Great Mythologies of the World
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Great Mythologies of the World
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About this listen
The deep-seated origins and wide-reaching lessons of ancient myths built the foundation for our modern legacies. Explore the mythologies of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Learn what makes these stories so important, distinctive, and able to withstand the test of time. Discover how, despite geographical implausibilities, many myths from across the oceans share themes, morals, and archetypes.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2015 The Great Courses (P)2015 The Teaching Company, LLCYou may also enjoy...
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What listeners say about Great Mythologies of the World
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Keenon
- 2021-01-22
Just so you know.
the 'preformance' in this case is a presentation.
I need to add three more words.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mireille M
- 2025-02-26
Fascinating listen
I loved the story telling of the first professor!! By far my favourite of all the narrators. As for the mythology itself, it is fascinating to learn about the different ways in which cultures explained (or outright ignored) certain aspects of origins and explanations for how why things are. Many are tainted with political agendas of their day. There are aspects of most of the myths that are relatable and relevant today, while others are terribly alien and inconceivable.
Definitely worth listening to this great course!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PaladinPhil
- 2019-05-11
Very good starting point
Stories are important to the human condition. This lecture series covering a wide variety of mythological stories from all over the world was like sipping from an ocean. just enough to whet your appetite for more information. Some myths we are familiar with, others not so much.
I highly recommend this to understand other cultures and histories.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hmackdad
- 2019-08-14
Myth or Folk Tale
I enjoyed this it was very easy lisyening with the different lecturers. An overview of world myth that opens the door for further study.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-06-18
Tinny Sound Made it Very Difficult to Listen To
I'll come back and edit my review once I've finished, but I noticed a tinny sound partway through the second lecture and now it's all I can hear. I am continuing to listen but it's significantly decreasing my ability to enjoy the story and thought others should be aware.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Hanif Ariffin
- 2019-11-14
Great Purchase With Credits
I believe its a bit expensive to buy them as is, but the huge amount of content that you can get with a single Credit with this is amazing! Highly recommend to get started with the great stories and literature of mankind.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- M Vatch
- 2022-10-31
Disappointing African portion in an otherwise enjoyable course
Most of the sections were presented quite well, with dynamic and interesting lecturers who present the subject matter in an accessible way for the casual students. The exception was the portion on African myths. The lecturer was absolutely terrible and the entire section had an amateurish quality reminiscent of the school presentations by our least intelligent classmates that made us all cringe. I highly question this lecturer’s credentials and sincerely wish an actual scholar of African myth and culture could have been found instead. It put an unfortunate damper in the middle of the entire course and almost made me quit listening, or at least skip that portion. I managed to get through it at double speed.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C.
- 2021-12-29
Great for expanding beyond the stories we know
Growing up in the west, I've heard most of the Greek/Roman stories, but this helped solidify and clarify those myths, then the other lectures about myths from the other parts of the world were just as interesting and informative, very well done.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MrBlockOfCheese
- 2021-07-06
Great lectures on various cultures and their myths
Really enjoyed this series of lectures... Except for the African myths section. I was very interested in this body of myths, but the lecturer was absolute trash. He makes so many errors, and stumbles so often over what he's saying, it's hard to imagine that this is the best version recorded. I was almost tempted to skip the whole section, it was so bad and distracting.
All of the other lecturers did a fine job, and overall I'd still recommend this lecture series.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Langer MD
- 2022-07-06
Effective Collaboration
This course is actually a compendium of five lecture series - each consisting of twelve half-hour lectures - organized regionally (European, Asian/Middle Eastern - including Egypt, African, Far Eastern/Australasian, and N/S American). Each series is fairly complete (if occasionally cursory) and is meant to both review the contents of the stories as told and to draw out the underlying allegorical/philosophical message(s) intended. The result is praiseworthy.
As in any collection, some lectures are excellent, some are "adequate", and a few are actually not useful (even confusing) - but the overall quality of this course is "outstanding". 'Great Mythologies Of The World' compares favorably to courses that I have taken in University.
To be certain, one of the most notable areas of variability is in the delivery: Professors Kathryn McClymond, Julius H. Bailey, Robert André LaFleur, and Grant L. Voth were all given commendable technical support from Audible Originals Inc, but were also obviously instructed to read with careful diction and more slowly than they normally would (I found setting playback speed at 1.10X was required to restore a more "natural" delivery). Unfortunately, speeding the playback doesn't correct for all of the deficiencies - the overenunciation persists, for example.. but for some lecturers more than others (McClymond is brilliant - while Bailey is awful at this). Inconsistency thus plagues the recording somewhat.
Taken altogether, the advantages of the multi-lecturer approach outweigh the drawbacks. This audiocourse rates a solid 8 stars out of 10. I can unreservedly recommend it to listeners looking for an edifying, wide-reaching (if perhaps introductory) exploration of mythology from multiple cultures.
NOTE:
• The project includes a lecture laying out the best discussion of the Biblical Book of Job that I have ever read
• The appended PDF is incredibly helpful
• I was fortunate enough to get this product included with my subscription (undoubtedly coloring my review). But even were Audible to ask for a Credit, I judge that it would be worth it
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