The best place to start.

Way back, many Friday Finds ago, I wrote about The Writer’s Journey.  It’s a guide to writers based upon Joseph Campbell’s study of the monomyth of the Hero’s Journey.  Campbell’s book is also an excellent one to read.

Nothing beats the source material, however.

Of course, most of us don’t speak, let alone read, ancient Greek.  We have to get our mythology some other way.  The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer is a good source.  Also, there are several books on mythology by Robert Graves, otherwise famous for the novel I, Claudius on which an award-winning TV series starring Derek Jacoby was based.

But, if you are just wondering who Scamander was or looking for a brief refresher on Pandora, you could do worse than consult the Encyclopedia Mythica at the well-chosen domain of pantheon.org.

There’s not a lot of poetic detail on this website, but the basic facts seem to be present.  In addition, it covers not only Greco-Roman mythology, but the stories of the world.  There’s a section on mythical beasts (basilisks, anyone?) and one on the mortal heroes, as well.  Achilles to Yoshitsune.

The order is a little capricious.  For instance, I don’t know why Pygmalion shows up in the mythology section rather than the heroes (unless it’s because Aphrodite was involved in his story), but there’s a good search function to handle these sort of classification confusions.

So, while I wouldn’t call this site the source material, it’s a good place to learn a few things.  (I never knew the Aurora Borealis is reflections off the armor of the Valkyries, did you?)  And once you’ve found something that captures your imagination, you can delve further.

You can even go to the ancient Greek if you want:  Learn Greek Online!

(The internet is a wonderful place.)