Explore The World of Greek Mythology With These 8 Books

The world of Greek mythology is complex, intriguing, and entertaining. There’s so much to explore, so many tales and stories, myths and gods—it can be hard to know where to start.

Fortunately, plenty of authors have taken that plunge for us. There are thousands of books out there that use Greek mythology as their basis. Some follow the story beat for beat. Others, like Ulysses by James Joyce and Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, see the stories reimagined or from a different perspective.

If you’re looking to explore Greek myth for yourself, why not delve into one of these stories?

Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith

Girl Meets Boy explores the myth of Iphis and Ianthe, one of the few Greek myths that actually has a happy ending. The original myth is from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and features a girl, raised as a boy to avoid her father’s wrath, who later falls in love with another girl. Her gender is then changed by the goddess Isis, which allows the two lovers to marry.

In Ali Smith’s book, the story is set in Inverness and follows characters Anthea and Robin battle with gender, transformation, and the sense of self. It’s a pretty short book at only 176 pages, but it’s poetic, funny, and has a 4.2-star rating!

The Silence of The Girls by Pat Barker

In The Silence of The Girls, the ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade of siege by the Greek army, all over Helen, a stolen woman. In the Greek camp, another woman, called Briseis, watches and waits for the war to be over. Briseis had once been queen of one of Troy’s neighbouring towns, until Achilles, a Greek warrior, took her city and murdered her husband, leaving her to be Achilles’ concubine.

The story follows changes in her role when men make demands, and how she finds herself caught between two of the most powerful figures in Greek myth.

Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe follows Circe, the daughter of Helios, god of the sun. Circe turns to the world of mortals and quickly discovers she has the power of witchcraft.

Zeus, threatened by Circe, banishes her to a deserted island. There, she develops her skills as she crosses paths with the Minotaur, Daedalus, Icarus, Medea, and even Odysseus. Throughout her time on the island, she draws the wrath of both men and gods and, ultimately, must summon all of her strength and decide whether she belongs with the gods she was born to, or the mortals she has spent her life beside.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Following Achilles, the son of the cruel sea goddess and the King Peleus, The Song of Achilles watches as Achilles grows from a boy to a young man, meeting Patroclus, training in the arts of war and medicine, and ultimately laying siege upon Troy.

The story is heartwarming, heartbreaking, and exhilarating. It’s full of love, passion, war, and legend — just like all good Greek myths — and is rated 4.6-stars!

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

This story is a tale of two mortal princesses and is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. It is the story of Orual, Psyche’s older, unattractive sister, who is possessive of Psyche.

While the usual myth focuses on the beautiful heroine, C.S Lewis instead focuses on the narrative of Orual, a strong woman cursed with a hideous face. His writing follows her love for her sister and her anger toward the gods.

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

This re-imagining of the Greek myths takes them out of the past and into the present. The gods are all alive and well but are forced to live together in a London townhouse and kind of all hate it. They’ve got day jobs, from DJs to psychics, and, most importantly, their powers are waning.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Set in modern-day America, this Young Adult series follows young adults and teenagers as they battle the gods of Greek myth. Only, they’re not normal teenagers — they’re demigods. Each of them born of one mortal and one immortal parent, and they all attend Camp Half-blood, where they are taught to battle, to fight, and outwit others.

This first book sees Percy, the protagonist, as he learns of his lineage for the very first time. Forced into Camp Half-blood when things start to go wrong, he ends up on a mission to save the world, and his mother.

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Inspired by Homer’s account of The Odyssey, Margaret Atwood’s dip into the world of Greek myth follows Penelope, the wife of Odysseus and cousin of Helen of Troy. In the original tales, Penelope is a quintessential, faithful wife who awaits her husband’s return, keeps his kingdom going, and raises their son, all while keeping over 100 suitors at bay. Upon her husband’s return, he kills her suitors (despite having slept with goddesses himself while away) and 12 of her maids.

Atwood’s story explores what Penelope really got up to while her husband was absent, giving her agency, life, and mystery in a way that the original myth fails to.