When I visited Athens, I was “that guy,” eagerly answering the tour guide’s questions, drawing upon my cursory knowledge of the Greek pantheon. The tour guide was impressed. The other tour-goers were not. Whoops.
I couldn’t help myself. Greek mythology is fascinating. It formed the foundation for eons of stories to come. It provides a dizzyingly deep well of narrative and dramatic potential, all conveniently in the public domain. So it’s no surprise creators of all sorts continue to turn to Greek myths and legends for inspiration.
You can probably think of hundreds of stories that tap into Greek mythology to a greater or lesser degree. The science fiction and fantasy genres in particular lean into the influence of these ancient tales. Today, I’ll discuss just a small selection of modern stories inspired or informed by the gods, Titans, creatures, and human heroes made popular by Greek myth.
Hadestown, the Broadway Musical
I lauded Hadestown in a previous article, praising its reimagining of the Orpheus-Euridice myth and making a case for retellings of myths and classic stories, which I’d previously balked at. Tyler Dean took a more focused approach, discussing the ways in which Hadestown expands and reshapes the myth into something new. I recommend both articles if you’re interested in Hadestown or the tale it’s based on.
Hadestown—winner of multiple Tonys, including best musical—tells a version of Orpheus and Eurydice’s story that exists in a nebulous time. There are through lines exploring industrialism and capitalism, but much of the musical’s visual palette is rendered as a timeless landscape. The result, for me, was feeling as though this story appeals to its audience on a fundamental human level, and anyone approaching the narrative could find much to connect with. By the end of the show, I found myself thinking about the impact of stories and the value of telling them time and again, even when you’ve already heard them and think you know their endings, and what they mean. Hadestown, as I argued in the article linked above, makes a case for the ongoing impact of mythology, Greek or otherwise.
Larger implications aside, Hadestown is a visual and musical masterpiece that puts a unique spin on Orpheus and Eurydice. If you can nab tickets, head straight to the show and don’t look back.
Hades, by Supergiant Games
Welcome to my latest video game obsession: Supergiant’s Hades is a roguelike game, meaning death is permanent and forces you to start from the beginning. Each run is different. Rooms change, rewards are altered, and you never know which boss or group of enemies might pop up.
Hades follows Zagreus, son of Hades, who attempts (over and over again) to escape the realm named for his father. Along the way, the Gods of Olympus intervene, bestowing boons on Zagreus. The boons increase his health, boost his abilities, or give him new powers.
The gameplay of Hades is *chef’s kiss.* Come for the tight controls and gameplay loop, stay for the lore. Between runs, Zagreus walks the halls of Hades and interacts with its denizens, including Nyx, Hypnos, Cerberus, Achilles, and others. Every character in Hades is expertly voice-acted, and the dialogue trees are seemingly unlimited. (Seriously, I did more than 100 runs and still never tired of hearing what these characters had to say.)
It’s clear the Supergiant team did their research. It’s also clear they weren’t afraid to put their own stamp on Hades, bringing the myths of yore to a distinctly modern medium. The game is a must-play thanks to its unique take on Greek myth and its amazing gameplay. It cleaned up at many a gaming awards show, and for good reason. Make like Dionysus and revel ecstatically in the glory of Hades.
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
I spoke briefly about my former reticence to read retellings in the Hadestown section above. When I first read Ariadne, I enjoyed the book but didn’t really click with it when it was released, then rethought my stance after seeing Hadestown. Now, I appreciate Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne in a new way. In the same vein as Madeline Miller’s Circe or The Song of Achilles (or so I’ve been told; I have yet to read them, though they’re on the list!), Ariadne tells a classic legend from a new and different perspective.
The eponymous protagonist, daughter of Minos, meets Theseus when he takes part in an annual sacrifice to the Minotaur. Theseus plans to upend the ritual and kill the minotaur. Ariadne leaves Crete with Theseus for a life of love and romance…or so she expects, until things take a turn.
Ariadne’s story isn’t the happy “riding off into the sunset” narrative that she initially expects. Saint’s book tells a starker side of the tale, in which Ariadne falls victim to the actions of ambitious and deceitful men—men who would later be deemed heroes for their deeds.
The book continues the popular, established trend of reimagining stories from a new perspective, one that paints the “heroes” in a very different light. Against a backdrop of a tale Greek mythology fans already know, Ariadne stands out as a fresh and thoughtful iteration of a well-known tale.
Santorini by Roxley Games
This is the first time a board game has appeared on one of my lists! For obvious reason, it’s hard to compare Santorini with the more formalized stories above, but by the gods, I’ll try!
Santorini is best played with two players, and I describe it to rookies as “kinda like chess, in that it requires strategy and is easy to understand but hard to master.” It also has much more of a cutesy flair in its design, and the gameplay offers many more mechanics to shake things up.
In its purest form, Santorini pits two builders against each other. Players attempt to move their builder to the top of a three-level structure. Opponents can build blue domes (the island of Santorini is famous for ’em, of course) to block opponents. Once you learn the base game, Santorini then introduces gods and other characters from Greek mythology. They expand the game further with unique abilities that make your moves (and your opponent’s) harder to predict.
Santorini doesn’t have a narrative through line beyond the nebulous goal of winning. But it’s fun to deploy the god powers and see how doing so alters the core tenets of the gameplay. Each god’s ability feels like a good fit, lore-wise, so there’s always a new, interesting avenue to explore as you seek victory over your friend (or enemy, at least until the game ends).
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Cue Sinatra’s “It Had To Be You,” because there was no way in Hades I wasn’t going to include Sandman on this list. In a way, I’m doing Sandman a disservice by only talking about Greek myth, here, since the series draws on countless mythologies and cultures. While acknowledging the much wider scope of Gaiman’s work, I’ll simply note that Greek mythology is prevalent in the series, particularly with regard to the Fates and Orpheus.
In Sandman canon, Orpheus is the son of the Muse Calliope and Morpheus, also known as Dream of the Endless, Sandman, Oneiros, King of Dreams, and many other names. To tell you exactly how their story pans out in Sandman would be like unraveling a precious tapestry by pulling on a stray thread, and I won’t attempt it here beyond the very highest level of synopses: Eurydice dies of a snake bite on the day or her wedding to Orpheus. Orpheus asks his father for help in reviving her, and he refuses. Orpheus swears off his father, but it certainly won’t be the last time they see one another…
The tale continues in portions of future Sandman volumes, playing with the interconnected mythologies that comprise Neil Gaiman’s epic story and world centered on the Dream King. It weaves in threads from many other pantheons, redefining the ancient stories for a larger purpose only readers who finish the series will completely grasp.
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As always, I’m looking for your take on the topic at hand! What stories or games (or musicals, comics, etc.) reference or reinvent Greek mythology in interesting ways, and why do you like them? Sing your odes in the comments!
Cole Rush writes words. A lot of them. For the most part, you can find those words at The Quill To Live or on Twitter @ColeRush1. He voraciously reads epic fantasy and science-fiction, seeking out stories of gargantuan proportions and devouring them with a bookwormish fervor. His favorite books are: The Divine Cities Series by Robert Jackson Bennett, The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, and The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune.
Not sci fi or fantasy, but Robert Browning’s The Ring and the Book uses Greek myths to good effect.
Can not wait for the Hades sequel!!!!
The vast majority of Thomas Burnett Swann’s novels are set in the worlds of Greco-Roman mythology and feature numerous mythical beings, such as dryads, satyrs and minotaurs, living alongside humans. Of particular note is the “Minotaur Trilogy,” consisting of Cry Silver Bells, The Forest of Forever, and Day of the Minotaur. So far as I know, only the latter two are currently in print or e-book form.
See also Green Phoenix and Queens Walk in the Dusk, both of which are set after the fall of Troy and feature Aeneas as a principal character.
You mentioned Circe already, and I second it, as well as The Silence of the Girls and its sequel, The Women of Troy, which tell the story of The Iliad from the point of view of Briseis, who is captured by Achilles but then surrendered to Agamemnon as a war prize, resulting in Achilles withdrawing from the battle, and, well, therein lies the tale.
EDIT: Iliad, not Aeneid, dolt.
@3) Swann also uses Etruscan-derived stuff (in The Weirwoods) — kind of an interesting variant. (And some Biblical stuff.)
Another example is the (very minor!) novel Pagan Passions, by Randall Garrett and Larry M. Harris (before he changed his name to Laurence Janifer.) The true Greek Gods and Goddesses return to Earth and take over again. It was part of a line attempting to promote “sex in SF” or something, so it has some (very mild) sex scenes.
Carrie Vaughn’s Discord’s Apple. “Hidden behind the basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again.”
Two words: Percy. Jackson.
And no, I don’t mean the questionable film adaptations, I mean the fun and enjoyable books about a modern lad who finds out that he is a Greek demigod. Wackiness ensues.
Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane was one of my favorite books of 2022–at times a very wild retelling of the story of Achilles. Jo Walton’s Thessaly books go crazy, marvelous places as well.
The Ilium / Olympos series by Dan Simmons is fantastic! A lovely twist on the Greek gods as well as mixing in Shakespeare and other things.
The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner is based in ancient Greece, although with different (but still recognisable) gods. Although it’s more of an alternate history, the books very much have the feel of the ancient Greek texts I’ve read (which are way weirder than modern re-tellings allow).
Jordana Max Brodsky, The Immortals (and sequels).
Urban fantasy murder mystery with Olympian Gods in NYC.
The second Dune book is basically Oedipus in space. Complete with eyes and everything.
The Gate to Women’s Country by Sherri Tepper has an interesting take on Greek mythology retelling.
David Drake’s Cross the Stars is a retelling of the Odyssey in his Hammer’s Slammers setting.
@@.-@) No, for the Aeneid, you want Ursula K. Le Guin’s Lavinia. A lovely book.
Soldier of the Mist and its sequels, by Gene Wolfe, draw fascinating characters and plot points from both Greek and Roman mythology.
Julian May’s Saga of the Exiles said, ‘what if the Greek gods were actually time travelers from the 22nd century’ whose adventures were passed down through time as done by gods / goddesses. In the connected Galactic Milieu trilogy, when Anne Remillard talks glowingly about the goddess Athena, the reader can guess *which* time traveller from the Exiles books she’s actually talking about.
I’d like to mention S.P. Somtow’s The Shattered Horse, about Astyanax surviving the fall of Troy, Orestes’ wanderings, the introduction of iron weapons and the impact they had on battle formations, and the passing of the era of Bronze age heroes. Einstein makes an appearance. It’s really wonderful and gritty and strange, but the kind of strange that would come from living in a world where the Iliad and Odyssey and the classical Greek tragedies could actually happen as written.
Sadly out of print, but Somtow’s other works seem to be appearing in e-editions, so perhaps this one will be next – and there are print copies around.
Going back to 1933, “Shambleau” by C. L. Moore suggested that the Greek myth of Medusa was inspired by a mysterious alien lifeform that visited Earth long, long ago.
A theme revisited by the classic STAR TREK episode, “Who Mourns for Adonais?,” which reveals that the Greek Gods were actually aliens who visited ancient Greece in bygone days.
Jo Walton’s Thessaly trilogy!
Jim Butcher’s “Skin Game” is a delightful tale of robbing a vault in Hades.
I’m pretty irritated. I could have sworn there was one of the pastiches of L. Sprague DeCamp’s Enchanter stories that included the inimitable Harold Shea visiting the world of Greek myth, but I can’t find it, and searching Amazon doesn’t help.
Still, there are surely enough stories with a Greek-myth basis, if I could only think of them. All the ones that come to mind have already been taken by earlier commenters, unfortunately.
Russell @3: Oh, I loved Thomas Burnett Swann! I still have my beat-up paperbacks of all his books.
And if you haven’t read Thorne Smith’s The Night Life of the Gods, you’ve missed something. Yes, it’s very old-fashioned, but it’s hilarious.
And C.S. Lewis’s retelling of Cupid and Psyche, Till We Have Faces, which I think is his best book ever.
Terra Ignota!!!!
Mary Renault’s The King Must Die & The Bull From The Sea. Told in the first person by Theseus. Theseus & Hippolyta is my favourite love story.
Her other novels are historical novels of ancient Greece: The Mask of Apollo about actors, The Praise Singer about the poet Simonides ,Fire From Heaven & The Persian Boy about Alexander of Macedon.
In Gods Behaving Badly (Marie Phillips), all 12 Olympians are crowded into a decaying house in London; they’re still recognizably Olympians, but they’re also right tossers who have no clues (Athena has no idea that she’s incomprehensible, Apollo wants Zeus to kill someone who turned him down rather than just turning her into a tree, etc.).
John M. Ford’s “Dateline: Colonus” is a modern midwest-USian setting of the very obscure middle part of the Thebes cycle (bracketed by the main stories of Oedipus and Antigone). Ford also relocated Orpheus (to San Francisco during the building of the Golden Gate Bridge) in “Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail”.
Sartre’s play The Flies inverts the stories of Electra and Orestes, attacking the gods as suppressers of human choice. (I’ve never heard Sartre mentioned as a genre writer, but the only other works of his that I’ve read (both assigned in high school!) are both genre: No Exit takes place in Hell, and The Chips Are Down (read as prose, although Wikipedia talks only about film versions) is about two ghosts given a chance to fix missed lives. Beagle may have been thinking of this work when he wrote A Fine and Private Place, although his work goes in a very different direction.)
Going even further back: the first Gilbert and Sullivan work, Thespis,: or The Gods Grown Old, has a batch of actors on a picnic climb Olympus, where they find the gods about as failed/irrelevant as Phillips’s versions. Most of the music for this was lost; whether that’s unfortunate depends on what you think of the work.
@12: could you expand? ISTR that the blinding is accidental rather than deliberate, that Paul is not condemned to wander, that there is no long-hidden incest or parricide brought to light, …
And how could I forget another Orpheus setting, Poul Anderson’s Hugo- and Nebula-winning “Goat Song“? (People with a background in classical literature will recognized the title at once, but I only understood it several years later, from Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe.)
ISFDB calls Tom Holt’s Walled Orchard duology non-genre, but I would have sworn the narrator is chivvied around by at least one god as he stumbles through the end of Athens’s golden/Periclean age, and that the god is real rather than a visualization of the narrator’s ego (which ISTM is what’s happening in the Renaults cited above — the story is out of myth but it’s driven by politics rather than supernaturals). Does anyone else remember this pair well enough to opine?
Also coming to mind is Fred Saberhagen’s The First Book of Swords (along with the Second and Third).
Also I am reminded of the Star Trek TOS episode, “Who Mourns for Adonais?”
While it’s not SFF, I highly recommend Stephen Fry’s Mythos (and his subsequent Heroes and Troy) for a retelling of the myths ab origine.
As one review put it, “it adds a lively, humorous and intimate to myth’s psychological dimension.”
I enjoyed Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Firebrand as a teenager and its centering of Kassandra, but would understand if it goes unread now given MZB’s bad history.
I second The Shattered Horse by S.P. Somtow, and Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes covers the Trojan War from a multitude of viewpoints, mortal and immortal, and all female.
Black Ships by Jo Graham is a lush retelling of the Aeneid.
@27) The Walled Orchard is my favorite Tom Holt novel (even including the K. J. Parker novels), and one of my favorite historical novels of all time. It is one of those novels in which the characters believe in things — like, in that case, the Greek gods — that we now call Fantasy. Thus, from the narrator’s perspective — and thus the book’s perspective — the gods really are real and he really does encounter a real god. This makes it borderline fantasy for me — but it’s also a pretty accurate historical novel as far as my knowledge can say. And it’s a great book — a very dark comedy; and also a personal and political tragedy, tremendously moving in a bitter way. So whether people want to call it Fantasy or not they ought to read it!
Holt has written a couple of loose (very loose) sequels that aren’t quite at that level but are definitely worth reading. And, of course, the original title of the first part of The Walled Orchard is the same as that of Poul Anderson’s story.
The Einstein Intersection, Samuel R. Delany’s Nebula-winning novel from 1967, is a postapocalyptic retelling of the Orpheus-Eurydice myth, with a little Thesus-and-the-Minotaur thrown in for good measure.
@10 I second the Queen’s Thief recommendation. Those books aren’t as well known as they should be.
@23 Till We Have Faces is my favorite CS Lewis novel.
And one more recommendation:
Ithaca, by Claire North (aka Catherine Webb) joins the trend of woman-centered retellings of Greek myth. And who doesn’t love Penelope?
Not to be strange but I’ve came to enjoy webfiction during 2020 and just last year I had of all things a Greco-Roman xianxa webfiction on Royal Road recommended to me and its GOOD. Its interesting how the author took the tropes of the more traditional xianxa novels and twisted them to work with a Greco-Roman bent. The characters are entertaining and the story is superb. I keep reading mostly for the character interactions. Its also very evident the author knows his stuff because the way the old myths are worked in is genius. To anyone who reads this I recommend giving Virtious Sons by Ya Boy a read. First Volume is on Kindle but the rest is still on Royal Road and new chapters come out usually monthly.
I was lucky enough to see Hadestown when it was pre-Broadway in Edmonton. Wondrous production, all the more interesting with the perspectives of Persephone and Eurydice. Ariadne was another great woman’s perspective work. And Sandman needs no cheerleading from me; a fascinating story arc.
I’m surprised no one has mention Gene Wolfe’s Soldier of the Mist (and Soldier of Arete, Soldier of Sidon), although admittedly Lucius only meets the Greek Gods.
I find it interesting that you considered Hadestown to be a “timeless landscape,” considering it seems to be very rooted in the Great Depression-era Rustbelt, particularly Hadestown itself. Neon, foundries, industry are all somewhat new to the level that Hades developed it at, with unpredictable weather that could absolutely destroy someone if they don’t take precautions…it seemed to be very rooted in that particular time period more than anything timeless.
Another story I’d mention is “Ulysses Dies at Dawn,” a fascinating concept album put together by The Mechanisms, an Oxford-based band that uses quite a bit of mythology and folklore to base their albums on. This one in particular plays with The Odyssey, though it also references several dozen other myths as well between the various characters, songs, and periphery stories and materials that the band put together around the album.
The novelette “Goat Song” by Poul Anderson. One of the best things he ever wrote–which is saying something. A retelling of the Orpheus myth. Won both Hugo and Nebula awards.
@28 Go a little later in Fred Saberhagen’s career and you will find:
1) The Face of Apollo
2) Ariadne’s Web
3) The Arms of Hercules
4) God of the Golden Fleece
5) Gods of Fire and Thunder
Probably my favorite Greek-myth-inspired fantasy is a YA book (as we’d say now) from my childhood, Patricia Miles’ The Gods in Winter.
Inside the Walls of Troy by Clemence McLaren remains my favorite Greek myth book retelling. It’s the story of the Trojan War split between Helen and Cassandra’s POVs.
I love the take she gives on Helen being kidnapped by Theseus, where he basically adopts her instead, and she actually faithfully depicts Helen and Menelaus having a good relationship. Plus, her Cassandra feels strong rather than overcome by her visions. Strongly recommend.
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
The web comic Theseus by J. Holt is a funny irreverent take on the myth, featuring a reluctant hero and chaotic Gods.
@23 Heartily concur re C.S.Lewis Till We Have Faces
@26 Likewise re Marie Phillips and Gods Behaving Badly
And since no one has mentioned it yet, I love Lore Olympus
Going back to the 1970s, and I have not read it since then so I cannot vouch for how it has aged, The Days of Glory by Brian Stableford recreates the whole of the Illead step by step as space opera. I did know this at the time, but only appreciated the extent of the rip off (or reimagining) when I read a decent translation of the Illead itself years later.
Two video games get coverage, but “Dark,” the brilliant German SF series gets no love? The amazing time travel tale from Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese threads the myths of Ariadne and the Labyrinth seamlessly into the fabric of spacetime. Okay, sorry, couldn’t help myself. Still, incredible work of fiction, still available on Netflix. Everyone should watch it.
Very good topic. Mr. Simmons Olympus and Ilium are Must reads BTW. Almost any fantasy written by an American or European, that isn’t Norse based, has Greek/Roman elements somewhere in there. Conan = Achilles? Yes of course he is in many ways. Saberhagen’s Swords are tremendous as well.