Primary Literature

Eastern Tradition

• The Epic of Gilgamesh (transl. by Andrew George)
• Mahabharata (incl. the Bhagavad Gita)

• The Iliad (Homer)
• The Odyssey (Homer)
• Edda (the 'Poetic Edda')
• Edda (Snorri Sturluson; the 'Prose Edda')
• The Kalevala (Elias Lönnrot)

Collections of Myths (and Legends)

• Myths from Mesopotamia (Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, And Others; transl. by Stephanie Dalley)
• Myths of the World (Michael Jordan)
• Creation Myths of America (Jeremiah Curtin)
• Norse Myths (Kevin Crossley-Holland)
• Beowulf (e.g. the dual language edition transl. by Howell Chickering, Jr.)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Mabinogion

Analytical and Critical Works, Interpretations

• Greek Mythology (Robert Graves)
• Deutsche Mythologie (Jakob Grimm; 3 Volumes, only available in German; Grimm's interpretations are at times a little far-fetched, but the books represent still one of the most complete references of German mythology; English transl. by J.S. Stallybrass: Teutonic Mythology)
• Teutonic Mythology (Viktor Rydberg; transl. by R.B. Anderson)
• The Golden Bough (James G. Frazer; a fundamental analysis of myths and their functions, originally in 1890 two volumes, later 1906-15 expanded to 12 volumes, but eventually in 1922 abbreviated to one volume)
• Mythology of the British Isles (Geoffrey Ashe)
• The White Godess (Robert Graves; a much disputed book, not the least because of its many cross-references to classical and hebrew myths)
• The Masks of God (Joseph Campbell; 4 Volumes)
• The Encyclopedia of Mythology: Classical, Celtic, Norse (Arthur Cotterell)

For more information about Tolkien's sources and influences see also: TolkiensSources