Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post Reply
bjrn
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat May 23, 2020 4:24 pm

Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by bjrn »

What are your favorite books about the Greeks and Romans and their culture? Not books written by them - a natural question on a forum focused on language learning - but about them (and to limit the scope of the question, lets exclude books the Romans wrote about the Greeks).

To kick start things:

[1] I'm currently on Volume 2 out of 3 of Werner Jaeger's Paideia and feel comfortable recommending this series here, especially for beginners. It's "an extensive consideration of both the earliest practices and later philosophical reflections on the cultural nature of education in Ancient Greece".

[2] A. A. Long - Hellenistic Philosophy (1974) I can recommend as well. A. A. Long is one of my favorite scholars of Hellenistic philosophy. His command of the English language and skill in explaining things is impressive.

[3] Simone Weils essay about the Iliad is a short read and thought provoking coming from her.

[4] Debating whether to include this book, but what the hell: Plotinus by Stephen R. L. Clark. I think Pierre Hadots short book about Plotinus is a better introduction to Plotinus, but Clark compensates by being absolutely all over the place and it's one of the most fun books I've read this year, with a reference list containing a lot of gems.

Jean-Pierre Vernant, W. K. C Guthrie and Giovannie Reale or are all on my TODO-list. Any thoughts about their work?

bjrn
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat May 23, 2020 4:24 pm

Re: Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by bjrn »

Can add one, sort of gray area:

[5] Laks and Most: Early Greek Philosophy (9 volumes, Loeb). All of the material except introductions is written by Greeks and Romans of course, but looking at it from a collection/curation perspective, it's fair to include in this thread. I think this series is fantastic. It's like an updated Diels (Fragmente der Vorsokratiker) published just a few years ago, and in English instead of German.

Aetos
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1041
Joined: Sat May 19, 2018 6:04 pm

Re: Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by Aetos »

I've had a number of favourite books on the ancient world over the course of the years. In my teens, there was Edith Hamilton's Mythology. In my twenties, it was Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire In my thirties, it was Bengston's Griechische Geschichte. Now in my sixties, I would have to mention as favourites Mary Beard's SPQR and Stephen Fry's Mythos. Yes, that's right-Stephen Fry of "A Bit of Fry and Laurie". As one would expect, he retells the Greek myths with love and humour. Even though I know most of the stories, I am still charmed by Fry's presentation, which is significantly different than Hamilton's!

Daedalus
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:51 pm

Re: Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by Daedalus »

I taught myself Roman history from Everard Owen's Brief History of Rome, an out-of-print British grammar school primer from a hundred years ago that I found in a second hand bookstore. I also read an abridged edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall some years ago, although I do find the earlier portion of Rome's history more interesting. My Greek reading, if contemporaneous works are to be excepted, is much more limited, but I enjoyed Robert Graves's The Greek Myths, and other mythographical material.

GabrieleAlfinito59
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:32 pm

Re: Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by GabrieleAlfinito59 »

Moses Finley: The World of Odysseus, The Ancient Economy.
Max Pohlenz, Die Stoa.
Luciano Canfora, The vanished library

User avatar
persequor
Textkit Member
Posts: 199
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:25 pm
Location: Arkansas, USA
Contact:

Re: Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by persequor »

Edith Hamilton's The Greek Way and The Roman Way.
Dewayne Dulaney
Devenius Dulenius
Carpe diem!-Poēta Rōmānus Horātius, Carmina (Odes), a.C. XXIII/DCCXXXI A.U.C.
Blogus meus: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

User avatar
Villanelle
Textkit Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2021 3:23 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by Villanelle »

Hi,

Is this list meant to include works of historical fiction about the Greeks and Romans as well? Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy or Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome?

Cheers.
Villanelle

User avatar
NolanusTrismegistus
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:31 pm

Re: Your favorite books about (not by) the Greeks and Romans?

Post by NolanusTrismegistus »

Here are some of my favorite works that have haven't been mentioned much on Textkit that I highly recommend:

(1) The Singer of Tales by Albert Lord, the classic work on Homeric authorship and bardship. Even if one doesn't necessarily agree with the thesis as it relates to authorship, one should at least appreicate Lord (and Milman Perry)'s description of the mechanisms involved in the transmission of stories and tropes in pre-modern and pre-literate societies, and should be able to draw lessions of this for how these even work in contemporary society.

(2) Philosophy Before Socrates by Richard McKirahan is one of my favorite books about the intellectual background to Plato and Aristotle and the pre-Socratics. Great account of the contributions philosophy, mathematics, science, medicine, theology, ethics, metaphysics, and more. I still regularly consult this book. Good emphases on the sources with lots of references to Diels-Kranz indexes, good analysis of the hidden motives behind authors recording Presocratic sayings (who are often hostile, like Aristotle).

(3) A little bit niche, but I really enjoy Heidegger's lectures (published as books) on early Greek philosophy and tragedy: writing about Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaximander, Sophocles, and of course Plato and Aristotle. It helps to have a bit of a background in Heidegger, but no, you don't have to invest 80+ hours into reading Heidegger's Being and Time to read these books.

Post Reply