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Greek mythology differs from that of every other Indo European culture because of a number of circumstances.

The most fundamental difference is that Greek myths result from the merging of the characteristic male-dominated Indo European culture with a sophisticated society that worshipped female deities. The myths reflect this but those of the Indo European culture do not seem to have been obscured by it.

The second point is that the storytellers were true poets and artists and the myths are pure pleasure to read; however, we might expect that the tellers of the tales were not above adding to their content in the interests of their art.

The third point is that the strength of the bardic tradition probably means that there is likely to have been preservation of even the oldest myths though later overlays and integration of female aspects will surely be present.

The fourth point is a practical one – we are incredibly fortunate in the fact that all the sources of the myths have been evaluated and collected in one document by a remarkable scholar and poet. Robert Graves has performed this incredible task and there is no need to go to another source.

Finally, it is probably true that every reader will have some knowledge of Greek mythology so that there is less need for explaining the background of many stories. However we must note that, in our judgment, even the works of scholars are incomplete since they usually omit any reference to anything other than the main themes. Alternative and conflicting accounts are simply ignored as the reader can confirm by examining Graves’ work; for example, how many readers are aware that Troy was destroyed more than once?

Although the Greeks are part of Europe their history differs from that of (most of) the other Indo Europeans here because they apparently entered their present lands from the general direction of the Black Sea rather than from the north. They encountered the non-Indo European culture of Mycenae, Knossos and others and eventually dominated these peoples; for example, the later language of the tablets excavated in Knossos was an early form of Greek quite unlike the earlier form. And, while the history of the events is unclear, the process was one of merging of cultures not of elimination of the earlier peoples.

One aspect of the Mycenaean culture was that of the veneration for goddesses, and we believe that the later, merged "Greek" mythology is in fact a mixture of both the male-dominated Indo European myths and those of the earlier culture. This could account, for example, for the unusual presence of goddesses with martial characteristics in a nominally Indo European environment.

As a consequence we should be aware that we may well find Greek characters and myths that are not found in other Indo European tales.

In our Preface we have already stated that all that we need to know about Greek myths is contained in "The Greek Myths", written by Robert Graves and published in 1955. For once the publisher’s note is correct when it says that "All the scattered elements of each myth have been assembled into a harmonious narrative, which notes also many variants which may help to determine its ritual or historical meaning."

The sources used by Graves naturally include the great works of Homer and many classical scholars, but his study drew upon over sixty sources including many rare and lesser-known works. The work is not only erudite, it is excellent reading and the specific source of each separate element is clearly identified. And there is an excellent Index which allows the reader to find all the references to a major figure, wherever discussed a myth. If so desired this permits the collection of all relevant references for an individual into one place to give a complete account of all information, sometimes obscure and contradictory.

Although Graves’ work is magnificent and readable the present writer wouls add a word of caution – the book contains a large number of notes which give Graves' highly personal views on the background and interpretation of the myths. These are very clearly identified, interesting, and given separately from his presentation of the myths themselves so that there is no need for confusing them with the actual myths, but are not part of Greek mythology.

The nature of this mythology can be illustrated by looking at the way Graves presents the stories. His book consists of 275 chapters; each chapter brings related themes together, accounts of a particular individual or a particular event. The chapters are of varying length, with the actual myth being sometimes as short as half a page and sometimes as many as ten pages; the average is about three or four pages.

The work is in two volumes. The first volume has about 100 chapters and 350 pages of myths. It begins with four chapters on various versions of creation myths. Then follow about thirty chapters on the births and lives of the oldest gods and goddesses and about sixty chapters on their offspring, the younger gods and goddesses, giants, titans, and others. The second

volume has 167 chapters but is of about the same length, about 350 pages. It addresses the characters and events related to the Trojan Wars and, of course, contains the best known myths of these wars and the Odyssey.

Because most of these themes are well known we will not discuss them further.

Greek myths have many links to other Indo European stories and so are likely survivals of original myths. All these are discussed in detail in our full account; we will only summarize some of the most prominent here. These include similar themes and similar names.

The largest single theme in Greek mythology is the battle for Troy, a result of the theft of a woman. And there is an exact parallel in Indian myth.

We are usually just told of the theft, or perhaps seduction and willing departure of Helen, wife of King Menelaus by Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy. In this battle Achilles plays a major role. The story concentrates

On the battles and intrigues of the Achaeans and the Trojans. But it is quite clear that this was the second destruction of Troy, the first occurring after Laomedon, the father of Priam, had refused to pay Hercules (more correctly Herakles) for building the walls; Herakles then destroyed Troy.

In Indian legend there is an equally famous story about the destruction of the triple city of the demons, Tripura. And Tripura was destroyed twice, once by the god Shiva, one of whose names is Haraka. The cause for this war seems simply to have been that the city’s inhabitants had become so arrogant that they threatened the gods themselves. And Shiva/Haraka was not able to make the destruction final. But there is another war in which Tripura was destroyed, and this happened after the wife of the great priest Brihaspati, called Tara, had been abducted by the demon called Taraka or, in some stories, by Soma. In this war the destruction was at the hands of Skanda, the son of Shiva/Haraka; to trace the heritage of Skanda is not simple but we believe that Skanda is another name for the god Vishnu, also called Achulas (see our full discussion of Indian mythology).

There are parallels and differences, but the similarity in the two-fold destruction of a city, once over the abduction of the wife of a prominent person, and the correspondence between Herakles and Haraka, and also Achilles and Achulas is striking. We should add that there are other parallels to be found, but, sadly, no trace of the name of Helen. Whether the names of the cities, Troy and Tripura, are sufficiently similar is left to the judgment of the reader. But we would note that Irish legend and history have assigned the name of Tara to the high place of the kings of Ireland so that there is clearly some such name for a city in Indo European legends.

Here we have a another clear correspondence between Greek and Indian. There are, in fact, quite a number of correspondences between the legends but some require fairly complicated arguments which we cannot enter into here. The simply stated points are that Perseus cut off the head of an evil woman called Medusa with a sickle. And in Indian legend Parashurama cut off his mother’s head (at his father’s request )because she had behaved improperly; and the weapon was called a "parshu" which means either an ax or a sickle. And though we do not have a direct illustration, the complex origin of names in India means that Parashurama’s foster-mother’s name could have been Medhasa.

One of the most distinctive Indo European stories is of the hero who is almost invulnerable but who has one fatal weak spot. This legend appears in Greek myth in the story of Achilles, in Indian with Krishna, and in Germanic with Siegfried. There is an additional Greek/Indian link.

Achilles was the seventh son of Peleus and Thetis or Thea. Thetis had made the first six unnamed sons immortal by burning away the mortal parts in fire and then sent each one in turn to join the gods in Olympus. But Pelus interrupted her when all of Achilles was made immortal except the ankle bone. Peleus snatched the body from the fire and gave Achilles an ankle bone taken from a giant, but, since this came from a mortal, Achilles was vulnerable there. Another version of the story simply says that the six elder brothers died in the fire and that his mother made Achilles immortal by dipping him in the river Styx, but, since she held him by the heel, this was vulnerable and the cause of his death.

The Indian myth comes in two parts.

In the first the god Krishna was given a "boon" by Shiva who told him that he would be invulnerable if he covered himself with "frumenty", a kind of gruel. But Krishna omitted to cover his foot and eventually died when a hunter struck him there with an arrow. In passing we may note that no Indian "boons" (usually given by Brahma) allowed immortality, and that Krishna had elected to die and permitted the hunter to wound him in his foot.

The second story concerns the goddess Ganga who lived in heaven but came to earth to wed King Shantanu – who was Shiva – but on condition thathe never criticized her. And, before going to earth, eight gods known as "Vasus" who had been condemned to live on earth begged her to let them be born as her children; Ganga agreed to this and also undertook to then return them to heaven afterwards. Consequently, after each child was born, it was cast in to the river, died, and returned to heaven. But Shantanu came upon Ganga with the eighth child and prevented his death and return to heaven. This broke his agreement with Ganga and she left with the child who was named Bhishma and became a mighty warrior. Many years later Shantanu met Bhishma and granted him the boon of invulnerability so that he would not die except when he chose to do so.

The Germanic story of Siegfried has some parallel with these in that he is rendered invulnerable by bathing in the blood of the dragon Fafnir. But a leaf falls between his shoulder blades and prevents the blood from bathing this place. He dies from a spear thrust in this spot.

The story of men who flew is fairly widely spread; it takes various forms with overlapping fragments in several stories.

The best known is probably the Greek tale of Daedalus and his son Icarus. Daedalus is a remarkable craftsman who is imprisoned in a labyrinth by King Minos. To gain his freedom he makes wings for himself and his son and both escape by soaring above the labyrinth walls. But Icarus flies too his, the wax ij his wings melts, and he falls in the sea and dies. Another well known story is the Germanic tale of the smith, Volund; and a smith was a skilled and treasured craftsman, just like Daedalus. Volund was not imprisoned in a labyrinth but confined on an island by a king and crippled by being hamstrung. He either makes wings or gets them from the swanmaidens, exacts a terrible vengeance on the king and his family. And Grimm points out that the Old Norse phrase "Volundarhus" or "Volund’s house" means labyrinth as it does in Icelandic.

But less likely to be known is the Indian story of the two vultures Sampati and his younger brother, Jatayu. Here we note that vultures are honored in Indian legend and that Jatayu is an important figure who helps Rama’s recovery of his wife. For no apparent reason except the spirit of contest, the two brothers try to fly as high as they can and the elder flies too high so that his wings are badly burned. He does not die but falls to the top of a great mountain where he remained and never saw his brother again.

The Greek story of Argus, the hundred-eyed watchman whose eyes were placed on the peacock'’ tail after his death is well known but not prominent. The Indian story of one of the adventures of the King of the Gods, Indra, is significant because one is such a clear example of his womanizing.

There are two versions of the Indra story. In the uncomplimentary version Indra is caught by a priest, a very powerful person in India, in the act of seducing his wife. Indra is cursed and a 1000 marks resembling the female organ, the vulva, appear on his body. But due to the generosity and mercy of some other priests, these marks are made to resemble eyes. Another version says that Indra grows 1000 eyes because he is unable to stop looking at a particularly beautiful woman as he walks around her. But the less generous version is more plausible since two of the names of Indra are "Shikhi" which means "peacock", and "Arkas" which is much like the Greek "Argus".

Some apparently minor points are nevertheless revealing.

The first is the fact that the beautiful second wife of Brahma was called Gayatri; and we believe that one of then other names of Brahma was "Varuna". The similarity between Varuna and the Greek name of Uranus has been noted for a long time, and the name of his wife is "Gaia".

The second is that in one of the Greek creation myths the goddess Eurynome uses the great serpent, Ophion to hatch an eggs from which comes the sun and planets. But Ophion, in jealousy, claims to be the creator and Eurynome kicks out his teeth. And in one Indian myth the creator, usually called Brahman, is called Pushan; and Pushan is toothless because his teeth are kicked out by Shiva who is not invited to Pushan’s feast.

Some of these similarities may convince the reader of Greek links to other Indo European myths and some may not. One reason for doubts may be that some of the examples are fragmentary and could perhaps simply be coincidental. This is understandable but we believe that reviewing all the evidence would remove this problem. We believe that Greek mythology contains a vast number of the oldest legends, but that the stories have been highly fragmented and duplicated. A full understanding of Greek mythology requires a detailed review of similarities in Greek names to try to "defragment" the stories and also a detailed examination of genealogies and this level of detail cannot be given here.