H. A. Guerber books and Greek history text recommendations

In The Story of the Greeks by Guerber does have several chapters that deal with the explanation of how the difference regions of the Greeks were settled – all of which involve some form of the myths. Then it starts the history by going into the Trojan War.

In The Story of Greece by Mary MacGregor (also available from YC), only the first few chapters deal with any kind of mythology in detail – and those are just little anecdotal stories like how spiders and hyacinths came to be – and then she gets down to the story of the Greeks, starting with the Spartans, moving on to the Athenians, and ending with Macedonia and Alexander the Great. They do mention, throughout the books, of course, that the Greeks had religious ceremonies, etc. but it was a part of the Greeks lives. 

I have read them both and actually prefer The Story of Greece – when she ended her anecdotal chapters on the false gods/goddesses, she referred the reader right back to Christ, and The Story of Greece tends to give more details on the people and the events it covers. The chapters are still short though.

Here something I wish that I had known when we started Greek history:  There are actually several layers to the Greek mythology – the most commonly known are the gods/goddesses, and the heroes (men that were half-god and half-man that some of the Greeks will have claimed to descend from). Heroes are the characters we read about in stories like Jason and the Golden Fleece, Hercules and his 12 tasks, Thesseus and the Minotaur, Achilles, among others. In some ways, these are the Greek’s tall tales –  like our American tall tales of John Henry, Paul Bunyan, and others. A great way to share these stories in a story fashion is the books by Nathanial Hawthorne – A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales. They are related in story fashion to children and when the story is over, the children have conversation. The stories are delightful and non-threatening in this setting – they are clearly stories.  

Knowing that helped me navigate this part of the Greeks history much easier with my children. I could then explain that this was the Greeks explanation of how things were created or came to be since they didn’t have access to the gospel at this point in their history. It was a tricky part to navigate until I realised that, but we made it, and now she is able to enjoy them as interesting fantasy-type adventures and not have to stress over them. It is fun to see how much more she gets out of other literature by understanding these mythical stories, too. 

Anyway – here are a few options:

1. Read The Story of Greece instead of The Story of the Greeks (it has less mythological stories in it). It focuses more on the history and real characters.

2. If you want to start Greek History with the Trojan War and skip some of the myths, you could start in The Story of the Greeks on the chapter titled “The Childhood of Paris”.

3. If you are not comfortable with learning and explaining the Greek myths on your own, then by all means use Christine Miller’s version. From what I have read, she has added/adapted/clarified a few chapters in the beginning and added some maps (I think!) and it might make it easier for you to enjoy this fascinating time in history.

ETA – I was working on this when Bookworm posted. I agree with her, too.