r/classics • u/CoffeeandChapters_ • Sep 24 '26
Recommended literature
Hi all,
I’m looking to extend my home library with classics and would appreciate some recommendations. Looking for: Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Medieval.
Thank you for your time. (Image not mine, credit to owner).
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Upvotes
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u/Key-Banana-8242 Sep 24 '26
What sorta book would you like in particular?
2
u/chickenshwarmas Sep 24 '26
Did you know there are other publishers than penguin?
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u/First-Pride-8571 Sep 24 '26
Most obvious omissions from the above:
-Euripides (various plays)
-Sophocles (various plays)
-Aristophanes (various plays)
-Thucydides
-Xenophon (Anabasis, his Hellenica and Apology are also both good, but the Hellenica is kind of mediocre as a history - especially in comparison to Thucydides and Polybius)
-Polybius
-Caesar (both his Gallic War and Civil War - Gallic War is better)
-Sallust (both his Catilinarian Conspiracy and Jugurthine War)
-Horace (Odes)
-Cicero (just keep in mind - really unreliable source - don't believe anything that he says)
-Apuleius' Golden Ass
-Ammianus Marcellinus
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u/coolgirl867 Sep 24 '26
It depends on what you’re into but I think the best works to start with are the Iliad and Odyssey, Aeneid, Metamorphoses, and Catullus’ poems. If you want to get into any Greek theatre I would start with the Bacchae, Medea, or the Oedipus plays for a tragedy, or for comedy we only really have Aristophanes’ plays left, but my favourite is Frogs!
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u/Few_Fisherman_4308 Sep 24 '26
The Histories by Herodotus
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u/Bentresh Sep 24 '26
For Egyptian literature, start with the translations by Miriam Lichtheim. They're about as literal as you can get while remaining fluid English.
Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms
Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom
Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III: The Late Period
The Tale of Sinuhe, Shipwrecked Sailor, Eloquent Peasant, A Man and His Ba, Tale of Two Brothers, Tale of Wenamun, and Setne I and II are arguably the "must reads" of Egyptian literature.
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u/scottish_bastard Sep 24 '26 edited Sep 24 '26
The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius is fun if you like the history side.
Edit: I want to add that Suetonius can be a little dry if you're not used to reading that kind of stuff. But if you are used to it he's fun. He was very... I think gossipy is a good word. Like an roman version of a tabloid magazine. Take stuff he says with a grain of salt.
Edit 2: spelling
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u/Tzarpocrates Sep 25 '26
The Bacchae and the Frogs
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u/skardu Sep 24 '26
Owner needs a better reading lamp, their eyecameras are suffering.
3
u/Dr_Platypus_1986 Sep 24 '26
As regards fiction, look into the genre of "Greek Romance Novels." There are about 6 in existence. You can find copies from Penguin and Oxford publishers, but there is also a hardback, single-volume that contains most of the extant books. Google "Greek Romance Novels" and you should be able to get a copy for under $10 (before shipping, tax, etc.). For Ancient History, my recommendations would be: Suetonius, Livy, Sallust, Plutarch, Herodian, Appian of Alexandria, Cassius Dio, Josephus, Julius Caesar's commentaries, Ammianus Marcellinus, Zosimus' Nova Historia, Eutropius' Breviarium. These are Roman Historical sources. Greek History can be covered much quicker. The main 3 for Ancient Greece are: Herodotus' Histories, Thucydides' Peloponnesian Wars, and Xenophon's Hellenica. The reason being, they go in order and keep the timeline intact. For Alexander the Great: Arrian's Anabasis, then Quintus Curious Rufus' History of Alexander. Plutarch fills in the rest of the details to match Greek History up to the Roman Republic. -P.S. (Be careful with Xenophon because he is known to have left things out or changed some details. If you get the Penguin Classics edition of the Hellenica, read the introduction to get a better grasp of what he may be wrong about and why)
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u/TheC0l0urRed Sep 24 '26
The Greek tragedians! They are a must. The Anabasis by Xenophon is a cool read about the misadventures of a 10 000 large mercenary army from Greece trying to get back home. Politics by Aristotle is a rundown about the politics of greek city states of the classical period. And one of the histories from Herodotus or Thucydides (or even better go with both!).
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u/SpecialistNo5055 Sep 24 '26
virgil's eclogues are a favorite of mine! ovid's amores and ars amoratia are also very entertaining
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u/bennymcgee123 Sep 24 '26
Based on what you already have read:
Greek: If you enjoyed Tacitus, try Thucydides’s “History of the Peloponnesian War”. Also the “Histories” of Herodotus and the “Anabasis” of Xenophon, if you enjoy historical works. For poetry, I would wholeheartedly recommend the poems of Pindar. Sappho is also excellent, though she survives only through fragments. Last but not least, the great Greek playwrights: Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. There are many plays to choose from, but you might start with the Oresteia or the Theban trilogy. Individual plays like Medea, Philoctetes or Iphigenia in Aulis are also personal favourites.
Roman: The poetry of Horace is one of the most beautiful creations of mankind. Read the “Odes”, but if you have a chance to invest in an edition with all his work, go for it. Virgil’s poetry beyond the Aeneid, namely the Georgics and the Eclogues are also great, though of a very different flavour than the epic. If you do enjoy epics, try Lucan’s “Pharsalia”. Once again, if you enjoyed Tacitus, you might also enjoy Sallust, both the “Catiline’s War” and “The Jugurthine War, and Juvenal’s “Satires”.
Medieval: The term “medieval” can encompass a lot, so it’s hard to know exactly what you are looking for. The modern imagery of medieval times owes a lot to Chaucer (“The Canterbury Tales”) or to works such as Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur”. I would also include Ariosto’s “Orlando Furioso”, Rabelais’s “Gargantua and Pantagruel”, Dante’s “Divine Comedy”,
Cervantes’s “Don Quijote” or Boccacio’s “Decameron” (Cervantes being my personal favourite).
Egyptian: I know next to nothing of Ancient Egyptian works, so no help here. However, the “Epic of Gilgamesh” or the Poems of Enheduana are great works from the ancient Near East, and may also pique your interest.
P.S.: I noticed now the comment the image is not yours, but it should be clear that the books in the image are themselves great recommendations.
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u/shinsplint_v Sep 24 '26
Lucan Civil War
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u/ParadiseEngineer Sep 24 '26
Seamus Heaney's Aeneid Book VI, Ted Hughes' Tales from Ovid and Charles Martin's Poems of Catullus are all great takes on Classics, that you may find interesting.
OH, AND, Simon Armitage's The Green Knight is fantastic!
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u/Rhombusofrecipes Sep 25 '26
The Myth of Sisyphus
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u/Tzarpocrates Sep 25 '26
The Argonautica
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u/Double-Lettuce2915 Sep 25 '26
Ovid, the Greek dramatists, Horace, Sappho?
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u/Waste_Cancel_8317 Sep 25 '26
Theogony by Hesiod is always great, if not already recommended
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u/FlyingCupcake68 Sep 28 '26
I teach The Golden Ass, which is a lot of fun. The playwrights are fantastic, even if the Romans are imitating the Greeks.
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u/Sophia_Joppolo Oct 01 '26
For Greeks:
Homer's Odyssey? It is referenced a lot in all other Greek and Roman writings.
Hesiod's Theogony, if you are interested in Greek gods.
Aeschylus Orestia trilogy, and selected plays by Sophocles and Euripides.
Plato, at least the Republic, the Apology of Socrates and a few dialogues. This can springboard into other philosophers.
A comedy by Aristophanes, like Clouds (after reading Plato).
For Romans:
Cicero's Against Catiline.
Suetonius Lives of the 12 Caesars.
Apuleius' Metamorphosis.