Mythos (by Stephen Fry)
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Published at: 2018/2019
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35074096-mythos
Amazon: https://www.amazon.de/Mythos-Retold-Retelling-Ancient-Greece/dp/1405934131 [non affiliate links]
I came to know about this book first by a friend. I admired Stephen Fry for years at that point - as an wonderful actor, narrator, presenter of QI, a man of reason, and above all an wonderful orator. I never known, in my short knowledge that he has been such a prolific writer too.
Like every other persons, I am also familiar with and fascinated with Greek mythology. Having consumed a lot of books, TV, movies, stories, comics, etc., the Greek mythology always stands out with their coherence, character build up and complexity of the politics. What Mr. Fry actually did this in this book is narrating the stories in more chronological (😁 - funny because “Chronos” is a character here and a Titan) order and easily consumable way. If you are familiar with his speeches reading the book can lead to an experience of hearing an audiobook on his own voice (which actually exists 😁).
The book is rich with not only the refreshing texts by Mr. Fry, it also enriched with old greek maps, the maps that cover the myths, family tree of the gods and color prints of the works of the old masters depicting the myths and/or main actors in them.
The dedication page of the book contains a quote showing his love for his Husband Elliot Spencer in modern greek – which is adorable and at the same time takes you to the mood of diving into the great greek story.
Backstory / Prologue
Being the first of the trilogy of Greek Mythology, “Mythos” contains story of how the great Greek civilization conceived, perceived and cherished the way of the universe. Ancient Greeks came up with stories which contains how the universe came to being, who controls everything - the sun, the moon, the mighty oceans, the seasons, volcanoes, thunderstorms, earthquakes, etc.
Although we know now that the Greek stories (myths now) are not the only “origins” story, almost every civilization has their own part in the myths. But all of them has a beginning - this book Mythos points us to the beginning of the origin - how the universe(s) came into being and how the order is settled in the chaos.
To quote Mr. Fry himself “Mythos begins at the beginning, but it does not end at the end”.
Plot points
The story begins with “Chaos” - chaos is an entity, a divine being, a formless cosmic entity. It was simply the state of the universe before everything began.
Then comes the first order - EREBUS, NYX, HEMERA, DAY, AETHER, LIGHT, GAIA, TAR-TARUS. Cases involved the concept of parthenogenesis may be for the first time. Then there was Ouranos the original god of sky/heaven.
Then came the second order by Ouranos covering ‘mother’ Gaia everywhere. The covering can be seen in both senses - sky over the earth and of course in terms of mating. Then begins the “Time”. Some of the second order god characters (six males and six females) are OCEANUS, COEUS, “KRONOS”. They are the original parents of the next order of gods - called Titans.
Where there are Titans, there are the clash of the Titans. With his feather like, breeze like touch of pen - as a storyteller - Mr. Fry then went on to show us the characters of Zeus, Hera, Athena, and so on - built their characters - described their conflicts - their resolutions.
In my opinion, the most colorful character of this part is none other than Zeus. He has so many shades in the character, so many motivations of doing things. Mr. Fry did a very comprehensive character building of Zeus and based on his (or His :)) character, the story progresses forward.
Cupid, Psyche, Eros, Muses - are all wonderful to read about.
Then comes the “Toys of Zeus” – one of which is us - the “Mortals”!
Overall it was an epic read, full of depictation and description of dazzling greek gods with their deep connection to human mind and action.
Highly recommended.
