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The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles. My first time reading an ancient classic, and it's much less scary than I thought. In fact I'm quite enjoying it, and might read The Iliad (Homer's other epic poem) next. The humanness of the characters (well, the human ones!) is very relatable, even though it's 2700 years old. I don't know why I expected it to be crusty and boring. Maybe I assumed it'd be like the Bible.
The intro explains a lot of stuff about the original Greek poem and how it was written in dactylic hexameterwhich bards back then used to be able to improvise in, which is amazing to me. Reminds me of 8 Mile or something. ๐
If you read a modern bible translation from the perspective of christian mythology just as we treat Greek mythology a lot of the stories are actually fantastic reads
interesting.. it's been a while since I've tried (as a kid in the 80s probably). Can you recommend a translation (and book/story)?
A lot of the Old Testament this. Any translation that uses more readable language is nice. The King James version etc get too much credit for sounding religiousy.
Genesis through Deuteronomy or so are what a lot of Protestant churches at least focus on. The New Testament is Jesus' life and then a bunch of letters to various early churches about how the Religion should work.
A lot of "the rest" are the kind of fables they're talking about. Ruth, Esther, Job, Samuel, etc. The ones named after people/mythological figures, depending on your point of view/beliefs.
cool, thanks!