4 Answers

  1. Plato. First of all, he's a great writer. When I first read The Apology of Socrates in my freshman year, I was shocked: how a 2,500-year-old court speech can so clearly portray a person, their character, motivation, even their style of speech. Plato's Socrates is one of the most characteristic characters in the history of literature, I think, and Plato himself is a great master of psychologism. When I first read Phaedo, I literally couldn't hold back the tears at the end. And secondly, according to Whitehead, ” all European philosophy is nothing more than marginal notes in Plato's writings.” Kicking Plato is a sacred task for a philosopher, but there has never been and probably never will be a more significant and influential figure in the history of European philosophy (except perhaps Kant… in 500 years). And at the same time, his philosophy is expressed in a fairly clear and transparent artistic form (although this transparency is deceptive, and there are completely unreadable dialogues). In short, Plato is our everything.

    Homer. Our everything is for Plato — and for antiquity in general. The poems of Homer, first of all, are necessary for understanding ancient authors, almost as the Bible is necessary for understanding European authors, and secondly, reading Homer is one continuous pleasure, if you get into the right rhythm. An absolutely indescribable clarity, almost childlike purity and sincerity, combined with sedateness and importance.

    Roman poets: Catullus, Ovid, Horace. In general, reading Roman poetry, in my opinion, like nothing else can destroy the illusions of naive progressivism: it turns out that two thousand years ago poetry was written no worse and no easier than it is now.�

    In general, all antiquity is a treasure trove. The tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the comedies of Aristophanes or Menander, the poems of Sappho, Alcaeus, Archilochus or Pindar, the texts of Roman Stoics (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius), Caesar's” Notes on the Gallic War”, Cicero's speeches, Herodotus's” History”… Antiquity has come down to us as tiny fragments of a whole that has disappeared forever, has been reinterpreted many times and almost rewritten from scratch, but it remains literally an endless source of joy, wisdom and interest, from which Europe was once born, and from which it still feeds. Therefore, read everything in a row — as another great ancient author, Apuleius, wrote, ” pay attention, reader, you will be satisfied.”

  2. We should start with the great “founding fathers”: Homer (The Iliad, the Odyssey) and Hesiod (the didactic poem “Works and Days”). Homer is much referenced by later authors because he formed part of basic education. You definitely need to get acquainted with the works of Archilochus, Theognidus, Alcaeus and Sappho. However, only fragments of their lyrics remain.

    Major tragedies to read: Prometheus Chained and Oresteia by Aeschylus, Oedipus Rex and Antigone by Sophocles, Medea and the Bacchantes by Euripides. It is better to put it in this chronological order in order to feel the evolution of the mentality of the Greeks of that time.�

    “Frogs”, “Clouds”,” Acharnians ” by Aristophanes. From the “new comedy” – “Grumpy” by Menander. It should be noted that reading Aristophanes implies knowledge of the political and social situation of that time, since he himself, as a real citizen, is political.�

    It is very interesting to read ancient historians. Herodotus '”history” is picturesque, but not accurate. Thucydides '”History of the Peloponnesian War” is seasoned and dry, but practically impartial. And very dramatic. Xenophon has a significant and very exciting work, The Anabasis of Cyrus, which was used to teach Greek in later times. Later, Thucydides was imitated by Sallust (The Jugurtha War is a great book), and Xenophon was imitated by Gaius Julius Caesar (he had “Notes on the Gallic War” and “Notes on the Civil War”). By the way, students started learning Latin from Caesar's “Notes”.

    I will not recommend reading Aristotle. Except for the work of A. N. Chanyshev on his philosophy, which is called “Aristotle”. I strongly recommend reading Plato. Plato should begin with the “Apology” and “Crito”, then proceed to the three famous dialogues “Phaedo”, “Phaedrus”, “Feast”, and finally to”The State”. The Phaedo is much referred to by later authors, even poets (meaning Callimachus). It was this dialogue that Cato Uranus read before his suicide.

    Alexandrian School of Poetry: Bucolic Idylls of Theocritus and epigrams of Asclepiades and Callimachus. The latter was somewhat imitated by the remarkable Roman Neoteric poet Catullus. Catullus ' cycle of poems about Lesbia should be read by any educated person.�

    Roman comediographers can be read because they were largely imitated by Modern authors. These are Terentius (the humanistic comedy “Brothers”) and Plautus. Plautus ' works are rather buffoonish.

    From Roman philosophy, I strongly recommend the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, the Tusculan Discourses, and Cicero's On Old Age. If you have a good knowledge of ancient philosophy, you can not pass by Plotinus (which is worth only treatises on beauty).�

    The greatest pleasure of ancient literature will bring with a good knowledge of the history of that time.

  3. There are many interesting authors in ancient literature. Many of them are well-known, and their works are known and read by many. Talking about Homer with his “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, Apuleia with “Metamorphoses” probably does not make sense – too much is said even in school textbooks. Other authors are not so well known, “not at the hearing”, but no less interesting. The drama of Aristophanes is filled with modern symbolism, and is interesting primarily as a historical artifact. In general, for an amateur and a specialist. It is difficult to relate it to our time. Lovers of poetry, of course, should read Sappho from the island of Lesbos-good romantic poems with the aroma of just Antiquity. For “just” readers, I would recommend the following books: :

    Library of World Literature. An ancient novel.

    – Achilles Tatius. “Leucippa and Clitophon”

    – Long. “Daphnis and Chloe”

    These are novels in our terminology – love and adventure, written in a good, understandable language. Just interesting. They are easy to read and capture the plot.

    Heliodor's novel “Ethiopica” I would refer to the Jules Verne direction – it is based on geography, for interest set out in the adventure genre – pirates, love and other exotic things.

    And of all the philosophers, the first thing that comes to mind is Aristotle's ” On Heaven.” He has a lot of references to other philosophers, and this will help you navigate in ancient philosophy. It is easy to read and understandable.

    You don't need to be an expert on Ancient Greece to read these books. These books can be found and downloaded, for example, in the free royallib library.�

    Enjoy your reading

  4. I would recommend the Roman philosopher and poet Titus Lucretius Carus. In his philosophical poem “On the Nature of Things”, he poetically presents reflections on indivisible particles, eternal matter, and the absence of the influence of the gods on people's lives. And this is all for almost a hundred years BC.

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