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/lit/ - Literature

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7955389 No.7955389 [Reply] [Original]

I've gotten into literature more seriously since the last year and I'm thinking it's about time I hit the greeks. Where should I start?

>> No.7955394

>>7955389
plato, aristitotle, then move on

>> No.7955396

>didn't start with them
missed your chance

>> No.7955401

Homer. Homer. Homer.

Greatest poet in western literature and *the* cultural touchstone for all of classical civilisation.

>> No.7955551

A Brief History of Ancient Greece - Pomeroy et al
The Iliad & Oddysey - Homer (I'd recommend Fitzgerald)
Theogony, & The Works and Days - Hesiod
The Histories - Herodotus
The Peloponessian War - Thucydides
The Orestiea - Aeschylus
The Theban Cycle (Read in publication order) - Sophocles
Medea (and two others that tickle your fancy) - Euripides
Complete Works - Plato (If you don't want to read em all, read Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Meno, Symposium, Republic, Timaeus)
Basic Works - Aristotle

>> No.7955570

>>7955551
don't read herodotus and thucydides if you're interested only in literature; no need to read aristotle's more philosophical works (metaphysics, ethics etc), poetics is cool for lit. read the aeneid after odyssey.

>> No.7955583

>>7955551
>complete works - plato
>basic works - aristotle

Are they just modern summaries of their works or the full, translated works all combined into one book?

>> No.7955593

>>7955570
What he said

Also Hesiod isn't the best read

>> No.7955605

>>7955389

Iliad - Homer
Odyssey - Homer
Aeneid - Virgil (he's a Roman but just read it you cuckold)
Oedipus Rex - Sophocles
Electra - Sophocles
Antigone - Sophocles
Metamorphoses - Ovid
Poetics - Aristotle
Republic - Plato (you could even skip this if you just care about books)
This list is supposing you have an interest in Literature and not Philosophy and it's in no way exhaustive, but it will give you a healthy starting point without being too overwhelming (i read these all since the latter half of 2015). Take a long time if you want to fully appreciate them, but since you're using them as a stepping stone for understanding modern literature and not studying them per se, i'd just have a broad understanding of the narrative themes of the 'narrative' texts and focus on the literary theory expanded on in Poetics.

I'd recommend reading the list in order - you REALLY don't want to read poetics without reading Sophocles first, and Oedipus Rex is important if you want to get into Nietzschean theories of Tragedy as well.

>> No.7955611

>>7955593
according to wikipedia theogony is like an encyclopedia or mapping of the greek gods hierachy and myth, and work and days is about farming and shit.

>> No.7955635

Roman, but what should one read from Cicero?

>> No.7955730

>>7955583
Complete Works has everything by Plato, even shit that may not be by him

Basic Works has all the core works of aristotle, and abridgements of his stuff on biology and stuff on the soul

>> No.7955735

>>7955605
>no medea
>no oresteia

>> No.7955743

>>7955735
I did say it wasn't an exhaustive list.

>> No.7955775

heres a link to work and days by hesiod . its mainly about the virtue of working hard . you reap what you sow

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/works.htm

might be more by him on that website as well

>> No.7955784

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/works.htm

saves you buying a book

>> No.7955866

>>7955593
Wha? It's like 50 pages, why not read it? It's a good little overview and a chance to read someone pre-Homer.

>> No.7955891

>>7955635
Depends.
On friendship and On old age are legend; On the republic is classic, I like the Stoic paradoxes too.

>> No.7955908

>>7955401
Overrated. Only useful for understanding ancient value systems. People fighting. Odyssey is mega disappointing; shit that would be interesting to read about is short (Scylla and Charibdes and the Cyclops especially) while everything else is way too long.

Aeneid is the only one that's genuinely enjoyable.

>> No.7956062

>>7955908
Don't post if you're such an uncultured bore.

>> No.7956123

>>7955570
Book One of The Histories is amazing though.

>> No.7956366

>>7955908
>Aeneid
Virgil was Roman though

>> No.7957000

>>7956366
he was also a pussy

>> No.7957008

>>7955570
Don't post if your posting with your ass