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Classics

Homer, Virgil & Greek myth

81 entries · 5 sections

Greek

The Iliad of HomerSamuel Butler, 1898 The Odyssey of HomerSamuel Butler, 1900 The Homeric Hymn to Demeter The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer in Greek The Authoress of the OdysseySamuel Butler, 1922 — Men are from the Iliad, Women are from the Odyssey...Hesiod's Theogony Works and Days The Hymns of OrpheusThomas Taylor, 1792 Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic PhilosophersKathleen Freeman, 1948 — The framentary textual remains of the oldest ancient Greek philosophers.The Poems of SapphoEdwin Marion Cox, 1925 The Poems of Sappho (Unicode)Edwin Marion Cox, 1925 The Songs of BilitisPierre Louÿs, 1926 — A famous hoax, which has had a huge impact on our modern perception of Sappho.Aphrodite (Ancient Manners)Pierre Louÿs, 1932 — Tragic loves of a courtesan in Ptolemaic Egypt, from the author of Bilitis.The History of HerodotusG. C. Macaulay, 1890 — The epochal conflict between the Greeks and Persians, by 'the Father of History.'The Fables of AesopAesop, 1887 The ArgonauticaR.C. Seaton, 1912 — The primary text for the story of Jason, the Argonauts, and the quest for the Golden Fleece.The Dramas of Aeschylus The Works of Aristotle The Dramas of Sophocles The Dramas of Euripides The Dialogues of Plato ARCHIMEDES The Sand Reckoner The Golden Verses of PythagorasFlorence M. Firth, 1902 The Golden Verses of PythagorasFabre d'Olivet, 1917 — The full Greek text with English and French translations; featuring extended essays by a prominent 18th century French estoteric writer.Pythagoras and the Delphic MysteriesEdouard Schuré, 1906 — The philosopher, his times and thought, and the modern esoteric interpretation of his legacy.Apollonius of TyanaGeorge Robert Stowe Mead, 1901 — Mead's review of the literature around Apollonius The Life of Apollonius of TyanaPhilostrates, 1912 — Philostrates' Life of Apollonius is our primary contemporary account.Works of Plutarch Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical EssaysCharles William King, 1908 — Six essays by Plutarch, rich with details of ancient mythology and natural philosophy.The Roman and Greek QuestionsPlutarch, 1938 — A treasure trove of classical pagan lore.The Discourses of EpictetusArrian, 1916 — The Discourses, Fragments, and Enchiridion, of the Stoic Greek philosopher Epictetus.A True StoryA.M. Harmon, 1913 — The original space odyssey...The Syrian GoddessHerbert A. Strong, 1913 — Lucian's hair-raising description of ancient Goddess worship.Fragments that Remain of the Lost Writings of ProclusProclus, 1825 — Some writings of the last classical era neo-Platonist philosopher.

Roman

The AeneidJohn Dryden, 1697 The EcloguesJ.W. MacKail, 1934 The GeorgicsJ.W. MacKail, 1934 The Golden AsseApuleius, 1566 The Most Pleasant and Delectable Tale of The Marriage of Cupid and PsycheApuleius, 1914 The Enneads of PlotinusPlotinus, 1917-1930 Works of Julius CaesarJulius Caesar, 1869 MeditationsMarcus Aurelius Antoninus On The Nature Of ThingsTitus Lucretius Carus OVID Amores, Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris and Medicamina Faciei Femineae The Satyricon of PetroniusGaius Petronius, 1930 — A satirical, bawdy and hallucinatory trip through the underbelly of Neros' Rome The PriapeiaL.C. Smithers, 1890 The Works of TacitusAlfred John Church, 1864-1877 — The preeminent Latin historian of the first century CE.Two Orations of the Emperor JulianThomas Taylor, 1793 Works of Procopius

Other Roman resources

The Royal Museum at NaplesStanislas Marie César Famin, 1871 — Sixty lithographs of erotic Roman art and artifacts.

General

Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireEdward Gibbon, 1776-88 — The majestic history of the downfall of Rome, unabridged.Bulfinch's MythologyThomas Bulfinch, 1855 — Bulfinch's able retelling of the classic myths has served as an introduction to the subject for generation of readers.The Eleusinian and Bacchic MysteriesThomas Taylor, 1891 — What secrets lay at the heart of the ancient initiation rituals at Eleusis?The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales for my ChildrenCharles Kingsley, 1901 — A retelling of the myths of Perseus, Jason and the Argonauts, and Theseus for young adults, with lavish art-deco illustrations.The Sibylline OraclesMilton S. Terry, 1899 — The (pseudo)-Sibylline Oracles are ancient books of prophecy.Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic EuropeDonald A. Mackenzie, 1917 — A survey of what is known about the civilization of ancient Crete.The Dionysian ArtificersHippolyto Joseph da Costa, 1820 Ancient FragmentsI. P. Cory, 1832 Lives of the Greek HeroinesLouisa Menzies, 1880 The Mysteries of MithraFranz Cumont, 1903 — The religion that might have taken the place of Christianity.The Oriental Religions in Roman PaganismFranz Cumont, 1911 — Roman paganism later incorporated a diverse set of beliefs including ecstatic near-eastern religions, a wide range of goddess cults, dualism from Persia, and astrology.Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and RomansFranz Cumont, 1912 Pagan RegenerationHarold R. Willoughby, 1929 Taboo, Magic, SpiritsEli Edward Burriss, 1931 The Religion of NumaJesse Benedict Carter, 1906 — An excellent history of the evolution of Roman religious ideas.The AmazonsGuy Cadogan Rothery, 1910 Religious Cults Associated with the AmazonsFlorence Mary Bennett, 1912 Ioläus, An Anthology of FriendshipEdward Carpenter, 1917 — An anthology of literary quotes about (primarily) male friendship, from David and Jonathan to Walt Whitman, particularly those verging on romantic love.Pagan and Christian CreedsEdward Carpenter, 1922 — Carpenter explores the similaries between Christianity and ancient mystery religions, as well as the similiarities between the narrative of Christ and other solar heros.A Problem in Greek EthicsJohn Addington Symonds, 1901 — A study of Greek homosexuality, centering on the institutionalized (and idealized) love of adolescent males by older men.Intermediate Types Among Primitive FolkEdward Carpenter, 1914 — Carpenter reviews the data on homosexuality in the ancient world Ancient Art and RitualJane Harrison, 1913 Five Stages of Greek ReligionGilbert Murray, 1925 — The evolution of Greek religion from the ancient Olympians to the Platonic philosophers, and onward.Myths of Greece and RomeJane Harrison, 1928 — Jane Harrison's primer of Classical Mythology.The Mycenaean Origin of Greek MythologyMartin P. Nilsson, 1932 Greek Popular ReligionMartin P. Nilsson, 1940 Prolegomena to the Study of Greek ReligionJane Harrison, 1922 — An in-progress posting of the first two chapters of Jane Harrison's masterwork.

About the photos

I took the photographs in this section in 1971 on an Easter Week tour of Greece with a group of High School classics students from Southern California. Escorted by nuns (I was one of the only public school students in the group), our tour visited Athens, Delphi, Mycenae and Knossos. The photos were taken with a cheap Instamatic. I recently found these photos and scanned some of them to accompany this section