The following shows my collection of reference materials on Ancient History and Classical Civilization:
AQA GCSE Classical Civilization Textbooks
Athens and Sparta
Amos and Lang, These were the Greeks, Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, ISBN 978-0715627310 (Chapters 5, 13, 14, 15)
James Renshaw, In Search of the Greeks, Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, ISBN 978-185399-6993 (Chapters 4 and 6)
Greek Tragedy
M Baldock, Greek Tragedy: An Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2 (pages 1–17), BCP, ISBN 978-1853991196
Pompeii
Peter Connolly, Pompeii, OUP, ISBN 978-0199171583
Homer
M. Thorpe, Homer, Bristol Classical Press
University College London Classics and Ancient History Book List
Greek Mythology
Morford, M. P. O. and Lenardon, R. J., 2011. Classical Mythology, Oxford: OUP Csapo, E., 2004. Theories of Mythology, Malden: Blackwells
Presocratic Philosophy
J. Barnes (Penguin, 2002) Early Greek Philosophy
Athenian Law
D M MacDowell, The Law in Classical Athens, Cornell University Press 1978.
Roman Satire
K. Freudenburg, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire (Cambridge, 2005)
Roman Historians
A.J. Woodman, C. S. Kraus, Latin Historians, Cambridge 1997.
History of Latin
Janson, T., 2004. A Natural History of Latin. Oxford.
Oxford University: Classics Reading List
Few students these days study ancient history at school. If you haven’t, you must at some stage acquire at least an outline knowledge of the 5th cent. BC in Athens, and the 1st cent. BC in Rome. History books are mentioned in the bibliography at the end.
You will take a philosophy paper for Mods, which you are likely to study in your third term at Balliol. We recommend the Plato option (Euthyphro and Meno) as providing a helpful introduction to philosophy that is integrated with the rest of the course. For background, read Plato’s Euthyphro andApology in translation. If you get interested, you could also read the Phaedo and the Crito.
Honour Moderations, Courses IA, IB, IC
We would like those reading Honour Moderations Course IA and IC to read the whole of the Iliad in translation before they come up. Richmond Lattimore’s translation is excellent, but others are more than acceptable. However, you must read at least four and preferably seven books of the Iliad in Greek before you come up: books 1-9 and 16-24 have to be read in Greek for Mods; Georg Autenrieth’s Homeric Dictionary is the standard tool. Please note that you will be tested on your ability to translate from Books 1, 6 and 9 when you come up. A good further tactic might be to tackle first those books which are most crucial for the plot of the poem: Books 16, 19, 22, 24. All of this will give you a sense of the action of the whole poem, and equip you to start your tutorial work on Homer.
Those reading for Honour Moderations Course IB should also read the whole of the Iliad in translation before they come up, and seek – by means of a summer school if possible – to acquire or improve a rudimentary grasp of Greek, and make some start on Book 1 of the Iliad in Greek (the books prescribed to be read in Greek for Course IB are 1, 9, 22, 24). You must also read at least two but preferably three books of Vergil’s Aeneid before you come up: Books 1-6 and 12 have to be read in Latin for Mods. You will be tested on your ability to translate from Books 2 and 4 when you come up. All of this will give you a sense of the action of the whole poem, and equip you to start your tutorial work on Vergil.
We would recommend that, if possible, you acquire the Oxford Classical Text of the Iliad (two volumes, ed. Monro & Allen) and also of Virgil (ed. Mynors). As well as being the set editions (other editions will have different readings of certain passages), they are probably the most economical option; both have been in print for many years and should be available second hand. The Virgil OCT also contains the Eclogues and Georgics, which you will probably study for Greats. There are good commentaries on individual books of the Iliad and Aeneid and on the whole poem.
Mods IA and IB candidates should also extend their reading of Latin: everyone has to take an interdisciplinary ‘Texts and Contexts’ paper; a prescribed book for one of the attractive options on this paper is Cicero’s pro Caelio. Mods IC candidates, besides reading Homer as prescribed above, should seek to acquire or improve a rudimentary grasp of Latin, just as IB candidates are encouraged to do with Greek, and should if possible make some start on a Latin text: try the pro Caelio and begin the Latin at chapter 30 sunt autem. We would also like you to read the whole of the Aeneid in translation before you study it in your second term – the summer vacation may be a better time to do this than the Christmas, when you will have other work to do. David West’s Penguin is solid, but Frederick Ahl’s new World’s Classics is more fun.
Courses IIA and IIB
Those reading Honour Moderations IIA (Beginners’ Latin) and Hon. Mods. IIB (Beginners’ Greek) should seek – by means of a summer school if possible – to acquire or improve a basic grasp of their respective ancient language.
Course IIB has, like Mods I above, a Homer focus, and students have to read Books 1, 6, 9, 22, and 24 by the time they take their Mods. To make some start here (on Book 1) is more than desirable, but it is absolutely essential that you read the whole of the Iliad in translation before you come up. Richmond Lattimore’s translation is fine, but there are many others just as serviceable. We would recommend that you acquire the Oxford Classical Text of the Iliad (2 vols., ed. T. W. Allen), which is the set text.
Course IIA has, in place of Homer, a Virgil Aeneid focus, and requires a number of books to be read in Latin (1, 2, 4, 6, 12); prospective students should make a start on Book 1. We would also like IIAstudents to read the whole Aeneid in translation before you come up. David West’s Penguin is solid, but Frederick Ahl’s new World’s Classics is more fun. We would recommend that, if possible, you acquire the Oxford Classical Text of Virgil (ed. Mynors). As well as being the set edition (other editions will have different readings of certain passages), it is probably the most economical option; it has been in print for many years and should be available second hand. It also contains the Ecloguesand Georgics, which you will probably study for Greats. There are good commentaries on individual books of Aeneid and on the whole poem; please ask if you’d like more advice on this.
Suggested secondary reading:
Again it should be stressed that nothing beats advancing your knowledge of the languages, and reading original texts (so far as this is possible), but here is some secondary reading:
Homer:
• R. B. Rutherford, Homer (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Oxford, 2nd Ed. 2013)
• J. Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Oxford, 1980)
• O. Taplin, Homeric Soundings (Oxford, 1992)
• G. Autenrieth’s Homeric Dictionary (Duckworth, 1984) is a useful aid.
• R. Fowler, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Homer (Cambridge, 2004)
• W, Allan, Homer: the Iliad (Bristol, 2012)
Virgil:
• P. R. Hardie, Virgil (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Oxford, 1998)
• W. A. Camps, An Introduction to Virgil’s Aeneid (paperback, Oxford 1969)
• R. O. A. M. Lyne, Further Voices in Vergil’s Aeneid (paperback, Oxford 1992)
• C. Martindale, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Virgil (Cambridge, 1997).
For an overview of the ancient world, see J. Boardman, J. Griffin and O. Murray (editors), The Oxford History of the Ancient World (Oxford 1986; a paperback version has subsequently been published in two volumes, Greek and Roman).
Histories.
There are many, but you can pick up outlines of the relevant periods from, for example:
• H. H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero: a history of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68. (this been published in many editions: the latest is by Routledge, 1998)
• O. Murray, Early Greece (Fontana, 2nd ed. 1993)
• J.K. Davies, Democracy and Classical Greece (Fontana, 2nd ed. 1993).
Philosophy:
Try a recent introduction, like Simon Blackburn’s Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy(from there, you could read his Truth: A Guide or Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics). Other good introductions are Thomas Nagel, What Does it All Mean, and E. Conee and T. Sider, Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics. On ancient philosophy, a good introduction is Terry Irwin,Classical Thought (Oxford, 1989).
Oxford University: Ancient History Reading List
Greek History 550-450 BC
Read and enjoy Herodotus in the revised Penguin translation with introduction by J. Marincola (1996)
The following general books are useful:
Oswyn Murray Early Greece (second edition, Fontana) second half
A.R. Burn Persia and the Greeks
Robin Osborne Greece in the Making, 1200-479 B.C. (Routledge, 1996), later chapters
E.R. Dodds The Greeks and the Irrational (1951, repr.): a classic study of Greek society
Roman History
Read the Penguin edition of the Letters of Cicero (Leters to Friends and Letters to Atticus) in three volumes.
The following general books are useful:
R. Syme The Roman Revolution (1939: the classic account and the greatest literary work of its generation)
H.H. Scullard From the Gracchi to Nero (good text book)
Michael Crawford The Roman Republic (2nd edn., 1992): later chapters
Colin Wells The Roman Empire (2nd edn., 1992): earlier chapters
Mary Beard Pompeii (Paperback)
Cambridge University: http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/pdfs/current-students/FacultyHandbook-current.pdf
(the above is the undergraduate student handbook for Cambridge students)
General - Classical History Reference Book List
A.A. Long (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy(Cambridge, 1999).
History of Rome – Theodor Mommsen
Alexander the Great: a Reader (Worthington)
Robin Lane Fox Alexander the Great
Lewis and Rheihold: Roman Civilisation
Yale University: Classics Reading List
http://classics.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/downloads/YaleUndergraduateReadingList.pdf
The list is not exhaustive, but it will probably save you some time in scouring around for readings in the respective fields. In particular, this is aimed at self-learners like me, who would be interested to ensure that our self-designed curriculum is on par with the highest standard in Classical scholarship.