Ancient Classical category: 1324 books

L’idea di un «compendio drammatico dell’Odissea» nasce in Goethe durante il viaggio in Italia, nell’ottobre 1786, sugli Appennini; trova lo scenario ideale per realizzarsi in Sicilia, nella primavera dell’ anno successivo, in quel «meraviglioso angolo di mondo» che è il giardino di Palermo:...

It is consoling as often as dismaying to find in what seems a cataclysmal tide of a certain direction a strong drift to the opposite quarter. It is so divinable, if not so perceptible, that its presence may usually be recognized as a beginning of the turn in every tide which is sure, sooner or later,...

Aeschylus' 'Suppliants' dramatises the myth of the fifty daughters of Danaos, who flee Egypt and come to Argos as suppliants, trying to escape forced marriage to their Egyptian cousins. It was long considered to be the earliest surviving tragedy. Even after the mid-20th century, when new evidence...

Andrew Lang was a Scottish writer best known for collecting folklore, legends, and fairy tales and making a compendium of them to celebrate ethnic heritage.

On 15 August 778, Charlemagne's army was returning from a successful expedition against Saracen Spain when its rearguard was ambushed in a remote Pyrenean pass. Out of this skirmish arose a stirring tale of war, which was recorded in the oldest extant epic poem in French. The Song of Roland, written...

Although the legends of Arthur have been popular throughout Europe from the Middle Ages onwards, the earliest references to Arthur are to be found in Welsh literature, starting with the Welsh-Latin Historia Brittonum dating from the ninth century. By the twelfth century, Arthur was a renowned figure...

A Handbook to the Reception of Ovid presents more than 30 original essays written by leading scholars revealing the rich diversity of critical engagement with Ovid’s poetry that spans the Western tradition from antiquity to the present day. Offers innovative perspectives on Ovid’s poetry...

In the earliest extant works of Greek literature, Zeus reigns supreme in the Olympian hierarchy. However, scattered and scanty though they may be, there are allusions to threats of rebellion which challenge Zeus' supremacy. This book examines these passages, drawn from Homer, Hesiod and the "Homeric...

This is a useful collection of 120 passages from Greek authors, ideal for students at GCSE and A level. The first half contains twenty adapted passages building up to GCSE level, thirty lightly adapted ones for AS, and ten easy unadapted passages to introduce the translation of verse. The second half...

"Legendary Rome" is the first book to offer a comparative treatment of the reinvention of Rome's origins in the poetry of Vergil, Tibullus and Propertius. It also examines the impact that the changing topography of Rome, as orchestrated by the emperor Augustus, had on those poets' renditions...

A lively exploration of the joys of a not-so-dead language From the acclaimed novelist and Oxford professor Nicola Gardini, a personal and passionate look at the Latin language: its history, its authors, its essential role in education, and its enduring impact on modern life—whether we call...

This book is a detailed ethnographic accounts of Zuñi religious beliefs and practices, taken from The Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1929-1930, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Chapters include: Prayers to the Ancients; Prayers to the sun; Prayers to...

This is one of England’s oldest mystery plays. The text is present with both the original translation and a modern translation. Please note, this story is also included in the collection “Everyman and Other Old Religious Plays In Plain and Simple English.”