Tales of the Greek Heroes: Retold From the Ancient Authors


Roger Lancelyn Green - 1958
    This book presents the great stories of the heroic age - "Dionysus", "Heracles", "Theseus", "The Quest for the Golden Fleece", and many more.

The Gods of the Greeks


Karl Kerényi - 1951
    The lively and highly readable narrative is complemented by an appendix of detailed references to all the original texts and a fine selection of illustrations taken from vase paintings.

Poems and Fragments


Sappho
    late 7th and early 6th centuries B.C.E.), whose work is said to have filled nine papyrus rolls in the great library at Alexandria some 500 years after her death. The surviving texts consist of a lamentably small and fragmented body of lyric poetry--among them, poems of invocation, desire, spite, celebration, resignation, and remembrance--that nevertheless enables us to hear the living voice of the poet Plato called the tenth Muse.Stanley Lombardo's translations give us a virtuoso embodiment of Sappho's voice, whose telltale charm, authority, immediacy, directness, intensity, and sudden changes of tone are among the hallmarks of his masterly translation.Pamela Gordon introduces us to the world of Sappho, discusses questions surrounding the transmission of her manuscripts, offers advice on reading these texts, and concludes with an enlightening discussion of same-sex desire in Sappho.

Creation


Gore Vidal - 1981
    -- and embellishes it with his own ironic humor, brilliant insights, and piercing observations. We meet a vast array of historical figures in a staggering novel of love, war, philosophy, and adventure . . . "There isn't a page of CREATION that doesn't inform and very few pages that do not delight."-- John Leonard, The New York Times

The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia


Epicurus - 1994
    From the first years of its development, however, Epicureanism faced hostile opposition, and, as a result, much of our evidence for the content of this teaching is unhelpful and even misleading. "The Epicurus Reader" fills the need for a reliable selection and translation of the main surviving evidence, some of it never previously translated into English.Included here, with the exception of "Lucretius De Rerum Natura", are the most important surviving ancient texts of a system of thought that even today remains a powerful living philosophy. "The Epicurus Reader" will be greatly welcomed by anybody who teaches Hellenistic Philosophy, or Epicureanism in particular, at any level. It offers a judicious and ample selection of texts, including the only extant writings by Epicurus. More importantly it provides a reliable, often admirably accurate translation of these sometimes difficult texts. Finally, there is an introduction the general reader or the undergraduate will find very helpful.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories


Arthur Conan Doyle - 2011
    Who is it, you ask? Why, it's elementary! Sherlock Holmes, the famous gumshoe of 221B Baker Street. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--the man who made him famous in such tales as The Hound of the Baskervilles and A Study in Scarlet--changed the world of mysteries, inspiring legions of devoted fans. Whether you're a devotee or you've yet to be awed by Holmes's powers of deduction, you'll love this Canterbury Classics edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous works, including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four, The Valley of Fear, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, and The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. The perfect book to complete any bookshelf, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories features an eye-catching leather-bound cover with gold foil stamping, as well as fine ivory paper with gilded edges. You'll be spellbound by Conan Doyle's descriptive prose, and then delight in displaying this beautiful book in your home. A classic keepsake for fans of detective novels, as well as all great literature, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories  is the perfect addition to any library.

Four Tragedies and Octavia (Thyestes, Phaedra, Troades, Oedipus, Octavia)


Seneca
    Thyestes depicts the menace of an ancestral curse hanging over two feuding brothers, while Phaedra portrays a woman tormented by fatal passion for her stepson. In The Trojan Women, the widowed Hecuba and Andromache await their fates at the hands of the conquering Greeks, and Oedipus follows the downfall of the royal House of Thebes. Octavia is a grim commentary on Nero's tyrannical rule and the execution of his wife, with Seneca himself appearing as an ineffective counsellor attempting to curb the atrocities of the emperor.

The Way Things Are


Lucretius
    [captures] the relentless urgency of Lucretius' didacticism, his passionate conviction and proselytizing fervour.' --The Classical Review

The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece


Paul Anthony Cartledge - 2002
    This book, written by one of the world’s leading experts on Sparta, traces the rise and fall of Spartan society and explores the tremendous influence the Spartans had on their world and even on ours. Paul Cartledge brings to life figures like legendary founding father Lycurgus and King Leonidas, who embodied the heroism so closely identified with this unique culture, and he shows how Spartan women enjoyed an unusually dominant and powerful role in this hyper-masculine society. Based firmly on original sources, The Spartans is the definitive book about one of the most fascinating cultures of ancient Greece.

Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre


Walter Kaufmann - 1956
    This volume provides basic writings of Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Rilke, Kafka, Ortega, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus, including some not previously translated, along with an invaluable introductory essay by Walter Kaufmann.

Classical Literary Criticism


Penelope Murray - 2000
    In Ion, Plato examines the god-like power of poets to evoke feelings such as pleasure or fear, yet he went on to attack this manipulation of emotions and banished poets from his ideal Republic. Aristotle defends the value of art in his Poetics, and his analysis of tragedy has influenced generations of critics from the Renaissance onwards. In the Art of Poetry, Horace promotes a style of poetic craftsmanship rooted in wisdom, ethical insight and decorum, while Longinus’ On the Sublime explores the nature of inspiration in poetry and prose. This edition of these landmarks texts includes an introduction by Penelope Murray, which discusses the literary background since Homer and sets the work of each critic in context. It also includes suggestions for further reading, a chronology and explanatory notes. Table Of Contents: Table of contents Introduction 1. Homer and the Early Greek Poets 2. Aristophanes 3. Gorgias and the Sophists 4. Plato 5. Aristotle 6. The Alexandrians 7. Horace 8. Longinus 9. Epilogue Further Reading Literary Chronology Plato Ion Republic 2 Republic 3 Republic 10 Aristotle Poetics Horace The Art of Poetry Longinus On the Sublime Notes

Plato's Republic


David Roochnik - 2005
    It poses one question after another that might well have been drawn from the headlines and debates of our nation's recent history: What sort of person should rule the state? Are all citizens equal before the law? Should everyone have equal access to health care? Plato's greater inquiry, however, was into the question of defining justice itself and the reasons why a person would choose a life aligned with that virtue.These 24 remarkable lectures lead you through the brilliant dialogue Plato crafted both to define and examine the issues with which political philosophy still grapples.Chapter by chapter, Professor Roochnik introduces you to Plato's literary recasting of his own great teacher, Socrates, and the dialogue through which Socrates and the Republic's other characters create the hypothetical ideal city. It is by dissecting life in this presumably just city - the "Republic" of Plato's title - that the nature of justice itself can be examined.Many of Plato's ideas will startle contemporary readers, who may recognize in them the foreshadowing of some of humankind's darkest moments. Indeed, some have called the Republic the "great-great-grandfather of all totalitarian experiments." You'll wrestle with Plato's controversial vision, and you'll be surprised just how contemporary these arguments sound.

The Age of Fable


Thomas Bulfinch - 1855
    The so-called divinities of Olympus have not a single worshipper among living men. They belong now not to the department of theology, but to those of literature and taste. There they still hold their place, and will continue to hold it, for they are too closely connected with the finest productions of poetry and art, both ancient and modern, to pass into oblivion.

The Birth of Tragedy / The Case of Wagner


Friedrich Nietzsche - 1888
    Its youthful faults were exposed by him in the brilliant 'Attempt at a Self-Criticism' which he added to the new edition of 1886. But the book, whatever its excesses, remains one of the most relevant statements on tragedy ever penned. It exploded the conception of Greek culture that was prevalent down thru the Victorian era. It sounded themes developed in the 20th century by classicists, existentialists, psychoanalysts & others. The Case of Wagner (1888) was one his last books & his wittiest. In attitude & style it's diametrically opposed to The Birth of Tragedy. Both works transcend their ostensible subjects & deal with art & culture, as well as the problems of the modern age generally. Each book in itself gives us an inadequate idea of its author; together, they furnish a striking image of Nietzsche's thought. The distinguished new translations by Walter Kaufmann superbly reflect in English Nietzsche's idiom & the vitality of his style. Kaufmann has also furnished running footnote commentaries, relevant passages from Nietzsche's correspondence, a bibliography, &, for the 1st time in any edition, an extensive index to each book.

Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity


Sarah B. Pomeroy - 1975
    Though much debated, its position as the basic textbook on women's history in Greece and Rome has hardly been challenged."--Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement. Illustrations.