I know nothing about Greek mythology

Greek mythology is a body of ancient stories about gods, heroes, monsters, but also about the world, its origins, and the forces that run through it. It is not just old folklore or a long list of complicated names: it is a way of talking about family, power, desire, fear, justice, violence, and death through memorable figures and narratives. In other words, Greek mythology speaks about another world, but also very much about our own.

Because these stories still speak about things we know extremely well: family conflicts, ambition, jealousy, love, loss, pride, transgression, the need for order, or the attraction of chaos. Greek mythology is not meant to make us believe in the modern sense of the word: it helps us think, imagine, and give strong narrative form to fundamental human experiences. If it still reaches us across the centuries, that is because it continues to resonate with emotions and situations that remain timeless.

Because Greek mythology really is complex. Ancient traditions do not always say the same thing, some characters have several filiations depending on the source, and a single myth may exist in multiple versions. Added to that is the impression of facing a mass of names without landmarks. So the difficulty does not come only from the reader: it also comes from the material itself.

No. There is no single version that overrides all the others. Greek myths are known through diverse ancient sources, produced at different times, in different places, and for different purposes. Some traditions converge, others diverge. We can identify versions that are more central or better known, but that does not erase the variants.

You can begin with a character if a name is already familiar to you, with a story if you want a narrative first, with genealogy if you want to understand how figures are connected, or with the ancient texts if you want to go back to the sources. There is no single correct entry point: the best way is to start with whatever attracts you most, then move gradually between the different approaches.

What we know about Greek mythology comes mainly from ancient sources: poets, dramatists, mythographers, later authors, and ancient commentaries. It is not a truth fixed once and for all by a single authority, but a long work of transmission, comparison, and interpretation based on texts preserved over time.