Shakespeare A to Z | Gods and Goddesses
Most people today have only a limited knowledge of the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome. Elizabethans, on the other hand, were quite familiar with classical* myths. Grammar schools, such as the one Shakespeare probably attended, offered a Greek and Latin curriculum, so anyone with a basic education was well versed in the tales of ancient gods and goddesses. Even those with no formal schooling had enough exposure to classical mythology to understand many of the references to the traditional figures and legends that appear in the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
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