This book could have been edited better before being published, as I have found several typos, misspelled and misused words in just the first two chapters.

We used this book in my 300-level college class and even though I found the authors to be frustratingingly wordy at times, it was still an intersting book with thought-provoking insights.

As a child, I used to read about the myths of Rome and Greece in the same light that I read fairytales. For a long time, although I knew much more about Greece and Rome than the average person, it wasn't until I started reading this book that I began to look at these myths as more than just entertaining "stories."

The secondary text (nicely supported by selections of well-known and obscure primary texts) highlight the fact that these were true beliefs and religion in their time.

Even better, the text branches out and provides commentary on mythology from a wide variety of cultures besides Greece and Rome, which helps to illuminate parrallels and points of diversion in the history of man and religion.

Cultural insights help point out the societal factors that created the gods, monsters and myths. Imagine reading that Medusa's phallic-like snake-hair and her beheading may have been a representation of unconscious male fears about castration!

Or having the striking similarities between the wild, wine god, Dionysus set up in blatant comparison to the life and works of Jesus Christ.

While much of the text is the opinion of the authors and one would do well to remember that you don't HAVE to accept every one of their interpretations, this text does a good job of showing the human, psychological side to mythology.