Joan V. O'Brien

Unrated for reasons of "read only part of this monograph" -- this review is therefore only about chapter 4, on Hera in the Iliad. Which was excellent. I've never found Hera particularly interesting, but this study opens up several avenues for me to look at her in a new light — what does it mean for her to be the only god actively working against Zeus' decrees? are some of her epithets not quite as stock as I had always assumed? are some of the episodes in which she appears echoes of earlier traditions?

This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted when I embarked on The Great Western Canon project, and so I am delighted to have misread the title on the spine when I was rushing through the stacks on my way out of the library. (I thought this was about the transformation of Helen.)… (mais)