In this new edition of Greek Mythology and Poetics, Gregory Nagy revisits the relationship between myth and ritual in ancient Greek society. His far-reaching assessment provides fresh illumination of the forces of interaction and change that transformed the Indo-European linguistic and cultural heritage into distinctly Greek social institutions between the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C.E.

Nagy's major essays on various aspects of the Hellenization of Indo-European poetics, myth and ritual, and social ideology, examine the Greek language as a reflection of society, with special attention to its function as a vehicle for transmitting mythology and poetics. His emphasis on the language of the Greeks, and on comparison with the testimony of related Indo-European languages such as Latin, Indic, and Hittite, reflects his long-standing interest in Indo-European linguistics. Altogether, the second edition of Greek Mythology and Poetics is a path-breaking application of the principles of social anthropology, comparative mythology, historical linguistics, and the study of oral traditions.