The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology

I agree with the other reviewers that this is an outstanding compilation, maybe even beyond the needs of the casual reader, but it is not expensive and more than worth the price.

This is a fantastic reference guide. Grimal does a wonderful job of giving you a background on all sorts of mythological creatures, characters and other stuff. He doesn't give just a one or two sentence definition, but rather adjusts the length of the definition to the importance / significance of the subject matter. If you're looking to buy a classical dictionary, you need not look any further than this one!

This dictionary on Classical Mythology, i.e. Greek and Roman, is incredibly accessible to any level of reader. The information is presented clearly with just enough detail for clarity. A reader does not need to be well versed on a given character or story to gain great insight from this text. The only reason give this book 4 stars is not because of the material presented, but the materials used to produce the book. Like most books of this type, they are value priced. As a result, the materials can be sub-par. In the copy that I have, the pages are overly thin and the print bled through in some places.

I think P. Grimal's dictionary(hardcovered one) is the best among many encyclopedias or dictionaries of Greek and Roman Mythology . But I can not say this translation is the best , because there are many mistakes and some omitted entries. If you can read French , I recommend to read the original "DICTIONNAIRE DE LA MYTHOLOGIE GREQUE ET ROMAINE" written by P. Grimal himself. Although English-version has these weak points, as far as I know , only this book and William Smith's old "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography & Mythology" are worth to read with Greek alphabet spelling of proper noun et sourses of Classical texts.

I recently became intersted in Greek and Roman mythology. This is a great book for anyone who wants to get more information on this great subject! If you want an awesome book and the gods and goddesses of the past, then buy this book!