RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
January 10, 2015 at 6:01 pm
(This post was last modified: January 10, 2015 at 6:12 pm by Mudhammam.)
Well, I recently finished The Iliad and The Odyssey. I must say, I loved both of them. It was like reading an ancient Tolkien or something. I can't say I've read any other war epics, but if Iliad truly is one of the best, I can see why. And to follow that with the Odyssey, in my view, is almost a perfect sequel, although I guess one Greek writer (I can't recall which one) supposedly thought it showed Homer's decline in old age. Right now I'm reading The Presocratic Philosophers by Kirk and Raven, and then I'm going on to Plato: Complete Works, though I'll probably read it in spurts of say, 400 pages, and go on to read some more recent writers that I have on my shelf in the mean time since 1,800 pages of ancient Greek thought sounds a bit daunting. I'm about to order Grene's translation of Herodotus, and I want to check out Ovid too. (I'll probably check out some of the other suggestions once I get through a few other books--also currently on my list of authors to order are Aristotle, Pliny, Plutarch, Cicero, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine). What of Ovid should I order? Metamorphoses? And what translation?
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
