The God Beneath the Sea is a children's novel based on Greek mythology, written by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen, illustrated by Charles Keeping, and published by Longman in 1970. It was awarded the annual Carnegie Medal (Garfield & Blishen) and commended for the companion Greenaway Medal (Keeping) by the British Library Association. Pantheon Books published a U.S. edition with illustrations by Zevi Blum in 1971.
The novel begins with newborn Hephaestus (the titular god beneath the sea) cast from Mount Olympus by his mother Hera. He is raised in a grotto by Thetis and Eurynome and the two goddesses tell him various Greek creation myths. The novel continues with myths of the Olympians and the age of gods and mortals, and concludes with Hephaestus returning to Olympus, having been cast down for a second time after reproaching Zeus.
Garfield, Blishen, Keeping, and Longman collaborated on a sequel entitled The Golden Shadow (1973, ISBN 9780582151628). It is based on myths of the later heroic age, when divine activity was limited.
Read more about The God Beneath The Sea: Plot, Development and Themes, Literary Significance and Reception, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words god, beneath and/or sea:
“Thy hatred for this misery befallen;
On me already lost, me than thyself
More miserable. Both have sinned, but thou
Against God only; I against God and thee,
And to the place of judgment will return,
There with my cries importune Heaven, that all
The sentence, from thy head removed, may light
On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe,
Me, me only, just object of his ire.””
—John Milton (1608–1674)
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Lingering after all the rest:
Plainer myrtle pleases me
Thus outstretched beneath my vine,
Myrtle more becoming thee,
Waiting with thy master’s wine.”
—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8)
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—John Farrow. Consul in Valparaiso, The Sea Chase (1955)