Product Description

Introducing the work of 20 of the ancient world's greatest authors, this work presents brief, readable essays, fully illustrated with quotations from modern (and some ancient) translations. The writers covered include Homer, Sappho, Herodotus, the Greek tragedians, the comic poets, sexy and subtle love poets such as Catullus, and vicious but witty satirists like Martial and Juvenal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444390 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 158 pages

Customer Reviews

Written with verve and aplomb
Dr. Peter Jones, well-known expert on ancient literature, writer, broadcaster, teacher, and above all, enthusiast, expounds here the history of classical literature and its translations. Aimed particularly at the beginner, his self-explanatory title takes us from the Greek, Homer, who invented the epic with the Iliad (Trojan War) and the Odyssey (c.720BC); to the Roman, Juvenal, who invented social satire. He gives much incisive advice: eg, on the Iliad: 'Newcomers to Homer should first read Books 1, 6, 9, 16, 18, 22, and 24. They are the kernel of the story'. You may find yourself beginning to share his literary philosophy, as I do, as he notes that his comments 'lack critical sophistication. For example, when Catullus talks about himself, I rather daringly take him at his word.' He also covers Sappho, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus, Thucydides, Euripides, Aristophanes, Socrates and Plato, Plautus, Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Seneca, Martial, and Tacitus. There is an index. His concise style is such that he is able to review a book in a single convincing sentence, a skill I may never master.