Classical Mythology, 7th Edition - obinfonet: dia logou

XIV PREFACE
preted with infinite variations, repeatedly and continuously; these gods and goddesses,
these heroes and heroines and their legends never have remained fixed
but constantly change through refreshingly new metamorphoses that illuminate
not only the artists but also their society and their times. We can never really
pronounce with finality upon the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the legend
of Heracles, or upon the character of Achilles or Helen, because no sooner
is the pronouncement made than the myth, the legend, and its characters have
been transformed anew and we are compelled to include and discuss the most
recent transformations and the fresh insights they provide for our own world.
This eternal afterlife of classical mythology is truly miraculous.
We each take the major responsibility for certain sections: Professor Lenardon
has written Chapters 1-16 and Chapter 28, and Professor Morford Chapters
17-27. In this edition, as in the many revisions that have followed the first,
both of us have contributed freely throughout the text.
There are many more illustrations in this edition, and Professor Morford is
responsible for both the selections and the captions. Research for ancient representations
has been made far easier by the publication, now complete in eight
double volumes, of the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), the
essential foundation of any research into ancient art on mythological subjects.
Professor Morford also acknowledges the help of Thomas Carpenter's survey,
Art and Myth in Ancient Greece, and, for art and music since 1300, Jane Davidson
Reid's Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts. Nevertheless, he has
found that his own reading and observation from constant visits to museums
and exhibitions (essential for contemporary art) have been the primary foundations
of his selection and commentary. Professional art historians are quite arbitrary
in the details that they choose to give about works of art, particularly
those concerning size (which even LIMC does not give) and medium. The most
detailed source for Greek vases, the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, is incomplete
and patchy in its coverage. The most time-consuming labor has been that of finding
out details of size, which are necessary if the student is to appreciate a work
of art in its context. In nearly every case these details have been supplied, and
where they are missing (in about six of the illustrations), they simply have not
been available in any form.
Consistency in spelling has proven impossible to attain. In general we have
adopted Latinized forms (Cronus for Kronos) or spellings generally accepted in
English-speaking countries (Heracles not Herakles). The spelling of Greek names
has become fashionable today, and so we have included an Appendix listing the
Greek spellings with their Latinized and English equivalents.
NEW TO THIS EDITION
Minor revisions have been made throughout the text; the major revisions and
additions are the following: