English has devised a way of dealing with this, the use of the singular they/them/their where the antecedent is not precisely known. It would be more common if it were not for the strictures of the grammatically hidebound, who no doubt long for the good old days when thou was the singular form and you the plural. Before you dismiss this as political correctness raising its head again, I would direct your attention to this little article: Everybody Loves Their Jane Austen http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austheir.html
A wonderful article, Bingley! I thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Yes, the use of “he” as the generic singular pronoun when referring to a person of unspecified gender, e.g. “When a person wants to study Greek, he should be prepared to work hard.” It’s sexist, yes, but that is how the English language works. Get used to it.
If someone wants to learn Greek, they should be prepared to work hard.
Perfectly good English, used from Chaucer down to the present day.
i also love reading Robert Graves retelling of the Greek myths which i have in a two volume Folio edition.
For something a bit more academic, I would recommend “Classical Mythology” by Mark Morford and Robert Lenardon, Longmans, London and New York. I have the 3rd edition, 1985.
I have found this to be a very useful reference when I have read a myth in my Greek reader and wisch to check it out further. For example, I recently looked up the story of Iphigenia. The book has a whole chapter on the “Mycenean saga” and a very useful famliy tree for the house of Atreus. It has chapters on the GReek Gods, GReek Sagas and heroes, Roman Mythology and Classical n Music and Film.
I’m reading Apollodorus’ Library right now (in Greek) from the Loeb Library, it covers most of the geneologies and a bunch of the Greek Myths…it’s not too difficult of Greek either.
It is so wonderful to witness the thread transformation from Greek mythology to the political corectness of m/f forms in one language.
However, back to Thucydides. Robert Graves is doubted by meny scientists (unfortunately, I say). Mabybe you should try with Mircea Eliade, The guide to world religions. It is good thing to start with, cuz it’s giving a somewhat wider picture. For getting deeper into it, I’m using a lexicon of Greek mythology. If you can find something like that, it might work for you as well. These lexions are providing you with all variants of a myth related to a certain god, godess, hero etc.