This is an attempt to gather material relating to the history and development of religion. Many of the books below may be downloaded for free on the internet; they are directly linked to the download page. Most are available on Project Gutenberg which provides the material in a large number of formats varying from HTML for reading on line, to kindle (.mobi) and as plain text (.txt). Some additional related material is included for interest.
Books (Free):
- "The Golden Bough" by Sir James George Frazer
- "The Five Stages of Greek Religion" by Gilbert Murray
- "Euripides and His Age" by Gilbert Murray
- "The Electra of Euripides" by Euripides (translation by Gilbert Murray)
- "The Legacy of Greece" by various (RW Livingstone-editor)
- "The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates" by Xenophon
- Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer
- "The Iliad" - Homer
- "The Odyssey" - Homer
- "Homer and Classical Philology" - FW Nietzsche
- "The Religion of The Ancient Celts" - J.A. MaCulloch
- "An Account of Egypt" - Herodotus (English) (Greek)
- "The Will to Believe" -William James
- "The Varieties of Religious Experience" - William James
- "Pragmatism" - William James
Books (non-free):
- The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
- The Mediterranean in the Ancient World by Fernand Braudel
- The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth and Dramayth and Drama by Lord Raglan
- Mythology by Edith Hamilton
- The Greek Myths:1 by Robert Graves
- The Greek Myths:2 by Robert Graves
- Travelling Heroes: Greeks and Their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer by Robin Lane Fox
- The Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
- Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary
Podcasts:
1. "History of Philosophy without any gaps" (Thanks to consciousness razor for link)
Direct link to Hellenistic Period
Articles:
1. "Bring back the Greek gods" by Mary Lefkowitz
Other Links:
1. The Hero Pattern (based on Joseph Campbell)