the oracle at Delphi says-

[grassangel]

Apparently young people do not read Greek myths any more. Which is why critics say Percy and the Lightning Thief is a good thing, as opposed to Hercules or Xena.
I am vaguely confused by this, as I knew who Zeus was before I was eight. Okay, so I can't name all the Argonauts but the fact that I know what the Elysian Fields are is apparently ODD.

Basically what I really wanted to say is: I'VE READ HERODOTUS, I KNOW MORE PLACE NAMES THAN YOU DO.

(This is vaguely aimed at the Doctor Who fandom/canon where appropriation of Greek names is rampant.)
(Also, the all-caps statement above does not apply to about half of my flist, as I know some of you could name all the Argonauts.)

Comments

[grass-angel.livejournal.com]

My general rule of thumb is that if it's a half-god/half-human hero, it's Zeus' kid. :P

As to where to start... I have no idea. Definitely not Herodotus, as he talks about Alexander the Great more than anything. (And I only ever read one of the five 'books' of his. Also, he's extremely long-winded.)
If you aren't interested in taking Classical History too far, I'd start with one of those thick Greek Mythology books (from the adult non-fiction section) that isn't laid out like a kids one and then maybe from there read The Odyssey and Jason and the Argonauts. Those two are the epics and contain the more famous heros. (Although I would just opt for an abrigded version of The Odyssey at least, simply because the story covers something like 30 years od adventures, 10 of them being the Trojan war.)

Errr... I hope that helps?