I've chosen to evaluate three of the hundreds of mythology websites currently on the World Wide Web in an attempt to get a feel for the variations used to convey information about the wealth of information on mythology. In order to provide a smaller frame of reference, my sites all focus (at least a substantial part) on Greek mythology, and in order to provide direct comparisons, all of the sites contain information on the goddess Demeter. I will evaluate the sites by comparing them to each other as well as to the Hendricks reading (p.42).

The first site I will evaluate is entitled Women in Classical Mythology. I chose the page because of its unique focus solely on women. As the page begins: "The ancient Greeks were an extremely patriarchal society. Their lives, their culture, their myths revolved around the men. Indeed, that is almost all we ever hear about. . . Nevertheless, the women did play an integral role in their society, whether the men acknowledged it or not." The site was created by a student at Princeton named Mark Woon who intended it as a "click and learn teaching aide" and now maintains it as a sort of pet project. The content is structured into four categories: Goddesses, Immortals, Mortals, and Groups. Each woman has her own page which usually includes a picture, the stories, the name of her Roman counterpart, and how the she is depicted in art (iconographic references).

As with most of the women on the site, Demeter's page notes who her parents are (Cronus and Rhea), other pertinent members of her family, and what it is that she represents ("generative forces"). The story of Demeter on this page bears some similarities to the Hendricks version from the Homeric Hymns, though here we see a different set of trials which Demeter faces while looking for her daughter. We are told only briefly of Demeter's change into the older woman Doso to raise Demophoon (Hendricks, 45). Instead, this version portrays Demeter as quite wrathful and angry- during the 9 days she roamed the earth she turned the daughters of Melpomene into Sirens for not helping her search, and as she wandered, her brother Poseidon tried to rape her not only in human form but also after they changed themselves into horses. Demeter hid in a cave on Mount Elaeus where she gave birth to a daughter (Despoena) and a stallion (Areion) who was eventually owned by Heracles. She was discovered by Pan and visited by the Fates. Here the story falls back in line with the Hendricks version where Zeus sends Hermes to get Persephone so Demeter will end the famine.

This variation of the story seems quite significant, and indeed portrays Demeter in a somewhat different light. In the Hendricks version we see her as a somewhat more nurturing figure, raising Domophoon as a god and not showing her vengeance until Metaneira intervenes. In this variation however, there is pity felt for Demeter not only for the loss of her daughter but for her rape by Poseidon and exile in a cave.

The usefulness of a site such as this is dependent on the fact that the subject matter covered is so focused. Because this page is designed to emphasize the role of women in Greek mythology, it is not a page where someone would go to get 'the whole story'. For this page to be most useful, people must first realize that the role of women in this mythological system was underplayed and also have an active interest in finding out more about their importance.

Mark Woon cites Classical Mythology (Fifth Edition) (Morford and Lanardon) as his primary source and well as Women in Classical Mythology (Bell). My only problem with the use of a textbook as a reference is that without that book it is impossible to tell the original source of the information. It is especially problematic in this case, where I am reading a different version of a story and don't know where it's coming from. This problem will be resolved as I proceed to my next evaluation.

The second site I evaluated is simply entitled The Olympian Gods. In my opinion, this was by far the most comprehensive site I looked at. The University of Victoria is in charge of the page and says it is intended for the use of the university's Greek and Roman Mythology majors. It is structured into three sections: Helpful Info (includes a timeline of Greek history and Literature), Classical Mythology (The Olympian Gods), and Credits. The Olympian Gods are listed alphabetically with separate links to Images and Texts. The text links usually begin with a few sentences of summary about the God/Goddess and are then divided into Birth, Domain, Sexual Encounters, Other Encounters, and Miscellaneous. Each division then cites links to the actual literary text reference (provided by the Perseus Project at Tufts University). It is absolutely terrific.

Demeter's page is quite extensive. It explains more about Demeter than a non-Greek and Roman Mythology major needs to know. The story in Hendricks is taken from the Homeric Hymns and as a look down under Other Encounters I see the Hades-Persephone 'encounter' and not just the Homeric Hymns reference but also links to two other works on the subject: Apollodorus 1.5.2 and Pausanias 8.42.2. (Here is where I find out that Mark Woon wasn't making stuff up- I investigate and find he used the story from Pausanias- I'm so naive.) In any case, when I link up to the Homeric Hymns, sure enough there's what we read in Hendricks and then some. I notice Hendricks edited out some of the repetition and changed some phrasing but it's undoubtedly the same source.

Reading the actual text was fantastic, and it's divided into smaller sections so its a little easier to manage. Even better than that was the fact that all important names and places are turned into links so that if at any point you forget who someone is, you can find out and get right back to the story. When you look something up it gives you alternate names, an Encyclopedia entry and a dictionary entry- not to mention art references. The other terrific thing about the page is that you can enter any verse number and press Go To and it will bring it to you.

As I mentioned, it's quite an extensive source for both literary and art references and its not a place you want to go if you want a quick story before bed. This site is not where you would go if you didn't know just what you were looking for- although the links to important people make it easier- you still need a basic knowledge about the stories to really get the most out of this site. I think as a student studying mythology that it's fantastic, because I know enough about the basic characters and authors to navigate around. You could literally read for days.

My final evaluation is of The Encyclopedia Mythica. This page is extensive in a different way than the University of Victoria site. Along with being able to search through Greek gods, there are identical search engines for Chinese, Etruscan, Greek, Haitian, Japanese, Latvian, Mayan, Native American, Norse, Persian, Roman, and Welsh mythological systems. All gods/goddesses are divided alphabetically. Its a huge database containing over 1800 entries. The site has won over 50 awards since its creation.

The Greek section of the page has almost 70 entries for the letter A alone. The wealth of names is somewhat overwhelming, and proves inconvenient if you don't know the god's name, but you know they represented such-and-such or did some notable feat. The second problem is that of those 70 listings, probably 20% of those were just 'place holders'- no information had been entered and it wasn't linked, but they just wanted you to know that they knew the name. That was indeed the case with the goddess Demeter. For a page as extensive as this to have no listing under one of the main Olympic deities seemed a serious oversite.

Not wanting to give up so soon, I took a chance on Persephone, figuring it would at least mention Demeter, and some synopsis of the story Hendricks tells or perhaps yet another variation. Typical of most of the entries I looked at, Persephone was only given two paragraphs which summarize fairly clearly the role she plays in the Hendricks/ Homeric Hymns version. In fairness, the summary is clear, short, and to the point. The author clearly states, "This myth is a symbol of the budding and dying of nature." (No guesswork here.) All of the information is accurate although after reading the Homeric Hymns version in full I think this and all summaries of this story should indicate more clearly the fact that Hades tricked her into eating the pomegranate- it's not like she just took it along as a snack. I was under the impression that it was some sort of agreed upon contract between she and Hades. According to this page, "before she went back he gave Persephone a pomegranate to eat, thus she would always be connected to his realm". The Homeric Hymns give a more detailed view:

"But he on his part secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain continually with grave, dark-robed Demeter."

Homeric Hymns 2.347

I think of this site as the "cheat sheet" of the mythology web sites I looked at. Or maybe its more like a refresher course. On the whole, the entries are almost always too short- but certainly easy to understand. They too include internal links to names that may not be recognized, as well as the Roman name. The site itself has its advantages certainly for people who don't know Zeus from Poseidon and don't want to read for 3 hours or even three pages to find out. On such a basic level one thing the other two sites had that perhaps this site could use is some sort of visual reference or at least some mention of iconography associated with the god. Having just come from the University of Victoria site and reading Homeric Hymns though, I see this page as targeted toward people who have little or no knowledge of Greek mythology- kind of the bare bones. I feel like whoever organized the site really bit off more than they could chew - there's potential for so much more information.

My final gripe with this site is its references. The stories are so short I'll admit it's hard to say who wrote it, so much of it has been cut out. But there's one reference section for the entire site with no distinctions between which references went with which systems of mythology. References for the stories in Haitian mythology are right in there with Homer's Odyssey. There were about four references for Joseph Campbell, which gave me hope, but Bullfinch's is in there instead of Hendricks and there was a generic Norse myth book instead of the Prose Edda or Davidson. But, like I said, the site doesn't cover detailed material. It covered general material that you could get from a general reference book.

On a final note, having evaluated these three sites and looked at a good deal more, I've noticed a recurring factor. They primarily focus on searching for an individual god or goddess and what their most famous adventures were and don't provide a holistic view of how all of these deities worked together- why some of the things they do are a direct result of something they have done before. (I wish I could find an example- I know this is true.) Then again, on the whole these pages are directed toward a broader general audience, who aren't interested in why Hercules had to kill the Hydra, for example, they just need to know who did.

The Encyclopedia Mythica http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/topics/greek/ (1 February 1997).

Bowman, Laurel. The Olympian Gods. 1996. http://web.UVic.CA/athena/bowman/myth/gods.html (1 February 1997).

Hendricks, Rhoda. Classical Gods and Heroes. New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1974.

Woon, Mark. Women in Classical Mythology. 1996. http://vanaheim.princeton.edu/Myth/old.index.html (1 February 1997).