Great Mythologies of the World

By: The Great Courses, Grant L. Voth, Julius H. Bailey, Kathryn McClymond, Robert André LaFleur

Narrated by: Grant L. Voth, Julius H. Bailey, Kathryn McClymond, Robert André LaFleur

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, LLC

Narrator's voice drops off at end of sentences.

I couldn't continue to listen, because the narrator's voice drops too low at the end of each sentence. Very annoying.

was good until they got to the African mythology

the first lecturer was phenomenal. She really captured Spirit of the various World mythologies, from India to Greece to Egypt, and Beyond. However, the second lecturer who specialized only in African mythology made a lot of unsubstantiated claims the beginning, in order to validate African mythology and set it on equal par with other mythologies. As politically incorrect as it sounds, his claims have absolutely no basis in any foundation. He at first says that African oral tradition was carefully preserved, but never written down, because they were illiterate. Then he adds later on, that didn't Tales would have been modified depending on the culture and what was going on. So were they preserved exactly? Or were they just modified, over time and as meets demanded? These Tales are obviously rip-offs of the other major world religions and, frankly, rather dull and childlike.

All very good but one area.

I enjoyed this refresher into world mythology. I was eager to learn about Asia and Africa, since I have very little background in those areas. I was disappointed in the telling of the African mythology. I did not care for the narrator's slurred speech or very limited information. perhaps there is not much info, however, I believe there probably is and it could be delivered in a more interesting and thoughtful way. I did listen to every lecture, many more than once. I do recommend this to anyone just starting out or like myself wanting to revisit a very interesting topic.

A Fantastic Survey of World Mythology

Provides engaging insights into cultures from all over the world. As someone who teaches a similar course (and even some of these particular myths), this course added depth to my understanding of the various cultures highlighted in these lectures and will improve my own teaching. While some reviews commented on the professor of African mythology, I found all of the professors to be informative and interesting. If you are interested in the topic, this is a course you should take.

Worth the time

The African myths were hard to follow and didn't focus enough on the stories themselves. I really liked the other sections.