Greek or Roman equivalent of Bible

Question

Wondering if there are any documents that document the Greek or Roman mythologies in a way similar to the bible, in that it acts as a comprehensive resource for all the knowledge about it. Maybe Metamorphosis is an example, I am not sure. Also, I am not talking about the Greek form of the Bible. I am instead just asking about Greek or Roman mythology documentation in ancient sources, what some good resources are.

Answer 1

In terms of comprehensiveness, the Bibliotheca of (Pseudo-)Apollodorus (text) is probably the best single work for Greek mythology.

Older sources, such as Homer, Hesiod, lyric poets (e.g. Pindar) and playwrights (e.g. Sophocles) are all important sources of myths, but each work usually deals with a single myth rather than a documentation of myths. For example, Homer's Iliad deals only with the Trojan War, in fact only a certain period of time in the middle of the war; whereas the Bibliotheca summarizes the story in a few paragraphs (epitome, 3-4).

However, in antiquity, the knowledge of the myths would have been common knowledge from oral tradition, but Homer and other authors were studied and quoted as texts (oral or written), so in that respect they are more similar to the Bible.

I know of no similar prose work for Roman mythology, but Ovid's Metamorphoses is more comprehensive than the early Greek sources were. However, Virgil's Aeneid, though not by any means a compilation of myths, was studies in schools, alongside Homer (cf. Confessions 1.8).

Answer 2

One would have to start with the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, the Theogony by Hesiod and the Aeneid by Virgil, in addition to the aforementioned Metamorphosis by Ovid.