| The Top Ten Most Intriguing Myths | p. x |
| Introduction | p. xi |
| What Are Myths For? | p. 1 |
| What Is a Myth? | p. 2 |
| The Sacred Myth | p. 4 |
| Answering the Unknown | p. 6 |
| Establishing Order | p. 8 |
| Emotion Overload | p. 10 |
| The Ideal | p. 11 |
| Storytelling | p. 13 |
| Classical Myth-Makers | p. 17 |
| Homer: The Blind Bard | p. 18 |
| Hesiod: Morals Can Be Fun | p. 19 |
| Aeschylus: Tragic Justice | p. 21 |
| Sophocles: The Greatest Tragedian? | p. 23 |
| Euripides: The Dramatist as Philosopher | p. 24 |
| Virgil: Rome's National Poet | p. 26 |
| Ovid: The More Things Changeà | p. 27 |
| Other Storytellers You Should Know | p. 29 |
| Out of Chaos: Creation | p. 31 |
| In the Beginning Was Chaos | p. 32 |
| Giving Personality to Nature | p. 33 |
| And Then There Was Man | p. 35 |
| Prometheus and the Gift of Fire | p. 35 |
| Welcoming the Woman | p. 36 |
| Sun, Moon, and Dawn | p. 37 |
| The World and Humanity's Place in It | p. 39 |
| The Children of Mother Earth | p. 41 |
| Children of Pontus | p. 42 |
| The Hundred-Handed Ones | p. 44 |
| One-Eyed Wonders | p. 44 |
| Titanic Offspring | p. 45 |
| Uranus Overthrown | p. 46 |
| Cronus Crowned as Ruler | p. 47 |
| Zeus's Childhood | p. 48 |
| The Battle with the Titans | p. 49 |
| Zeus Takes Charge | p. 50 |
| Introducing the Olympians | p. 53 |
| The Original Six | p. 54 |
| A Dozen Distinguished Deities | p. 55 |
| Mount Olympus | p. 59 |
| Law and Order, Olympian Style | p. 60 |
| Mutiny on Mount Olympus | p. 61 |
| War with the Giants | p. 63 |
| The Scariest Monster of All | p. 64 |
| Zeus and Hera: A Marriage Made in Heaven | p. 67 |
| The Seventh Lover | p. 68 |
| A Grand Wedding | p. 70 |
| The Children of Zeus and Hera | p. 71 |
| Zeus's Love Affairs | p. 72 |
| The Wrath of Hera | p. 77 |
| A Lover's Spat | p. 78 |
| Poseidon: Sovereign of the Sea | p. 79 |
| The Power of Poseidon | p. 80 |
| That City Is Mine! | p. 80 |
| Wanted: One Queen | p. 82 |
| Poseidon's Lovers | p. 84 |
| Poseidon and the Trojans | p. 87 |
| Poseidon Could Be a Nice Guy, Too (Well, Sometimes) | p. 88 |
| The Dark Prince | p. 91 |
| A Private God | p. 92 |
| The Abduction of Persephone | p. 92 |
| The House of Hades | p. 93 |
| The Main Regions of the Underworld | p. 95 |
| The Judges and the Judged | p. 97 |
| Escaping Death | p. 98 |
| Chasing the Secrets of the Underworld | p. 102 |
| Demeter and Hestia: Home Is Where the Heart Is | p. 103 |
| Demeter | p. 104 |
| Demeter's Love Affairs | p. 105 |
| Wandering the Countryside | p. 107 |
| Still a Mystery: Eleusinian Rites | p. 109 |
| Hestia Honored | p. 109 |
| Hestia's Unsuitable Suitors | p. 110 |
| The Vestal Virgins | p. 111 |
| Ares and the Art of War | p. 115 |
| A Detestable Deity | p. 116 |
| The God of War in Love | p. 117 |
| Amazon Warriors | p. 120 |
| Sibling Rivalry: Ares Versus Athena | p. 122 |
| Tried for Murder | p. 123 |
| Ares Imprisoned | p. 124 |
| Athena: The Peaceful Warrior | p. 127 |
| The Birth of Athena | p. 128 |
| Almighty Athena | p. 128 |
| Athenian Cults | p. 129 |
| Athena the Inventor | p. 131 |
| A Hero's Best Friend | p. 131 |
| Athena's Other Stories | p. 134 |
| Artemis: The Thrill of the Hunt | p. 137 |
| Lady of the Wild | p. 138 |
| An Overprotective Daughter | p. 139 |
| Artemis Takes Offense | p. 140 |
| The Eternal Virgin | p. 143 |
| The Many Deaths of Orion | p. 144 |
| Wild but Loyal | p. 145 |
| Apollo: A (Mostly) Civilized God | p. 147 |
| Tall, Dark, and Handsome | p. 148 |
| God of Music | p. 148 |
| The Playboy | p. 149 |
| Unlucky in Love | p. 151 |
| Tragic Love | p. 154 |
| A Mortal's Slave | p. 155 |
| Delphi: Pythian Games and a Tricky Oracle | p. 157 |
| Hermes: Swift as the Wind | p. 159 |
| A Child's First Prank | p. 160 |
| Take a Message | p. 162 |
| Reconciling with Hera | p. 164 |
| More Than a Messenger | p. 164 |
| Bad-Boy Attraction | p. 166 |
| A God of Many Myths | p. 168 |
| Erotic Aphrodite and Hardworking Hephaestus | p. 169 |
| The Queen of Hearts | p. 170 |
| A Master Craftsman | p. 171 |
| Beauty and the Beast | p. 173 |
| A Goddess in Love | p. 174 |
| Love's Helping Hand | p. 177 |
| Partying with Dionysus | p. 179 |
| The Twice-Born God | p. 180 |
| Dionysus Driven Mad | p. 181 |
| The Rites of Dionysus | p. 182 |
| Dionysus Takes a Wife | p. 183 |
| Madness Unleashed | p. 183 |
| The Golden Touch | p. 186 |
| Joining the Olympians | p. 187 |
| The Lesser Gods | p. 189 |
| The Muses: Goddesses of the Arts | p. 190 |
| The Charites: Beauty, Grace, and Friendship | p. 191 |
| The Satyrs: Lusty Appetites | p. 191 |
| The Nymphs: Beautiful Spirits of Nature | p. 192 |
| Pan: God of Woods and Pastures | p. 193 |
| Hecate: Titaness with an Attitude | p. 194 |
| Triton: Son of Poseidon | p. 196 |
| Lesser, but Not Least | p. 197 |
| Monster Madness | p. 199 |
| Chimaera: Fire-Breathing and Merciless | p. 200 |
| Scylla: Beauty Transformed to Terror | p. 201 |
| The Minotaur: Monster in a Maze | p. 202 |
| The Sphinx: Riddle Me This | p. 204 |
| Cacus Versus Heracles | p. 205 |
| Centaurs: Equine Depravity | p. 206 |
| More Mythological Monsters | p. 206 |
| The Leading Men of Classical Mythology | p. 209 |
| What Made a Hero? | p. 210 |
| Heracles | p. 211 |
| Perseus | p. 215 |
| Jason | p. 217 |
| Theseus | p. 220 |
| Achilles | p. 223 |
| Odysseus | p. 224 |
| Other Heroes You Should Know | p. 229 |
| The Trojan War | p. 231 |
| Causes of the War | p. 232 |
| Enter the Olympians | p. 234 |
| Heroes of the War | p. 235 |
| The Tenth Year | p. 237 |
| The Fall of Troy | p. 238 |
| The Gods Are Not Pleased | p. 240 |
| When in Romeà | p. 243 |
| Greek Versus Roman | p. 244 |
| Aeneas's Journey to Italy | p. 244 |
| Origins of the Roman People | p. 247 |
| Peace Disrupted | p. 247 |
| Founding Rome | p. 249 |
| The Age of Kings | p. 251 |
| The Gods and Goddesses Live On | p. 255 |
| Myths in Everyday Life | p. 256 |
| Myths in Literature | p. 259 |
| Myths in Art | p. 262 |
| Myths in Music | p. 264 |
| Myths in Movies | p. 264 |
| Myths in Popular Culture | p. 265 |
| Cast of Characters | p. 267 |
| Family Tree of the Greek Gods | p. 282 |
| Resources | p. 284 |
| Index | p. 286 |
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