''Mythos'' is a book written by British author

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

, published in 2017. It is a retelling of a number of ancient Greek myths selected by Fry. It was followed by Fry's 2018 book ''Heroes'', a retelling of myths about Greek heroes, as well as a play titled ''Mythos: A Trilogy'', which premiered at the

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, in 2018 and was set to tour the UK starting in August 2019. In 2020, the third book in the series was published, ''Troy'', concerning the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...

Synopsis

Fry states at the beginning of the book that no background knowledge is necessary to appreciate the stories and that "there is absolutely nothing academic or intellectual about Greek mythology; it is addictive, entertaining, approachable and astonishingly human". The stories are mostly retellings of myths derived from Hesiod's ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 10 ...

'', Ovid's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

'' and Apuleius's ''The Golden Ass/Donkey''.

Reception

British scholar

Edith Hall Edith Hall, (born 1959) is a British scholar of classics, specialising in ancient Greek literature and cultural history, and professor in the Department of Classics and Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College, London. She is a Fellow o ...

criticised Fry's limited selection of myths in her review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and said that the book's lack of a contents page or

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means that the reader is not warned of its uncomprehensive nature. She goes on however to commend Fry for putting his fame to constructive use and to say that his "distinctive voice undoubtedly adds something lively, humorous and intimate to myth's psychological dimension. People who enjoy his media personality and particular style of post‑Wodehouse English drollery are in for a treat". ''Mythos'' received a rating of 4/5 in a review titled "What kind of a book is Stephen Fry's Mythos? Who knows — but it's clever and fun" in the culture section of ''

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''. ''

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'' praised the book's accessibility as well as Fry's knowledge and enthusiasm about the subject but criticised the inconsistency of the book's style, saying that it shifts between being erudite and "deliberately downmarket".

Stage tour

The premiere of ''Mythos: A Trilogy'' occurred at the

and received positive reviews. The UK tour was set to premiere on 19 August 2019 at the

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and was also scheduled to be performed in

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and

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. The play consists of three shows performed on separate nights. The shows were written and performed by

and directed by Tim Carroll. They are reported to be loosely scripted and involve input from the audience to help choose which stories Fry will tell on any given night.

References

{{Stephen Fry 2017 books Books by Stephen Fry Mythology books Works based on classical mythology