The Greek myths: Soap opera of the gods [audio 43min]

Are you a touch narcissistic? Do you have the body of an Adonis? Are you willing to undertake Herculean tasks or Promethean ventures? Perhaps you have an Oedipus complex? If you answer to any or perhaps all of these, you owe something to the Greek myths, a collection of weird and wonderful stories that, like Penelope’s shroud or the needlework of Arachne, was constantly woven and unpicked across centuries of Greek and Roman civilisation. The myths have a cast of thousands, including mighty Zeus, Jason and the Argonauts, wily Odysseus, beautiful Aphrodite, and Cerberus, the three-headed dog. They are funny, shocking, quirky and epic, and have retained their power and their wisdom from the ancient world to the modern. Presenter Melvyn Bragg investigates the history of ideas and debates their application in modern life with his guests Nick Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Classics at Royal Holloway, University of London; Richard Buxton, Professor of Greek Language and Literature at the University of Bristol; and Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge University. Baron Bragg -- historian, journalist, novelist -- is Domus Fellow, St Catherine's College, Oxford; Chancellor of Leeds University; President of Britain's National Campaign for the Arts; a Governor of the London School of Economics; and Chair of Britain's Arts Council Literature Panel.