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The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Verison with an Introduction (Penguin Classics)

The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Verison with an Introduction (Penguin Classics)

by Anonymous

Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and his companion Enkidu are the only heroes to have survived from the ancient literature of Babylon, immortalized in this epic poem that dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Together they journey to the Spring of Youth, defeat the Bull of Heaven and slay the monster Humbaba. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh's grief and fear of death are such that they lead him to undertake a quest for eternal... (more)

The Epic of Gilgamesh

by Stephen Mitchell, David Ferry, Herbert Mason, A. R. George

Gilgamesh is the first known piece of literature in the world. It is located in the Mesopotamian land. Translated with an Introduction by Andrew George.

The Iliad

by Homer

"Each new generation is bound to produce new translations. <Lattimore> has done better with nobility, as well as with accuracy, than any other modern verse translator. <In> our age we do not often find a fine scholar who is also a genuine poet and who takes the greatest pains over the work of translation."--Hugh Lloyd-Jones, New York Review of Books

Metamorphoses

by Ovid, Ted Hughes

Ovid’s sensuous and witty poem brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation—often as a result of love or lust—where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and... (more)

Antigone

by Sophocles

Paul Woodruff's translation of one of Sophocles' most famous tragedies captures the dramatic and poetic intensity of the ancient Greek play without sacrificing accuracy. This edition also features an Introduction and annotations by the translator.

Ab urbe condita. (English)

by Aubrey De Se?lincourt, Livy

With stylistic brilliance and historical imagination, the first five books of Livy's monumental history of Rome record events from the foundation of Rome through the history of the seven kings, the establishment of the Republic and its internal struggles, up to Rome's recovery after the fierce Gallic invasion of the fourth century bc. Livy vividly depicts the great characters, legends, and tales, including the... (more)

Lysistrata

by Aristophanes

This rollicking new translation of Aristophanes' comic masterpiece is rendered in blank verse for dialogue and in lyric meters and free verse for the songs. Appended commentary essays--on ancient warfare, classical Greek rationalism, Athenian women, Athenian democracy and the Athenian festivals--offer lively and informative discussions not only of Aristophanes, but of the broader fifth-century social, political,... (more)

The Republic of Plato

by Plato

Plato's "Republic" is widely acknowledged as the cornerstone of Western philosophy. Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, it is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. During the conversation other questions are raised: what is goodness; what is reality; what is knowledge? "The Republic" also addresses the purpose of... (more)

Nicomachean Ethics, 2nd Edition

by Aristotle

Building on the strengths of the first edition, the second edition of the Irwin Nicomachean Ethics features a revised translation (without extensive editorial intervention), expanded notes (including a summary of the argument of each chapter), an expanded Introduction, and a revised glossary. Terence Irwin is Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University.

The Odyssey

by Homer

If The Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, then The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey though life. Odysseus's reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. ...

History. (English)

by Herodotus

The word "history" derives from the Greek word for "inquiry". Combining his encyclopaedic interests and curiosity about the customs and workings of humankind, the "Father of History" gives us an unforgettable account of the great clash between Greece and the Persian Empire. In his matchless study of persons, places, and events, Herodotus recounts the rise of Lydia, and the ascendancy of the kingdom of Persia under... (more)

Lives of the Twelve Caesars

by C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Suetonius, Joseph Gavorse

Covering the Roman rulers from Julius Caesar to Domitian, remains on e f the most enlightening of all Roman histories.

Oedipus the King ( Oedipus Rex )

by E A Sophocles

To Laius, King of Thebes, an oracle foretold that the child born to him by his queen Jocasta would slay his father and wed his mother. So when in time a son was born the infant's feet were riveted together and he was left to die on Mount Cithaeron. But a shepherd found the babe and tended him, and delivered him to another shepherd who took him to his master, the King of Corinth. Polybus being childless adopted the... (more)

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

by Miguel Ruiz

Rooted in traditional Toltec wisdom beliefs, four agreements in life are essential steps on the path to personal freedom. As beliefs are transformed through maintaining these agreements, shamanic teacher and healer don Miguel Ruiz asserts lives will "become filled with grace, peace, and unconditional love." Author workshops.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Since the discovery over one hundred years ago of a body of Mesopotamian poetry preserved on clay tablets, what has come to be known as the Epic of Gilgamesh has been considered a masterpiece of ancient literature. It recounts the deeds of a hero-king of ancient Mesopotamia, following him through adventures and encounters with men and gods alike. Yet the central concerns of the Epic lie deeper than the lively and... (more)

Plutarch's Lives (Volume 1)

by Plutarch

Plutarch's Lives, written at the beginning of the second century A.D., is a brilliant social history of the ancient world by one of the greatest biographers and moralists of all time. In what is by far his most famous and influential work, Plutarch reveals the character and personality of his subjects and how they led ultimately to tragedy or victory. Richly anecdotal and full of detail, Volume I contains profiles... (more)

The Annals of Imperial Rome

by Cornelius Tacitus, Michael Grant

Tacitus' "Annals of Imperial Rome" recount the major historical events from the years shortly before the death of Augustus up to the death of Nero in AD 68. With clarity and vivid intensity he describes the reign of terror under the corrupt Tiberius, the great fire of Rome during the time of Nero, and the wars, poisonings, scandals, conspiracies and murders that were part of imperial life. Despite his claim that... (more)

Beowulf

by Kevin Crossley-Holland

This is the story of a young man who travelled far across the sea to fight two terrifying monsters-one who could rip a man apart and drink his blood, the other who lived like a sea-wolf at the bottom of a dark, blood-stained lake. The young hero's name was Beowulf, and his story, first written in Anglo-Saxon in the eighth century, has become one of the world's most famous epics. Kevin Crossley-Holland retells the... (more)

Oresteia. (English)

by Aeschylus

In the "Oresteia" - the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity - Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. Moving from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, its spirit of struggle and regeneration is eternal.

Aesop's Fables (Oxford World's Classics)

Aesop's Fables (Oxford World's Classics)

by Laura Gibbs

The fables of Aesop have become one of the most enduring traditions of European culture, ever since they were first written down nearly two millennia ago. Aesop was reputedly a tongue-tied slave who miraculously received the power of speech; from his legendary storytelling came the collections of prose and verse fables scattered throughout Greek and Roman literature. First published in English by Caxton in 1484,... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: ancient

by Anonymous

by Stephen Mitchell, David Ferry, Herbert Mason, A. R. George

by Homer

by Ovid, Ted Hughes

by Sophocles

by Aubrey De Se?lincourt, Livy

by Aristophanes

by Plato

by Aristotle

by Homer

by Herodotus

by C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Suetonius, Joseph Gavorse

by E A Sophocles

by Miguel Ruiz

by Plutarch

by Cornelius Tacitus, Michael Grant

by Kevin Crossley-Holland

by Aeschylus

by Laura Gibbs