Books on mythology/pantheons?

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[fatalperfection]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

[RandallS]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons?

Which culture/pantheon?

[SatAset]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

For Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) mythology:

The first two are for beginners and the Pinch book is beginner to intermediate and Wilkinson's book is a dictionary and very scholarly, academically written.

A Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses by George Hart  (There is a Routeledge edition out from 2005, I think;  I have the 1986 version). 
Egyptian Myths by George Hart  (This is a quick intro to deities and mythology). 
Egyptian Mythology: A guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of ancient Egypt by Geraldine Pinch  (This book describes the various myths the best, in my opinion and also has a dictionary portion for the deities).
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Richard Wilkinson (This one has great dictionary entries).

[SunflowerP]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

As a good one-volume reference for a non-recon on Greek and Roman mythology, I'm very fond of The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology by Edward Tripp.

Sunflower

[fatalperfection]

Which culture/pantheon?

any... i'm specifically interested in welsh but I'd like a little bit of general knowledge of everything eventually.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

[Áine]

any... i'm specifically interested in welsh but I'd like a little bit of general knowledge of everything eventually.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Start with the Mabinogian...

Then see if any of these catch your fancy: Amazon Search.

[Maythe]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

For Norse mythology the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda are the classics. Kevin Crossley-Holland has collected them too in a slightly more readable way, but I find the Eddas aren't too hard going as they are (in translation obviously!).

[fiamma]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

A list of mythology books from various cultures:  http://www.adf.org/training/resources/mythology.html

[Sky Samuelle]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

Isles Of Many Gods- by #$#$#$#$ and David Rankine seems to be a good book on celtic mythology. I can't vouch fo it personally since i didn't buy it yet, but I read many others by the same authors and they know what they are about.

Also Ancient Mirrors Of Whomanhood by Merlin Stone, is a classic. It's a recolletion of lore about goddesses and heroines fromevery single part of the world.

[fiamma]

Also Ancient Mirrors Of Whomanhood by Merlin Stone, is a classic. It's a recolletion of lore about goddesses and heroines fromevery single part of the world.

Merlin Stone's books are based on revisionist history and writing...her versions of the myths tend to be very different from anything that comes from ancient sources, to put it nicely.

[OpenHands]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

For ancient Near Eastern mythology...

Akkadian/Babylonian: Myths of Mesopotamia, edited by Stephanie Dalley
Canaanite/Ugaritic: Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, edited by Simon Parker
Sumerian: Sumerian Mythology, by Samuel Noah Kramer (This one is available for free on sacred-texts.com  http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/sum/index.htm )

- Openhands

[OpenHands]

For ancient Near Eastern mythology...

Oops, I didn't check the date of the intial post.     That was silly of me. 

- OpenHands

[juno]

Anyone know of some good books about mythologies and pantheons? I'd like to read both current ones describing mythology and the mythology itself. I feel I know very little of the different myths/gods/goddesses and would like to know more. But I don't even know where to begin!

  There are many good reference books on world mythology in bookstores.  For something more in-depth, I highly recommend anything written by Joseph Campbell.  He was considered a world authority on the subject. 

[LyricFox]

  There are many good reference books on world mythology in bookstores.  For something more in-depth, I highly recommend anything written by Joseph Campbell.  He was considered a world authority on the subject. 

Unfortunately, Campbell conflated civilizations into his monomyth theory. That makes for a huge problem if you're a hard polytheist, and one reason I really won't recommend him to someone who is early in the learning process.

[Melamphoros]

Unfortunately, Campbell conflated civilizations into his monomyth theory. That makes for a huge problem if you're a hard polytheist, and one reason I really won't recommend him to someone who is early in the learning process.

Using Lyric's post as a springboard...

To be more specific, Campbell took various myths completely ignored all variations that contradicted the Monomyth and squeezed them through a VERY Western and VERY Christian lens.  I think Catja would have more info on the reasons why most scholars dislike him, though.

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