City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek

.The "Odyssey" of Homer (P.S.) (P.S.)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Richmond Lattimore

August 01, 2007

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.The Three Theban Plays: 'Antigone', 'Oedipus the King', 'Oedipus at Colonus' (Penguin Classics)
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by: Sophocles

April 26, 1984
I had read - and dismissed - Antigone in high school. Like many of the books I dismissed in my adolescence, it's actually heartbreakingly brilliant. Fagles' translation is beautiful and moving, contemporizing the language without destroying meaning or stretching plausibility to cater for short-attention spans. I found myself circling passages and it's not even part of my University reading list this semester. Reading something like these plays really reminds you how absolutely desolate Hollywood and Theatreland have become these days - almost nothing compares with Sophocles, and even the best of modern literature owes so much to the ancient masters that reading them inevitably changes the way you read everything else. Who can blame Freud for ... Read More:
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.The Republic (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Plato

May 31, 2007
The core of the book is the presentation of the ideal state, in which government is conducted by a specially trained and bred class of philosophers/judges/warriors, but he diverges onto various other topics as well, in particular what the nature of their education should be.

Plato's insistence that education in philosophy (which for him includes all the sciences) would automatically produce gifted rulers must surely have seemed a bit naive even in his own day. And yet, of course, you have large parts of society constructed around this: Oxbridge classicists going into the City; the énarques in France; the Ivy League in the US. On the other hand, I observe that really intelligent people often make poor politicians; few of the skills ... Read More:
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.Classics: A Very Short Introduction
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Mary Beard, John Henderson

February 24, 2000
This book is really well written, entertaining and extremely thought provoking. It provides a whistlestop tour through the classical world in terms of how we study it, not the classical world itself. If you want lists and dates and what is taught at school as 'history', this is not the book for you.

The premise of the OUP Very Short Introduction To books is to take an expert who has something really interesting to say on a particular subject, whether it be bananas or the classical world and then get them to talk about their interest in the subject in an easy to digest 150 short pages. This is not clearly explained, and these books are often picked up by total novices expecting something like 'a dummies guide to'. Well, there are ... Read More:
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.The Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides) Classics S.
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Aeschylus

September 29, 1977
The Oresteia is not just a seminal work of European literature but also one of the founding texts of western theatre. The only complete trilogy still extant from Classical Athens, it tells the story of Agamemnon's return from Troy and his murder by his unfaithful wife Clytemnestra. The 2nd play takes place years later when Agamemnon's children, Electra and Orestes, have to struggle with their consciences over whether to revenge their father by killing their mother. The third plays brings the trilogy to a conclusion as Orestes, pursued by the Furies for the crime of matricide, is brought to Athens and finally purified of his crime.

Dark, grim, compelling and poetic, this really will haunt you.
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.Poetics (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Aristotle

September 26, 1996
If you have an interest in writing, or in Literature, or even philosophy or psychology, then Aristotle's Poetics is a very good book for you to read: Aristotle had a burning desire to understand the drives and ambitions of human beings -- he yearned to understand the human world. In the book, Malcolm Heath explains (very well, I might add) the thoughts of Aristotle, concerning his understanding of the human necessity for expression. If you want to be a writer, or want to comprehend the roots of Literature, Poetics is a vital source of essential and fundamental information. Heath additionally refers to many of Aristotle's other notes in order to present an unbiased and comprehensive case. I very much recommend this book to anyone, especially those who ... Read More:
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.Meditations (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Marcus Aurelius

April 27, 2006
Meditations is well worth having in any collection of greats. The modern translations are perfectly acceptable, the earlier translations may be truer to the way in which Romans expressed themselves, but using modern words is perfectly acceptable. Any person who feels differently should read meditations more closely and stop blowing their own trumpet, relax, take it easy.....dont seek to criticise or correct, take care of your behaviour first.
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.The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Christopher Kelly

August 24, 2006
This excellent introduction to the Roman Empire is succinct and selective rather than superficial. Its compass ranges from the iconography of the Imperial cult to contemporary perceptions of Rome in the cinema.

Far from being a conventional, political history centred on the Roman elite, Kelly is most impressive when trying to recreate the ordinary lives of the silent and all but invisible majority, who have left no historical trace and only the faintest of impressions in the archaeological record. He is especially interesting and perceptive when writing about elusive topics like population studies within the Empire. Hard evidence on such matters is, naturally, very scant. Kelly uses statistical models and contemporary demographic studies of the ... Read More:
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.History of the Peloponnesian War (Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Thucydides

February 28, 1974
Thucydides follows self-consciously on from Herodotus as a 'historian' but takes a very different tack. Partly this is due to their place in history: Herodotus was the product of a triumphant Athens leading the mediterannean world after shockingly defeating the huge Persian invasion of Greece, while Thucydides lives through the decline of Athens from her high point under Pericles through to her final defeat under Sparta. A critic of Athenian democracy and the rise of the demagogues, Thucydides is also a participant in the 37 years long war, as strategos (General) who was defeated at Amphipolis and exiled from Athens. What is amazing is his ability to stay detached and analytical, despite his personal involvement in events.
This is a heart-breaking story of the ... Read More:
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.The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Greek
by: Suetonius, Robert Graves

October 25, 2007
I only endured two or three episodes of the TV series "Rome", supposedly the most expensive television series ever made. Oh, really? Presumably, they spent so much cash on the uniforms, that they forgot to pay the scriptwriter. I have seldom seen such ridiculous trash on TV.

Do you want real gossip about Julius Caesar and the Roman emperors? Then, buy this book. Its a modern translation of an ancient Roman book, written by the historian Suetonius. Its most famous for two passing references to Christians, but if thats all you know about it, you are missing out...

Not being a historian, I cant judge how reliable the information given by Suetonius really is. But as a collection of funny gossip about Caesar and the emperors, it must be unmatched! ... Read More:
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