The volume is divided into seven chapters. The brief introduction describes the topic and the material that the book will cover (i.e. Homer, Hesiod and the Hymns), the methodology that it will use and the scholarly traditions in which it sets itself. The first chapter, ‘The Threat of Thetis’, returns to the familiar question of Thetis' role in the ancient conflicts of divine succession, and it proposes to read some prominent passages of both Homeric epics through the theme of generational strife. The second chapter, ‘The Golden Chain of Hera’, expands on the earlier discussion and attempts to reconstruct, through allusions, parallels and references, the precise sequence of events that lie behind Hera's opposition to Zeus and her challenge to his order in the Iliad. The third chapter, ‘The Reordering of the Universe’, follows roughly the same pattern as the second chapter and seeks to recover the presence and the impact of Poseidon's challenge to the supremacy of Zeus in the poem, notably Book 15. The fourth chapter, ‘The Birth of Athena’, is chiefly concerned with Hesiod's Theogony, the opposition between male and female it sets up in its narrative of conflict, and the dangers of Metis' procreative powers. It argues for Athena's birth as one of the seals of Zeus's definitive triumph. Interest for the Near Eastern antecedents of the myths being considered, one of the recurrent ideas of the book, comes to the fore of this chapter. The fifth chapter, ‘Prometheus, God of Forethought’, focuses on the character of Prometheus in the Theogony and attempts to recover ‘the design and inner logic of the myth as presented by Hesiod’. It is chiefly concerned with the apparent inconsistencies of the Hesiodic narrative, which it attempts to resolve by describing how they all contribute to better defining the sovereignty of Zeus. The sixth chapter, ‘Typhon, Son of Hera’, proposes a close reading of the description of Typhon's birth in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, and proceeds to read the hymn through this event, notably the first scene of the poem, where the young god, it is argued, would be shown coming to Olympus after his slaying of Typhon's nurse. The seventh chapter, ‘The Bitter Sorrow of Aphrodite’, traces the subordination of Aphrodite's dangerous seductive powers to the supremacy of Zeus in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. A brief epilogue returns to the questions raised in the introduction.

This book has many qualities, not least of which is the fact that it is clearly written and well produced. There are few typos (e.g. αἰειγενετάτων on p. 85) and the sections are usefully labelled. It offers close readings of all the relevant passages in early hexametric poetry, many original insights and observations, and good critical engagement with much of the scholarship. The straightforward review of the evidence is solidly commonsensical and devoid of jargon. But the main qualities of the book also point to its weaknesses. Although it laudably uses and discusses a good deal of earlier scholarship, the volume fails to take much of the more current scholarship into consideration, and many crucial methodological assumptions are left unexamined. The considerable amount of recent research on ancient Greek polytheism, the logic of pantheons and the many webs of relations that unite the different divinities under the rule of Zeus, on the nature of Greek gods and their names, or the archaic notions of order and sovereignty, is barely mentioned. Some important and directly relevant studies are entirely absent from the discussion. The work of V. Pirenne-Delforge and of G. Pironti on Aphrodite, for instance, is nowhere to be found in Chapter 7. The fact that the active bibliography is almost entirely in English adds to this impression of selective coverage. Significant aspects of the investigation depend on some general references to Near Eastern influence. Analysis of the various allusions considered in the book sometimes seem to consist in reconstructing the earlier, ‘real’ narrative thread behind the text. Questions of archaic intertextuality, the transmission of traditions in epic poetry, ‘myth’, perspective and the constraints of narrative are not explored in as much detail as they should be with such rich material. Not always based on a discernible methodology or mode of interpretation, some of the readings (e.g. Hera and the Gigantomachy in Chapter 2; Achilles as a parallel of Poseidon in Chapter 3), as interesting as they generally are, can also seem strained.