Greek literature paperbacks

Here you can discuss all things Ancient Greek. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Greek, and more.
Post Reply
sydneylam19
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2015 9:06 am

Greek literature paperbacks

Post by sydneylam19 »

I am now starting to read some Greek literature (mainly Attic Greek prose and plays), but it is quite difficult to find even excerpts of Greek literary works, let alone annotated student editions with commentaries on style and grammar. Very often Loebs are the only resource. Could anyone recommend any renowned series other than Geoffrey Steadman's commentaries? Thanks!

The following are what I'd like to find:

Prose

Thucydides – History of the Peloponnesian War
Demosthenes
Xenophon – Anabasis
Plato – Crito, Phaedo, Meno, Gorgias, Apology, Republic
Aristotle – Categories, Nicomachean Ethics


Plays

Aristophanes – Wasps, Knights, Acharnians, Clouds, Frogs
Aeschylus – Eumenides, Agamemnon
Euripides – Medea, Ion, Bacchae, Andromache, Hecuba, Trojan women, Electra
Sophocles – Oedipus the King, Oedipus Colonus, Antigone

Hylander
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2504
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2015 1:16 pm

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by Hylander »

Plato's Apology and Xenophon's Anabasis are the traditional starting points for reading Greek prose.

The Bryn Mawr series might be helpful to you:

http://www.hackettpublishing.com/classi ... -greek?p=1

You might find the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics series to be aimed at a somewhat higher level, but they still might be helpful.

http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/su ... n-classics

There are older commentaries aimed at your level, many of which are still serviceable, which you can find used, on AbeBooks, for example. The old MacMillan series are often particularly good, though these are perhaps somewhat more advanced.

Before you tackle any Greek drama, you should read some Homer. In fact, you should probably do so before you read extensively in prose.
Bill Walderman

User avatar
seneca2008
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2005
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:48 pm
Location: Londinium

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by seneca2008 »

I think you will find Thucydides and Demosthenes very demanding. If you havent read much unadapted Greek then as Hylander says Xenophon would be a good starting point. Lysias 1 is also straightforward apart from the beginning (lots of practice in optatives). Also Lucian is fun and there are some on line resources. See the thread here
Persuade tibi hoc sic esse, ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, maxima pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, magna nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus.

User avatar
Paul Derouda
Global Moderator
Posts: 2292
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 9:39 pm

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by Paul Derouda »

I'd add that Sophocles and especially Aeschylus are also difficult. Plato's Apology, on the other hand, is rather easy, in addition to what others have mentioned (other texts by Plato are less so).

User avatar
Paul Derouda
Global Moderator
Posts: 2292
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 9:39 pm

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by Paul Derouda »

Goodwin's commentary on the Anabasis is very good, although over a hundred years old. It was meant for schoolboys at the time. You can find it for free on Textkit's library, and there will probably be used copies on Abeboons and the like. The volume I used had also Goodwin lexicon of the Anabasis, which you can also find on Textkit.

Hylander
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2504
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2015 1:16 pm

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by Hylander »

I would add that Goodwin knew his Greek. His Syntax of the Greek Moods and Tenses is still authoritative, despite its age, and his Greek Grammar remains useful, too.
Bill Walderman

User avatar
seneca2008
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2005
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:48 pm
Location: Londinium

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by seneca2008 »

I would add that Goodwin knew his Greek.
Like Hylander! Still authoritative .... :D
Persuade tibi hoc sic esse, ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, maxima pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, magna nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus.

Hylander
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2504
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2015 1:16 pm

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by Hylander »

Again, whatever you decide to read, you would be well-advised to get some substantial exposure to Homer--sooner rather than later.
Bill Walderman

bcdavasconcelos
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 9:44 pm
Location: στο κόσμο

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by bcdavasconcelos »

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics has several editions. I. Bywater's in the OCT collection is the standard, but it has no commentary or explanation whatsoever. For that I would recommend John Burnet's edition, which freely available at archive.org
ζητοῦσι δ' ὅλως οὐ τὸ πάτριον ἀλλὰ τἀγαθὸν πάντες (Pol. II.8 1269a3)

User avatar
seneca2008
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2005
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:48 pm
Location: Londinium

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by seneca2008 »

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
I dont think this is a suitable text for an intermediate student.
Persuade tibi hoc sic esse, ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, maxima pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, magna nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus.

daivid
Administrator
Posts: 2744
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 1:51 pm
Location: ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως λίθος, London, Europe
Contact:

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by daivid »

A lot of out of copywrite commentaries are downloadable now for example:https://archive.org/search.php?query=Ha ... 20Herbert.
I haven't used any of but as they are free there is no great loss if you don't find any helpful and you can search for other authors. At the back of Hailstone's commentary on Hellenica there is a list of commentaries and textbooks which will give you the authors worth searching for.

Bryn Mawr clearly aim to be helpful to intermediate students rather than those more advanced (distracting historical commentary seems to be banned). However not all manage to do this well. Sheets commentrary on Herodotus book 1 was useful. Cashman Kerr Prince who did the one on Chariton is clearly overqualified. He seems to have such a complete grasp of the Greek language as to have no idea what others might find difficult and almost all of the help was with vocabulary and the sort of stuff that can now be easily looked up online.

Chariton is significantly easier than Xenophon and so the lack of a good commentary is less of a problem.
Strabo has long sentences and lots of obscure vocabulary but the underlying grammatical structure is usually relatively easy so I never get stuck with him.
Plutarch is harder than Xenophon but the Bryn Mawr by Ladouceur on Themistocles is useful.
λονδον

marcofurio
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:33 pm

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by marcofurio »

Anabasis' editions:

Harper & Wallace (1) is an excellent edition, absolutely brilliant presentation, nice drawings, beautiful historical explanations and fine "reader" with vocab in the same page from the 5th book onwards. I cannot thank enough the care with which the book was done.

For the first four books Mather & Hewitt (2) offer more abundant and good grammatical ("hard rock" traditional method) with ocasional historical explanations with the same drawings as H&W and also a historical introduction.

(1) https://archive.org/details/xenophonsanabasi00xenoiala
(2) https://archive.org/details/xenophonsanabas00unkngoog

donhamiltontx
Textkit Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:27 pm

Re: Greek literature paperbacks

Post by donhamiltontx »

Clarendon Paperbacks published an edition of Wasps, edited by Douglas M. MacDowell. I have used this. It is helpful, but MacDowell does not give as much help as Steadman. Clarendon Paperbacks also published an edition of Clouds and an edition of Frogs, both edited by K. J. Dover. I have copies of these, but I have not read them.

Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics published Book II of The Peloponnesian War, edited by J. S. Rusten.

Post Reply