New Member -- Any Advice on What I Should Read?

Textkit Community Open Board
1

Hi,

I am an undergraduate and I have recently discovered Classics after taking couple Greek classes. Since then, I have been reading in Greek and learning Latin with great excitement.

I have read very little of the classical works prior to college in English (except major Greek writers), and I cannot quite grasp the width of this vast body of literature. Could you give me some pointers on how to start this journey?

Also – thank you very much for creating and contributing to this great forum; it has been very helpful to me.

2

Welcome to Texkit! Traditionally, students start with Caesar in Latin (dē bellō Gallicō) and Xenophon in Greek (Anabasis).

3

afrodisias,

Depending on how in-depth you want to go, either the book being reviewed here or the other one mentioned in the review might be the sort of overview of classical literature you’re looking for:

https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2014/2014.08.25/

4

Welcome! Alternatively, you could read some from the Latin Vulgate and the Koine Greek New Testament. I suggest starting with either the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Mark, or the letter of 1st John.

5

Thank you everyone for your time. After reading a lot on this forum, I am reading what I can get my hands on in Greek for the time being, keeping in mind that college classes will also guide me in this category. I am currently reading, in Greek, Xenophon’s Anabasis, and read small excerpts from the New Testament – will continue working on them.

My Latin is much worse for the time being – but I am using Lingua Latina, the pedagogy of which seems to make sense to me (and it is a lot of fun). I will be using the Latin texts you’ve recommended in a couple of months.

Dear Piekarski,

That is exactly what I was looking for! I had never heard of this series and the titles look incredible; thank you very much for the recommendation. They have many other Classics related books (along with everything I could dream of), and they seem to be good starting points. Thank you very much!

6

afrodisias,

You’re welcome. I’ve read maybe 10 books from that series and found them all to be of high quality and have good bibliography for further reading . Enjoy!