神话是早期的科学，也是早期的文学。作者通过相关文学作品全面系统地对古希腊、罗马神话以及北欧神话做了细致分析。本书娓娓道来，一个个神话人物栩栩如生，是我们了解古希腊、罗马文化的不可多得的参考资料，也是了解神话知识的必然读物。

依迪丝·汉密尔顿EDITH HAMILTON（1867—1963）是美国当代著名的“古典文学普及家”（不列颠百科全书语）。早年学习古希腊罗马文学，阅读拉丁文和希腊文典籍是她一生的爱好。她在慕尼黑大学研究古希腊罗马文学，成为在慕尼黑大学求学的第一位女性。她一生从事古典文学的教学、研究和写作。著作有：《希腊精神》（1930）、《罗马精神》（1932）、《以色列的先知们》（1936）、《希腊戏剧三种》（1937，译著）、《希腊文学的伟大时代》（1943）、《神话》（1942，被美国各学校广泛使用）、《真理的见证：基督和他的解释者》（1949）、《上帝的代言人》（1949）和《希腊的回声》（1957）。

FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
The Mythology of the Greeks
The Greek and Roman Writers of Mythology
PART ONE：The Gods, the Creation, and the Earliest Heroes
1 THE GODS
The Titans and the Twelve Great Olympians
The Lesser Gods of Olympus
The Gods of the Waters
The Underworld
The Lesser Gods of Earth
The Roman Gods
2 THE TWO GREAT GODS OF EARTH
Demeter (Ceres)
Dionysus or Bacchus
3 HOW THE WORLD AND MANKIND WERE
CREATED
4 THE EARLIEST HEROES
Prometheus and Io
Europa
The Cyclops Polyphemus
Flower-Myths: Narcissus, Hyacinth Adonis
PART TWO：Stories of Love and Adventure
5 CUPID AND PSYCHE
6 EIGHT BRIEF TALES OF LOVERS
Pyramus and Thisbe
Orpheus and Eurydice
Ceyx and Alcyone
Pygmalion and Galatea
Baucis and Philemon
Endymion
Daphne
Alpheus and Arethusa
7 THE QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
8 FOUR GREAT ADVENTURES
Phaethon
Pegasus and Bellerophon
Otus and Ephialtes
Daedalus
PART THREE：The Great Heroes before the Trojan War
9 PERSEUS
10 THESEUS
11 HERCULES
12 ATALANTA
PART FOUR：The Heroes of the Trojan War
13 THE TROJAN WAR
Prologue: The Judgment of Paris
The Trojan War
14 THE FALL OF TROY
15 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS
16 THE ADVENTURES OF AENEAS
Part One: From Troy to Italy
Part Two: The Descent into the Lower World
Part Three: The War in Italy
PART FIVE：The Great Families of Mythology
17 THE HOUSE OF ATREUS
Tantalus and Niobe
Agamemnon and His Children
Iphigenia among the Taurians
18 THE ROYAL HOUSE OF THEBES
Cadmus and His Children
Oedipus
Antigone
The Seven against Thebes
19 THE ROYAL HOUSE OF ATHENS
Cecrops
Procne and Philomela
Procris and Cephalus
Orithyia and Boreas
Creüsa and Ion
PART SIX：The Less Important Myths
20 MIDAS-AND OTHERS
Midas
Aesculapius
The Danaids
Glaucus and Scylla
Erysichthon
Pomona and Vertumnus
21 BRIEF MYTHS ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY
PART SEVEN: The Mythology of the Norsemen
Introduction to Norse Mythology
THE STORIES OF SIGNY AND SIGURD
23 THE NORSE GODS
The Creation
The Norse Wisdom
GENEALOGICAL TABLES
INDEX