La Sagesse des mythes

La Sagesse des mythes (lit. 'The Wisdom of Myths') is a series of French comic books that retell famous myths. The series was created by the philosopher Luc Ferry and is published by Glénat Editions since 2016. It was originally exclusively based on Greek mythology but has included other stories since 2019.

Creation
The philosopher Luc Ferry used the title La Sagesse des mythes for a 2008 book where he argued for the relevance of Greek myths in the contemporary world. It was published in English in 2014 as The Wisdom of the Myths.

The idea to make a comic-book series came from the desire to provide the latest scholarship about Greek mythology in a popular form, as Ferry thought that popular presentations of the stories usually contain many errors. He initiated the project in collaboration with the publishing house Glénat Editions, based on Grenoble. At the launch of the project in 2016, 30 volumes were at the planning stage. Beginning with a three-part adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, of which the first volume was published in November 2019, the series has included some stories from outside of Greek mythology.

Ferry's interpretations and retellings of the myths are influenced by Timothy Gantz and Jean-Pierre Vernant. All the stories are written by Ferry, who writes around 30 pages for each album, which Clotilde Bruneau turns into manuscripts. The artistic director for the whole series is Didier Poli and the cover art is created by Frédéric Vignaux. The images are drawn in the ligne claire style and the colour scheme is intended to use colours associated with ancient Greece. The artists for the individual albums are chosen by Poli and Glénat's editorial director Benoît Cousin.

Volumes
Prométhée et la boîte de Pandore, Thésée et le Minotaure, Persée et la Gorgone Méduse, Antigone, La Naissance des dieux, Tantale et autres mythes de l'orgueil and Orphée et Eurydice have also been republished through the book club France Loisirs.