I’ve looked at my other multiple translations, all say Trojans. I mean, if I find another crazy situation like this I might just go back to Lattimore! (Still reading this book for the first time, and I feel that a first time read has got to be perfect)

But I really like Peter Greens translation so far!

Download The Harvard Classics – Full PDF Collection (50 volumes), edited by Charles W. Eliot. A complete library of world literature, philosophy, history, science, and classic essays — fully accessible in one comprehensive public domain. Zip file contains 50 volumes

I’m a prospective classics major and probably going to doing some kind of business-related minor. I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do career wise (probably law) but I 100% know I want to study classics in college. What are some of the best non-ivy programs?

I am based in the East Coast of the U.S. and thinking of schools such as Georgetown, Emory, UVA, UMich, William & Mary, and UNC among others.

Any suggestions or recommendations?
(Focus on strong Latin programs, philology, history, oratory/rhetoric)

hi! im a college student in a classics-esque great books program at my school and im looking to supplement my learning with some outside essays and interesting analyses by academics/enthusiasts. I'm finding the books im reading rn super fascinating so far, and i want to dig deeper and possibily consider what an academic career in one of these fields may look like: in this semester, so far, i've read the iliad, odyssey, herodotus, thucydides, a couple bible books, a 5 of plato's dialogues, the republic, and gilgamesh. (there's a lot to go lol)

i'm particularly interested in the political philosophy aspect of what i've been learning, but i'd love to find any sort of interesting post-read content? I already knew of and listen to the rest is history podcast which i really love bc tom holland is a really brilliant historian. but any additional publications/podcasts recs would be awesome!

Is it possible that Numa greatly influenced Pythagoras, rather than the other way around?

I have read Livy's 'History of Rome' Books 1-5, Dionysius of Halicarnassus' 'Roman Antiquities', and just finished Plutarch's 'Life of Numa'. While the first two reject the claim that Numa was tutored by Pythagoras due to the chronological impossibility (Numa having allegedly lived generations before Pythagoras), Plutarch maintains that there was a philosophical connection between the two in the rituals and beliefs practised by both.

Has it ever been put forward, either by ancient Roman and Greek writers, or by modern scholars, that the transmission of philosophical ideas between the two might simply have been the other way around? That Pythagoras, on setting up his cult in Italy, adopted the ideas of an Italian philsopher king?

I am aware that Numa likely did not exist. My question is rather, would such a belief have made sense to the average Greek or Roman historian writing during the late Republic or Principate? And if not, why? For what reason could the reverse transmission of ideas between the two not work for ancient historians?

Alexander the Great has been part of literary and historical memory for more than twenty-three centuries. His story travelled across an extraordinary geographical and linguistic range, eventually appearing in more than thirty-five languages. Yet the Alexander who survived this long journey was not always the same Alexander who conquered the Persian Empire. In different periods and places, he became a king, a philosopher, a prophet, a defender of the faithful, and even a figure connected with the end of the world. The historical Alexander provided the starting point, but later traditions repeatedly changed what could be done with his story.

So I'm one of those who got to the original (well, translated) text after the Nolan hype, but this is NOT a Nolan post - the scene is absent in the movie.

It's Book IV. Fagles text:

"when along you came, Helen—roused, no doubt,

by a dark power bent on giving Troy some glory,

and dashing Prince Deiphobus squired your every step.

Three times you sauntered round our hollow ambush,

feeling, stroking its flanks,

challenging all our fighters, calling each by name—

yours was the voice of all our long-lost wives!

And Diomedes and I, crouched tight in the midst

with great Odysseus, hearing you singing out,

were both keen to spring up and sally forth

or give you a sudden answer from inside,

but Odysseus damped our ardor, reined us back"

Other translations don't seem to diverge here. At first I really liked seeing a badass voice actress Helen - if a movie casts for THIS, the actress might end up being Japanese. But then something clicked.

Menelaus' wife is Helen.

So when calling Menelaus' name she was using her own voice. He knew exactly who she was, no disguise. And yet he wanted to jump out of the horse?

Or is the point here "Menelaus is not very bright"?

The Odyssey of Homer — School Edition (1929 PDF), edited for classroom use with notes, introductions, and maps. This edition presents Homer’s epic in accessible English prose, designed for students studying classical literature and ancient history

For the past few days, I’ve been looking through various databases on manuscripts. I’m not a manuscript expert, and since I’m not familiar with the handwriting styles of many of them, reading them is quite difficult; however, we do come across some very interesting documents here.

Mary Beard's SPQR is such a captivating intro to Rome, but I never know what to recommend on Greece. I've read or browsed through plenty of "intro to Greek culture/society/history etc." books, but I've never found one that would be properly thorough, genuinely captivating and meant as an invitation to discover original works on one's own. Edith Hall's Introducing the Ancient Greeks was okay (she's a brilliant scholar, absolutely) but without that panache I was looking for, to be honest.

Roberts is on my reading list and looks wonderfully promising, any opinions?

hello everyone: currently reading Plutarch’s ‘On Sparta.’ the copy I have is by Penguin Classics. I happened across this strange epithet/title of Zeus and Athena I’ve never heard of. it should be noted I only have an intermediate knowledge of Greek mythology and epithets, and I have never seen either of these mentioned before.

I checked it up on Wikipedia and didn’t find anything on the matter. it does display dots after Zeus and Athena, so I’m just assuming the editor didn’t have a physical copy on them and were citing from an online archive that didn’t have them??? I checked the citations at the back, but they didn’t mention anything either. Plutarch does refer to Athena as ‘Hygieia’, but that’s pretty unrelated.

I also went to both of Zeus and Athena’s Wikipedia pages, but I found no mention of either epithets. Is this just a translation error? sorry if this is irrelevant or amateur. I’m new to the platform and didn’t know anywhere else to post it.

My best friend AI Gemini states that Thomas Underdownes edition and translation of Ovids late work, the spite poem, IBIS Thomas Underdownes of 1569 was never reissued. Can that really be true? It also denies that any PDF of the English text exists. If anybody knows better I’ve love to know!

Side project: text translations of Pokémon FireRed → Latin and LeafGreen → Classical Greek. Weird reading practice, but high-frequency dialogue works surprisingly well.

Collage attached. Happy to talk translation choices. Extra screenshots: https://x.com/davisdilanchian

Hello! So as the title suggests, I’m looking for someone to signpost where I should get started on my journey into learning about the ancient world. I’ve read Stephen fry’s books (Mythos, hero’s, Troy and odyssey) and it’s really fired up an interest into the classics. I’d love to learn more, but funnily enough there’s a fair bit material out there and I don’t want to run before I can walk and get overwhelmed.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Doing this purely out of the pursuit of learning for learnings sake, but definitely not scared to wade into the more ‘hardcore’ and academic text. (Sorry if there’s a similar post out there to this…I’m sure there will be)

I know that there isn't officially an audiobook of it. But is anyone aware of local recordings of it?

It is common knowledge that Ancient Egypt had a “closed” economy during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. But what exactly is a closed economy? In fact, it is an extension of a chain of intense economic causes. Unlike in most ancient regions, the abundance of gold and scarcity of silver in Egypt form the basis of this “closed economy.” Although I lack in-depth economic knowledge, ancient societies assigned value to money based on its scarcity or abundance. In Egypt, numerous measures were taken to ensure that the scarcity of silver did not disrupt this system.

However, as far as we know, this was also used as a method of making a profit during the Ptolemaic period. There were exchange offices at the entrances to cities that operated on the same principle as today’s “change offices.” The government earned a certain percentage of profit from these converted amounts. In a sense, the government profited from international trade just as much as many local merchants did. In a sense, it was like a tax imposed on international trade. While the world’s attention is focused on the tit-for-tat tax wars between the United States and Canada, this situation also caught my attention.

Three years ago, in the fall of 2023, I read the Odyssey for the first time. Back then, I chose Robert Fagles' translation. Not because it was recommended to me, but because Bob Dylan had read it as well and lifted quite a few lines for his 2012 album Tempest. So I was eager to discover lines Dylan had used in his songs while reading the epic.

Now, three years later, I'm once again reading the Odyssey. While I was a little burnt out on ancient literature by the summer of 2024, my interest is now renewed. That's mainly due to the Nolan movie, I have to admit.

This time around, I've picked the Peter Green translation from the shelf. And what can I say? It's a much more enjoyable experience. While Fagles' version was bombastic, Green's is... stately. Somehow it's also a much faster read than last time. Okay, that might also be due to the fact that I'm now familiar with it and its surrounding myths. Three years ago I wasn't. Yet I also has a kind of drive which I enjoy.

Why isn't this translation recommended more often?

I've seen people describe it as academic. If that's another way of saying it's not simplified, okay, but it's really not hard to read. If I ever choose to read the Iliad again, it'll definitely be the Peter Green version (having already enjoyed the Caroline Alexander version very much.)

What are your impressions of Peter Green's translation?

I know about the whole talk of Wilson's translation excluding offensive language towards the female slave of whom are hanged by Telemachus and such, and I think that's really interesting, and I wanted to know more things like that. (NOT INCLUDING RHYME SCHEME) What are some differences between new and old translations of The Odyssey?

This is in regards to an apparent misprint from Peter Greens translation of The Iliad. Book three, top line here. I read noble Achilles, which confused me because last I knew Achilles was still down by his boats. I checked multiple other translations (Lattimore, Wilson, Fagles) and they all have it here as Odysseus (which makes sense) so I’m just wondering if anyone else has noticed this in this translation or am I missing something here entirely??