, introduced by Jacquetta Hawkes, the celebrated anthropologist and archaeologist, and illustrated with reproductions of paintings, sculptures, textiles and books. This is an ideal introduction to a fascinating world which contains the explanation of so much of man's behavior, his fears, his superstitions and taboos, many of which, while seeming recent in time, are as old as man himself.--Adapted from dust jacket.