This book is well worth purchasing. It was originally published as Bullfinch's Age of Fable in 1855. It was rewritten and republished by Edward Everett Hale after the American Civil War. It was rewritten and enlarged by Gayley in 1893 and has been in print ever since. It has been in print because its review of Greco-Roman myths is so useful to those studying literature, poetry, or art. Indeed, it is available on Amazon from different publishers.

Part one coves myths of gods and heroes; creation myths, the heavenly gods, the earth gods, and the gods of the waters and the underworld. It covers the Trojan War, the wanderings of Ulysses and of Aeneas, and the war between the Trojans and the Latins. Remembering those who love music, it even covers the Norse gods, old Germanic heroes, and what you need to know to appreciate Wagner's Ring Cycle opera.

Part two looks at the history of these myths and their distribution throughout the world.

The last part is a commentary on the earlier parts which Gayley added to the earlier work. Its function is to point out problems in the earlier text, poems that were not mentioned in the other sections, and to notice ancient or modern sculptures that are relevant.

Lastly, there is a very full index of mythological subjects and a second index of modern authors and modern artists. With these two indexes, you may not need to purchase the Oxford Classical Dictionary or the Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, although I find it useful to have all three on my reference shelf. That said, I may add that Classic Myths does what the above two books do not: it provides a narrative discussion of the myths whereas they break the myths up into short entries as befits a dictionary or encyclopedia.