Athena

This appears to be a scholarly book that has research backing and relevant illustrations. However, I found it problematic having to pay $20 for it, for a number of reasons. First, the book is quite short. Second, the writing style is somewhat discombobulated. Third, although I value the opinions that the author expresses, much of the actual historical information in the book can be found in the Wikipedia entries about Athena, or elsewhere on the Internet. The reality is that the available sources on the topics are limited, and so everyone who writes about the topic is using the same old sources. The author may potentially have re-interpreted something, but I do not see how yet another re-interpretation is worth the $20. Finally, the images in the book are also available for free online, for the most part.

I find Deacy's works very well done and packed with information. This one is no exception. I've been involved in the study of goddess Athena for fourteen years now and thought I'd exhausted all the threads, this book offered some information I'd not come across in my studies before. So I'm very pleased with my purchase. I would have given 5 stars for this, my reason for complaint was cost. For departments buying the book, its all fine but for starving students the price stung me. Good work Deacy!

If you like reading theses, this is the book for you. It was dry and lifeless just like academia. This was not written for the general public but is useful as a reference. As far as referencing modern day Athena at work, forget about it.

Well written book on the Goddess Athena and how she relates to all the other Greek Gods and Goddess.

A great read. Lots of information and sources, it is clear she's done a lot of research and gives as much information on both/all sides of disagreements between scholars.

Can't really add any more to the product review but as a reader just wanted to say loudly 'I agree'. Great read, jammed packed with well researched information giving and discussing sources.

Although Susan Deacy's volume on Athena is a compact book it is rich in detail and explores various aspects of the goddess's mythology. My own prior knowledge was limited to that gleaned from Wikipedia and a few other websites and this book expanded on them well.

A top-rate introduction to this important goddess. Essential to anyone interested in the ancient Greek pantheon. A very welcome addition to my library.

This is a really good book for any one who is studying Athena, or any one who wants a better insight.

I'm currently doing a university degree in Classical Studies. My current, final, course is about Greek and Roman mythology and I'm writing an essay about Athena as my final piece of work. This book is excellent - it's not very long but packs in a lot of information, some that I already know and a lot that I don't. It's easy to read and has very quickly turned into my 'bible' - I read it straight through initially but I dip into it a lot as I'm writing my essay. I highly recommend it for Classical Studies students and anyone who has an interest in Athena - in my case both!

One might say that the best thing about this book is that there's no real alternative. But it does give a good account of the goddess, with chapters devoted to origins, relations to other gods, Homer, the Athenian cult, and her worship elsewhere in Greece.My only reservation is the that that 20% of the pages are, in my opinion, wasted, and that's serious in such a small and over-priced book. We get several pages telling us what each chapter is going to be about, an appendix on Athena in modern literature and art, and a lot of discussion of the opinions of contemporary scholars (and non-scholars, like Bernal and Millett). The full text of the Homeric and Orphic hymns would have been more useful, and only occupied a couple of pages.