Many authors have taken inspiration from Greek mythology with traditional or modern retellings of the classic tales.
Even if you don’t know much about Greek mythology, these tales weave their way into many works of literature today.
From Homer’s epic about the gods-influenced Trojan War to Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad – the stories remain just as read today.
Are your favourites on there? Let us know what you think of the list in the comments below.
10. Lore by Alexandra Bracken
Alexandra Bracken is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and Lore is one of her most loved works.
This novel has been called a mix of Medusa and The Hunger Games.
In the book, nine gods have been abandoned by Zeus as punishment for a rebellion filled with betrayal – it follows the story of these gods who are forced to walk among humans like mortals.
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9. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
This retelling is unique and Atwood gives this tale of Greek mythology a new and exciting twist.
In Homer’s account in The Odyssey, Penelope, wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy, is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife. She is left alone for 20 years while her husband fights in the Trojan War, while he is away she is forced to keep over 100 suitors at bay.
When Odysseus returns home, he kills her suitors and 12 of her maids – Atwood’s story explores the killing of these 12 maids.
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6. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Homer’s The Illiad is a war epic that’s almost entirely male-centric. Though several famous women appear in the story of the Trojan War—the beautiful Helen of Troy, the prophetic Cassandra, the tragic Andromache—they get relatively little focus and almost no agency. This is particualrly true of Briseis, the former princess turned imprisoned slave who exists to be little more than an object for Agamemnon and Achilles to fight over.
But in Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls, Briseis is given her voice back, and in doing so, the entire focus of Homer’s poem is shifted, as she is allowed to bear witness to the violence that men do—to women, each other and the world.
(Image: Getty Images)
