How Greek and Roman myths have influenced culture.

Monsters, metamorphosing and maxing and relaxing with the gods – it’s little wonder classical myths have provided Western culture with so much inspiration over the years. From Hollywood movies to high art, Greek and Roman myths have been mined, adapted, interpreted and recreated endlessly. On this site alone, we stock Nike, whose name is taken from the Greek goddess of strength, speed and victory – the swoosh denoting her wings – and Aries, whose retro-styled streetwear is embellished with Ionic columns and mythical characters such as Hercules. So why is it that these classical myths, some of which originated more than three millennia ago, are still relevant today?

Flying Too Close To The Sun seeks to answer this question by exploring the enduring impact classical mythic tales have had on art, from antiquity to the present day. Via neat retellings of more than 20 of the most famous Greek and Roman myths and 200 artworks from the past 2,500 years, from artists such as Mr Pablo Picasso, Ms Tracey Emin, Mr Jeff Koons and Caravaggio, it highlights the fascinating history of the relationship between myth and art. But as well as juxtaposing ancient and modern pieces, the book explores literary and art theory and provides an insight into the frames of interpretation that make myths, in their many cultural forms, so relevant to us today.

So why do these myths continue to resonate? They may well seem fantastical, with metamorphoses, flying and divine intervention all common occurrences, but the themes they explore – love, lust, envy, rage, rejection and familial relationships – are inherently human. The book explains how literary critic Mr Roland Barthes saw myth as an ideological interpretation of events, a veil that transforms the mundane into something more significant, perhaps even godly. Conversely, myths also provide a more palatable way of tackling troubling subject matter. By creating a degree of separation from real life, uncomfortable topics such as incest (Zeus and Hera, Zeus and Persephone, Zeus and Aphrodite – Zeus was a pretty dodgy guy), rape (Bacchus and Ariadne, Danaë and Zeus and the golden rain) and emotional trauma become easier to process and address.

The book also explores the stories of many mythical figures now deified in modern culture. The Birth Of Venus by Mr Sandro Botticelli (Venus standing nude in a shell, the paragon of beauty) is one of the best known classical artworks and one that is much referenced in contemporary society, most notably mimicked recently by Ms Beyoncé Knowles in her pregnancy shoot. But although Venus (known to the Greeks as Aphrodite) is the personification of divine beauty, her history is a little gorier. She was born fully formed from the foam created when the castrated testicles of her father Zeus fell into the sea. How charming.

Among the more familiar mythical heroes depicted in the book is Hercules. The “Farnese Hercules” (pictured above), a towering marble figure with his club and lion skin, is one of the most iconic sculptures from antiquity. But it takes on a whole new meaning when juxtaposed, as it is in the book, with British artist Mr Matthew Darbyshire’s 2014 sculpture chiselled from polystyrene. Is it a comment on the deconstruction of masculinity in the modern world? That’s certainly one interpretation. But if Flying Too Close To The Sun shows us anything, it’s that the power of myth lies in its limitless ability to provide us with whatever interpretation of humanity we might be searching for.

Flying Too Close To The Sun: Myths In Art From Classical To Contemporary (Phaidon) is published on 11 May

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