Aristophanes has been admired since antiquity for his wit, fantasy, language, and satire. The protagonists of Birds create a utopian counter-Athens. In... Læs mere
The Peloponnesian War was really three conflicts (431–421, 415–413, and 413–404 BC) that Thucydides was still unifying into one account when he died... Læs mere
Aeschylus (ca. 525–456 BC) is the dramatist who made Athenian tragedy one of the world’s great art forms. Seven of his eighty or so plays... Læs mere
A series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work provides quotations from works now lost, and preserves information about wide range of information about Greek culture.
As the rest of the world worries about what a future might look like under Chinese supremacy, Luttwak worries about China’s own future prospects. Applying the... Læs mere
Plutarch (ca. AD 45–120) wrote on many subjects. His forty-six Parallel Lives are biographies planned to be ethical examples in pairs, one... Læs mere
Historical works by Bede (672 or 673–735) include his Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Lives of the Abbots of Bede’s monastery, accounts of Cuthbert, and the Letter to Egbert, Bede’s pupil.
Pindar (ca. 518–438 BC), esteemed lyric poet, commemorates in complex verse the achievements of athletes and powerful rulers at the four great Panhellenic... Læs mere
In Astronomica (first century AD), the earliest extant treatise we have on astrology, Manilius provides a poetic account of celestial phenomena and the signs of the zodiac. He also gives witty character sketches of persons born under certain stars.
Confessions is a spiritual autobiography of Augustine’s early life, family, associations, and explorations of alternative religious and theological viewpoints as he... Læs mere
Livy (Titus Livius, 64 or 59 BC–AD 12 or 17), the great Roman historian, presents a vivid narrative of Rome’s rise from the traditional foundation of the city in... Læs mere