Originally published in 1904, Famous Men of Greece is one of those books I can imagine my father drinking in as a young boy - full of stories that made history come alive in his imagination, that made history an abiding passion for the rest of his life, and that kindled his love of storytelling.

As a matter of fact, I remember his telling me some of these stories when I was very young. These were stories about heroes such as Perseus and the Gorgon, Theseus and the Minotaur, Hercules and his incredible labors, Achilles with his fatal weak spot, Alexander the Great and his taming of the powerful horse Bucephalus. (My father knew that any story with a horse would keep my attention.)

This Memoria Press edition of an oldie-but-goodie is pretty faithful to the original. Wording has been simplified in a few places that I noticed; unfortunately, in two places I rather thought the change obscured rather than clarified the meaning of a sentence. For the most part, however, the text is very readable.

Thirty-two chapters take you from the "Gods of Greece" (undated) through the "Fall of Greece" (146 B.C.), covering lots of myth and Greek history along the way. The chapters are short, and broken into sections of one or two pages each, which I find makes for easier narrating.

Interspersed through the text are photographs and pictures that are evidently taken from famous artwork and sculpture, though there were no attributions or footnotes as to the sources of these. Nudity is kept to a minimum, I'm glad to say, though there are a few artistically-draped figures - "barely draped" might be a better description. For the most part the bodies are covered. (Considering that we learned in our studies of ancient Greece how athletes competed and soldiers fought in the nude, I'm grateful for the restraint this book shows.) There are also several maps for your convenience, including ancient Greece, Macedonia, and the empire of Alexander the Great.

I also have the Greenleaf edition of this book, and while comparing the two I have to say that both the Memoria Press and the Greenleaf editions have their strong points. I'd have a hard time choosing between the two. I really like Greenleaf's introduction, but then the first chapter in the Greenleaf edition appears to be heavily abridged, while the Memoria Press edition, as mentioned, is quite faithful to the original. (I must say also that I do not care for the original's substituting the Roman names for the Greek gods, in the early chapters dealing with Greek mythology. But who am I to quibble with a book published in 1904? Nevertheless, when we read Greek mythology in our homeschool we use the Greek names, with a mention of the Roman variation. As a matter of fact, we made a chart for easy reference to help us keep the names straight.)

If you find the stories too brief or lacking in detail for your taste, remember that they were written for elementary-aged students. This is a good book for "dipping your toes in the water" and if you find your students are interested in more, you can go on to D'Aulaire's book of Greek myths, or Bulfinch's Mythology, or Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales or Kingsley's Heroes.

Read judiciously. Remember that these are the tales of pagans, steeped in superstition, whose gods are more like larger-than-life men and women than they are deities, and full of fallen man's more dreadful character flaws such as lust, greed, envy, hatred, and such. There is lots of opportunity for thoughtful discussion. While reading various accounts of Greek mythology, for example, we talked about how the Greeks had a "piece of the Truth" in their Creation and Flood accounts, but that they had lost the continuity of the Story, perhaps starting with the scattering of the peoples after language was confused at the Tower of Babel, and had grafted in all sorts of vain imaginations to fill in the gaps. While reading Famous Men of Greece we had lots of opportunity to talk about how the characters lacked any sort of absolute morality, how "relative" their actions were, even how stupid some of the stories sounded.

Yes, stupid. Imagine sowing dragon's teeth and reaping marvelous warriors, being told to cast a stone in their midst and then watching them fight to the death until all but five were left! Maybe it might be exciting to imagine bloody battle, but we were left scratching our heads and honestly distressed at the callous indifference to life exhibited again and again in Greek myth.

Which leads me to say in conclusion that, yes, Famous Men of Greece is one of those books that is important in giving a foundation to our studies. The Renaissance was all about the revival of Greek thought and philosophy, and it seems to be coming back into fashion nowadays as well. Classics in literature are full of allusions to these characters, so it's good to have at least an idea of who they were. Still, I wouldn't turn your students loose on this book (or any other book of mythology for that matter) without a goodly amount of thoughtful discussion, looking through the lens of a Christian worldview.

And that's my .02 worth.