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Read Me What to read, 300 B.C.-A.D. 300

< through 301 B.C. | A.D. 301-1100 >

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3rd Century A.D.

Of the making of many books there is no end --Ecclesiastes 12:12

The Zend-Avesta (3rd-4th Cent.) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Avesta -- Zoroastrian Archives
Briefly, Zoroastrianism teaches that the world of the good principle, Ahura Mazda, was invaded by the evil principle, Angra Mainyu, and the world has since been the scene of perennial conflict between the two, which can be resolved only when at the appointed time a son of the lawgiver, named Saoshyant, will appear. He will destroy Angra Mainyu, the dead will be resurrected, and everlasting happiness will be the lot of mankind. --Philip Ward

PATANJALI (c. 300) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: Yoga Sutras
The classical Hindu philosophical treatise on the discipline of yoga, which, though one of the oldest concepts of Indian civilization, continues to attract the serious attention of the Western world. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Saddharma-Pundarika Sutra [The Sutra of the Lotus of the True Law] (before 255) Etext: Buddhist Information of North America
Buddha is here no longer the ascetic of history who preached for forty years. He is an eternal being, omniscient and omnipresent, and the setting in which he gives his discourse is uniquely awe-inspiring. --Philip Ward

Mallanga VATSYAYANA (c. 3rd Century A.D.) Etext: The Online Books Page
Kama Sutra
Vatsyayana states that, although sexual delights are not to be considered a chief end of existence, they must be considered a necessary part of existence. --Philip Ward

DIOGENES Laertius (c. 225-275) Etext: The Online Books Page
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

JUAN Chi (210-263)
Poetry

PLOTINUS (205-269) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: The Enneads (c. 253-269)
A man of extreme mysticism and asceticism, Plotinus set as his aim the escape from our material world to soul, then to reason, then to God, which Plotinus saw as formless, matterless, pure existence. --Philip Ward

2nd Century A.D.

SEXTUS Empiricus (fl. 2nd, 3rd?, C.) Etext: George MacDonald Ross
Outlines of Pyrrhonism

BHASA (fl. c. 200) Reference: Moonstruck Drama Bookstore
The Dream of Vasavadatta
a love story taken from an incident in the 'Ramayana' epic. --Philip Ward

TERTULIAN (Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus, c. 155-c. 220) Reference: The Tertullian Project
De Carne Christi

The Mahasatipatthana Sutta Etext: Access to Insight
The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, one of the 'larger discourses' of the Pali canon, has long been a primary Theravada text on the most essential of the Buddhist practices--meditation. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Ilango ADIGAL (2nd [or 3rd?] Century) Reference: KarnATik
Shilappadikaram ("The Ankle Bracelet")
The verse epic tells of the handsome young merchant Kovalan, his wife Kannaki, and his mistress Madhavi, whose gift of music leans heavily on Prince Ilango's intimate knowledge of early Indian classical music. --Philip Ward

The Gospel of Truth (1st to 2nd C?) Etext: The Gnostic Society Library Criticism: post

The Sukhavativyuha Sutras Etext: Shin Dharma Net
The longer and shorter Sukhavativyuha Sutras concern the vision of Amitabha Buddha's 'Land of Bliss' (Sukhavati), the Western Paradise. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

The Srimaladevisimhanada Sutra
'The Lions Roar of Queen Srimala' is a basic Mahayana sutra containing many of the common Mahayana teachings, but devoted especially to the notion of the Tathagatagarbha or 'Embryo of the Tathagata'--Buddhism's most compelling metaphor for the immanence of absolute truth. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Prajnaparamita (c. 100 B.C.-A.D. 400)
The Buddhist texts which deal with the 'Perfection of Wisdom' (Prajnaparamita) are among the earliest of Mahayana scriptures. They are particularly associated with Nagarjuna, one of India's greatest thinkers and founder of the Madhyamika or 'Middle Way' tradition. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Claudius GALEN (c. 130-c. 200) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: On the Natural Faculties Galen was the greatest systematizer of physiological and medical knowledge that the world had yet seen. --V. J. McGill, Biology, Psychology, and Medicine (1963), p. 73
...he has been called the first experimental physiologist, he made significant contributions to the previously neglected science of anatomy, and his encyclopedic treatises preserved much of the classical knowledge of medicine through the Dark Ages of Europe. --Robert B. Downs
On the Humour

Lucius APULEIUS (c. 125-c. 180) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses)
This, the best novel surviving from Roman Africa, tells the story of Lucius, a Greek who visits Thessaly hoping to learn something of the province's notorious magical properties. --Philip Ward

MARCUS Aurelius Antoninus (Marcus Annius Verus, 121-180) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: post
Three stars: Meditations (Ta eis heauton c. 167) 'I wonder if I might call your attention to an observation of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius? He said ''Does aught befall you? It is good. It is part of the destiny of the Universe ordained for you from the beginning. All that befalls you is part of the great web.'' ' I breathed a bit stertorously. 'He said that, did he?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Well, you can tell him from me, he's an ass.' --P.G. Wodehouse, 'The Mating Season' (1949)
He realizes the tragic triviality of human affairs in the incalculable vastness of time and space, but on the positive side accepts the need to act rationally both as a man and as an Emperor, in pursuit of short-term and medium-term goals. --Philip Ward

LUCIAN (120-190) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: Dialogues
One star: True History or The Way to Write History
probably his most sustained satire is the parody of Herodotus... --Philip Ward
One star: Satires
The Fisher
Sale of Creeds
The Way to Write History
Alexander the Oracle Monger
Charon
The Sale of Lives

PAUSANIAS (c. 120-180) Etext: The Online Books Page
Hellados Periegeseos ("Description of Greece")
(himself a Lydian) traveled widely in southern and central Greece, to judge by his writings, but little in the north or the islands. --Philip Ward

ARRIAN (Flavius Arrianus c. 100-180) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Wikipedia
Anabasis
Arrian took the title of his history of Alexander the Great, 'Anabasis', from the work of Xenophon. But Xenophon's 'March Up-Country' was a parochial affair indeed compared with Alexander's extraordinary adventures... --Philip Ward

Kuruntokai (1st-3rd Centuries) Etext: Project Maduri (Tamil)
consists of poems in the genre of courtly love, called akam. --Philip Ward

One star: The Songs of the South ("Songs from the Kingdom of Ch'u", Ch'u Tz'u 2nd Century)
Most of the Ch'u Tz'u poems are written in the song style, so-called because it was originally used only in songs; or in the Sao style, named after the famous poem Li Sao traditionally attributed to the earliest-named Chinese poet Ch'u Yuan, a nobleman banished by King Huai of Ch'u. --Philip Ward

1st Century A.D.

PTOLEMY (Claudius Ptolemaeus, c. 100-170) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: Almagest Ptolemy's efforts, therefore, are always directed to finding combinations of uniform circular movements, which will produce the appearances that we actually observe. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 83 G. J. Toomer, trans., Duckworth (U.K.) 1984
Geography Oddly, Ptolemy's geography began to exert a kind of dominance at almost the same time that, thanks to Copernicus and others, his cosmology began to decline in influence. --Alan Jacobs, In Search of Eden, review of 'Mapping Paradise: A History of Heaven on Earth' by Alessandro Scafi, First Things, February 2007, p. 29
...Ptolemy set himself the extremely ambitious task of describing and mapping the then known world. The book which resulted remained the standard work in its field for fourteen centuries, until its theories were disproved by Columbus' discovery of America and the ensuing great Age of Navigation. --Robert B. Downs

Sayings of the Fathers (Pirke Aboth, 1st Century A.D.)

Three stars: The Bible (1000 B.C.-A.D. 150) Etext: Greek N.T. audio | Gutenberg | Douay-Rheims | BSF | Gateway | Unbound Reference: Biblia Clerus | Review of Biblical Literature | Early Church Fathers | see The Talmud Study: Catholic Bible Studies | Baker Criticism: Neuhaus | Johnson | Wilken | Novak | Alison | Williamson | Jacobs | Barr | Blowers | Blowers, et al. | Levenson Humor: Garrison | Price The Bible deals with the whole of human life as imbued with religion: mating and begetting, war and work, historical events and communal acts. In the Bible, domestic, ethical, and political activity--as well as religious worship--express and embody the service and imitation of God. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 32 Since the 4th century, apart from some discussion during the Protestant Reformation, most Christians have accepted the decisions of the ancient church concerning the books that make up the Old and New Testaments. --Luke Timothy Johnson, In and Out--Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels, Lecture 25, Jesus and the Gospels, The Teaching Company ...Stephen Langton, who was born in 1150 and died in 1228. He was the archbishop of Canterbury in England, who numbered the individual passages or verses and the larger units called chapters. --Gary A. Rendsburg, The Book of Genesis, Lecture 2: The Second Creation Story, The Teaching Company
The Bible remains the central form of transmission of the Western heritage, and is the foundation of our moral standards--to my mind far more important than our laws. --D. Quinn Mills
(Authorized Version; or, King James Version, 1611) Criticism: Gleason | Heffernan | Hitchens | Yardley
interwoven with the texture of our speech, and remains a supreme beacon for the spiritual and moral life of mankind. --Walter Jackson Bate
The Bible: Old Testament Criticism: Levenson | Anderson The Old Testament is the Christian name for the Jewish sacred scriptures. It constitutes the complete Jewish Bible and the first part of the Christian Bible. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 33 Covenants are, in fact, contracts. To understand the relationship between God and the Israelites that Moses mediates, the suzerainty-vassal model, is basically to understand contract law. --Amy-Jill Levine, The Old Testament, Lecture 10: Covenant and Law, Part I, The Teaching Company
The Bible: Old Testament: Pentateuch Criticism: Updike | Shulevitz | Simon | Dembski
Three stars: Genesis Criticism: David Hajdu review | Albert Keith Whitaker review essay It may come as a surprise to learn that there are two different Creation stories in the Book of Genesis, but looking at the larger world of the ancient Near East, multiple Creation stories in a single culture are quite expected. --Gary A. Rendsburg, The Book of Genesis, Lecture 2: The Second Creation Story, The Teaching Company
Three stars: Exodus 1300 B.C.: God gives Ten Commandments to Israelites, making them His Chosen People and granting them eternal protection under divine law. Nothing bad ever happens to Jews again. --Timeline of Democracy, 'America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Government Inaction' (2004) by John Stewart, et al., p. 4
Three stars: Leviticus
Three stars: Numbers
Three stars: Deuteronomy
The Bible: Old Testament: Historical books
Three stars: Joshua
Three stars: Judges
Three stars: Ruth
Three stars: I Samuel There is, however, an ambiguity in the first book of Samuel on this whole question of theocracy versus monarchy. On the one hand, Israel is condemned for wanting a king and thus rejecting God. On the other hand, God Himself points out Saul as the man who is to be king. --Peter Wolff, The Development of Political Theory and Government (1959), p. 47
Three stars: II Samuel
Three stars: I Kings
Three stars: II Kings
Three stars: I Chronicles
The Bible: Old Testament: Wisdom books
Four stars: Job Criticism: G. K. Chesterton essay
It comes down to the fundamental level of acting in a way that, when multiplied into the collective behavior of all humanity, makes the planet a livable, comfortable place to be. --Moshe Safdie
Four stars: Psalms Criticism: Gary A. Anderson review | Robert Alter review
Three stars: Proverbs
Four stars: Ecclesiastes Criticism: Kenneth Rexroth essay
Three stars: Song of Songs
The Bible: Old Testament: Prophetic books
Three stars: Isaiah
Three stars: Jeremiah
Three stars: Ezekial
Three stars: Daniel
Three stars: Hosea
Three stars: Joel
Three stars: Jonah
Three stars: Micah
Three stars: Zechariah
Three stars: Malachi
The Bible: Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical Books Criticism: Klinghoffer Other books were included in the Greek translation but were not recognized as sacred scriptures in the official Hebrew text. These writings were accepted as sacred by the early Christian Church. Protestant Bibles follow the Hebrew canon ... . Protestants call these works 'apocryphal' or spurious; Roman Catholics consider them as 'deuterocanonical' (a secondary canon) and include them in the Bible. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 33
Three stars: Ecclesiaticus
Three stars: Tobit
Three stars: Wisdom of Solomon
The Bible: New Testament Criticism: Trinities | Lindbeck | Johnson | Meilaender The early Christian Church distinguished between the old covenant, or testament, made through Moses, and the new covenant, or testament, made through Christ. Hence came the names Old Testament, for the ancient scriptures, and New Testament, for the Gospels and other Christian scriptures. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 33 Dates from 'Redating the New Testament' (2000), by John A. T. Robinson, Ch. XI Conclusions and Corollaries
The Bible: New Testament: Gospels Criticism: Hitchcock | Johnson | Johnson | Hays | Girard | Dodaro | Hays Jesus was interpreted within a remarkable number of literary forms, even within the broad genre called gospel, and this testifies to the widespread literacy of the early Christian movement. --Luke Timothy Johnson, Jesus and the Gospels, Lecture 35: Jesus in and Through the Gospels, The Teaching Company It's also important to note that the Four Canonical Gospels are the earliest datable Gospels. No historian has ever been able to challenge that proposition. --Luke Timothy Johnson, In and Out--Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels, Lecture 25, Jesus and the Gospels, The Teaching Company
The Bible: New Testament: Synoptic Gospels Reference: A Synoptic Gospels Primer Criticism: Harvey
Three stars: Matthew (c. 40-c. 60) Criticism: Faatz | Thomas Aquinas Jesus divides the political and the religious realm. Render unto each its own, He says. --Peter Wolff, The Development of Political Theory and Government (1959), p. 48 Matthew consistently emphasizes Jesus' role as the successor of Moses--the new Torah or Revelation through Christ--and the Church as the new Israel. Some interpreters, finding that the book may be divided into five groups of sayings, hazard the guess that Matthew may have intended to write a new Pentateuch. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 54-55
Luke
   Four stars: Gospel (c. 57-c. 62)
   Three stars: Acts (c. 57-c. 62) This account is of interest because it shows the workings of the Roman judicial system. --Peter Wolff, The Development of Political Theory and Government (1959), p. 48
The Bible: New Testament: Epistles (Letters)
Paul (c. 8-c. 68) Reference: Pauline Year Criticism: Gary A. Anderson review | Kenneth L. Woodward review | Luke Timothy Johnson review
A Saul turning into Paul is neither a rarity nor a miracle --Eric Hoffer
   Four stars: I Corinthians (55) You can examine all the problems in 1 Corinthians and see them in light of this overarching thesis of Paul--that there is a future physical resurrection and that should affect how we behave in the present--as individuals with ethics and within the church community as a whole. -- Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament; Lecture 15: Paul and the Crisis of His Churches--First Corinthians; The Teaching Company
   Four stars: II Corinthians (56)
   Three stars: Romans (57) ...the New Law takes better account of man's weaknesses. Man failed continually to obey the Old Law, because of his sinfulness. The punisment of sin being death, man was condemned to death as long as God judged him by the Old Law. With the coming of the New Law, man was freed from the Old Law and hence also from death. Man *can* obey the New Law; he need only love God. ----Peter Wolff, Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence (1961), p. 56

The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma (Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, or Miao-fa Lien-hua ching, 1st Century) Etext: Nichiren Buddhism ...Avalokiteshvara is described as a protean deity, a deity who takes on all sorts of different forms in order to manifest compassion to people in this world, especially to people who call upon his name. --Malcolm David Ecker, Buddhism; Lecture 11: Celestial Buddhas and Boddhisattvas; The Teaching Company
One of the most influential of all Mahayana texts throughout East Asia. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

JUVENAL (Decimus Junius Juvenalis, c. 60-c. 140) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Roger Kimball essay
like most satirists he was somewhat discreet about his own private circumstances... --Philip Ward
Two stars: Satires (100-140)
Juvenal's worth is clearly demonstrated by his vitriolic diatribes on contemporary Rome, never equaled even by Johnson's 'Vanity of Human Wishes' or Swift's acid pamphlets. --Philip Ward

EPICTETUS (c. 60-c.138) Etext: Internet Classics Archive
Two stars: Discourses
argues against concentrating on the externals of life (such as riches, luxurious beds, or too much food) in favour of austerity and economy, modesty, and a tranquil mind undisturbed by fear, envy or hatred. --Philip Ward
One star: Handbook or Encheiredion

NICHOMACHUS of Gerasa (fl. c. 100) Reference: History of Mathematics Archive
Introduction to Arithmetic (c. 100) Numbers here have to do with eternal harmonies, the music of the spheres. Numbers are not only signs of the eternal patterns, but they possess definite characteristics. ... Arithmetic is not merely a matter of detached, unimpassioned calculation, but an aesthetic, even a religious, search. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), pp. 47-48

Gaius SUETONIUS Tranquillus (c. 70-140) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: Lives of the Caesars
If there are so many scandals in 'The Twelve Caesars', it is perhaps merely a reflection of the truth; there is no doubt that few Roman historians cite conflicting evidence without bias, as Suetonius often does. --Philip Ward

Cornelius TACITUS (c. 55-c. 120) Etext: The Online Books Page
Dialogues on Oratory (Dialogus de oratoribus c. 84-85)
enquired about the causes of the decline in Roman oratory, and assessed its future prospects. --Philip Ward
One star: Agricola (98)
One star: Germania (98)
Two stars: Histories (c. 106-107) Criticism: Mary Beard review
Three stars: Annals (c. 117) We may call Tacitus a political historian; that is, a historian who primarily recorded political events rather than external affairs. --Peter Wolff, The Development of Political Theory and Government (1959), p. 61

PLINY the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, c. 62-c. 113)
Letters (c. 99-109)
were written for publication, the first 247 appearing in print during his own lifetime. --Philip Ward

LONGINUS (c. 1st Century A.D.)
One star: On the Sublime
'Sublimity', in this unfinished work, has a meaning different from that understood today, but can be defined as that distinction and excellence of expression by which certain authors (and he names Homer and Plato, among others) have gained immortal fame. --Philip Ward

PLUTARCH (Mestrius Plutarchus c. 45-120) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Roger Kimball essay Why is it that Plutarch--'for centuries Europe's schoolmaster,' as the classicist C. J. Gianakaris put it--should quite suddenly move from center stage to the mental off-off-Broadway of reference books and dissertations? --Roger Kimball, The New Criterion, December 2000, p. 4
One star: Moralia (before 101)
Five stars: Parallel Lives or The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans (c. 101)
usually pairing a Greek with a Roman in the same field, such as generalship or historiography, and drawing particular attention to the character of his subjects, rather than to any objective statement of a career. --Philip Ward

MARTIAL (Marcus Valerius Martialis, c. 40-104)
One star: Epigrams (80-c. 104) Criticism: Steve Coates review
Epitaphs (80-c. 104)
Poems (80-c. 104)

Pedacius DIOSCORIDES (c. 40-80)
Materia Medica

Gaius PETRONIUS Arbiter (d. c. 65 or 66) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: Satyricon Criticism: Kenneth Rexroth review
tells in a mixture of prose and verse how Encolpius and his friend Ascyltos (with the boy Giton) explore the low taverns of Campania and Magna Graecia. --Philip Ward

LUCAN (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, 39-65)
his major virtues are a hysterical vitality (compared by Graves to that other eccentric, Rudyard Kipling), vividness of epigram, and a command of the Latin language second to none (with its obverse fault, verbosity). --Philip Ward
De bello civili [Concerning the Civil War] (62-63)
Pharsalia

Flavius JOSEPHUS (37-c. 100) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: David Luhrssen review
The Antiquities of the Jews
Autobiography
The Wars of the Jews

QUINTILIAN (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, c. 35-95)
One star: The Institutes of Oratory

Aulus PERSIUS Flaccus (34-62)
Satires

WANG Ch'ung (27-c. 97)
Lun-Heng
pointed out whatever was wrong; in all his arguments he used a strict and thorough method, and paid special attention to meanings. Rejecting erroneous notions he came near the truth. Nor was he afraid of disagreeing with the worthies of old. --Philip Ward

PLINY the Elder (23-79)
Natural History (c. 77)
a naturalist whose love of noting facts at second-hand (he claimed to have recorded 20,000 in his 'Natural History' from 473 authors) was perverted by the credulity of medieval writers to a variety of superstitious dogmas. --Philip Ward

1st Century B.C.

Lucius Annaeus SENECA (c. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Jones In the Renaissance, no Latin author was more highly esteemed than Seneca; in modern times, few Latin authors have been more consistently damned. --T. S. Eliot, 'Seneca' in 'Selected Essays' (1950) p. 52
One star: Moral Essays or Dialogi They write and write their desiccat ing learned la-di-da-di, as if *primum scribere, deindre philosophari*. --Friedrich Nietzsche, 'Seneca et hoc genus omne', The Gay Science 34
One star: Medea [T]he five-act division of the modern European play is due to Seneca. --T. S. Eliot, 'Seneca' in 'Selected Essays' (1950) p. 52
One star: Hercules furens
Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium)
His significance lies in his personality, and in his philosophical writings: the moral essays and the moral letters which are the progenitor of the whole genre of brief essays we have from Bacon to Lamb and the leader-writers in 'The Times'. --Philip Ward
Quaestiones Naturales

PHILO of Alexandria (20 B.C.-after A.D. 40) Reference: Resource Pages for Biblical Studies
Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws

Aulus Cornelius CELSUS (c. 25 B.C.-A.D. 50)
De Medicina

One star: The Milindapanha ("The Milinda-Questions", c. 1st Century B.C.)
One of the most important paracanonical prose works of Theravada Buddhism in the form of a dialogue between the Greek king Milinda (Menander) and the Buddhist monk Nagasena. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Three stars: Bhagavad Gita (c. 100 B.C.-A.D. 100) Etext: The Online Books Page | Bhagavad Gita On-line Criticism: post
this is not a treatise on war, but a treatise on the nature of responsible action. Krishna teaches the yoga, or discipline, of action: to act and be involved in the world, without personal or egotistical attachment to the fruits of those actions. --Diana Eck

Two stars: Mahabharata (c. 5th Century B.C.-4th Century A.D.) Etext: Sacred Texts Through a process perhaps analogous to that by which Greek heroic poetry coalesced around the Trojan War, the plot of this poem ostensibly crystallized around the tale of a struggle between rival claimants to the throne of a minor Indian kingdom. But the Mahabarata includes an extraordinary diversity of matter, most of which is only loosely attached to the central theme. --William H. McNeill, The Rise of the West, p. 369
The longer of the two major Indian epics, it is primarily a folk epic that includes many religious poems, didactic passages, myths, and legends, and as such is the modern encyclopedic source for the significant themes of Indian civilization. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

OVID (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 B.C.-A.D. 17) Etext: The Online Books Page | What Good Is It That Girls Need Never Go To War? Criticism: post
To understand the world of medieval writers one must digest the world-view of Ovid, who taught that human history was a story of decline: from a Golden Age of harmony and peace, to a Silver Age of seasons, instead of eternal spring, to a Bronze Age when men practiced warfare--but heroically, without wickedness or treachery, to the Iron Age of Ovid's own time... --Philip Ward
One star: Ars amatoria ("The Art of Love" 1 B.C.)
an elegiac poem in three books, of which the first two show how a man may win and retain a woman, and the third how a woman may win and hold a man. --Philip Ward
Heroides or Epistulae heroidum ("The Heroines" c. A.D. 4-8)
Two stars: The Metamorphoses ("Transformations" c. A.D. 8)
Permanence is an illusion or, if not an illusion, highly relative. But what changes goes on, and even if change can be full of pain and suffering, nothing is lost; there is only transformation, but transformation in which what has been continues in one form or another. --Anthony O'Hear
Fasti ("The Festivals" c. A.D. 8)
Epistulae Ex Ponto ("Letters from the Black Sea" A.D. 10)

Sextus PROPERTIUS (c. 50-c. 16 B.C.) Reference: PoeForward
Works
cast aside many of the formulae then considered necessary to the elegy, forging new sounds and a new intensity for emotions no longer conventional. --Philip Ward

MELEAGER (fl. 1st Century B.C.) Ed.
The Greek Anthology

Marcus VITRUVIUS Pollio (1st Century B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Ten Books on Architecture (De Architectura libri decem, after 27 B.C.)
Fascinating contemporary analysis of Classical architecture, including discussion of materials for building and decorating, and even the design of catpults and 'tortoises' (early tanks). --Raphael and McLeish

LIVY (Titus Livius, 59 B.C.-A.D. 17) Etext: Internet Classics Archive
One star: History of Rome or Early Rome

STRABO (c. 64 B.C.-A.D. 21) Etext: Internet Classics Archive
Geography

HORACE (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Perhaps the most technically accomplished of all the Roman poets... --Thomas F. X. Noble, Rome's Golden and Silver Ages,, Lecture 22, The Foundations of Western Civilization, The Teaching Company
Two stars: Satires (I c. 35 B.C., II 30 B.C.) Etext: Horace’s Satires I:VI Criticism: A. E. Stallings review
One star: Odes (Carmina 23 B.C.) Criticism: D. S. Carne-Ross review
The themes of Horace are the brevity of life and the need for moderation in all things to make the ideal citizen. --Philip Ward
One star: Epistles (20 B.C.)
Epistula ad Pisones or Ars Poetica (Letter to the Pisos or On the Art of Poetry, c. 20 B.C.)
deals largely with drama... --Philip Ward

VIRGIL (Publius Vergilius Maro, 70-19 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Institute for Learning Technologies Criticism: post
Eclogues (37 B.C.)
a collection of short pastoral poems, which won a phenomenal success immediately upon publication. --Robert B. Downs
Georgics (29 B.C.) the most accomplished work of poetry. --Montaigne The best poem of the best poet. --John Dryden
concerned with husbandry, designed to inspire a love of the Italian soil and of a virtuous life in rural surroundings. --Robert B. Downs
Five stars: Aeneid (19 B. C.) Criticism: Mark Shiffman essay
Virgil is celebrating Augustus and the founding of the Roman Empire and all the blessings it might bring; but in celebrating it in 'The Aeneid' itself there is no hiding the dark side, for those with eyes to see. --Anthony O'Hear

Gaius Valerius CATULLUS (c. 84-c. 54 B. C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Negenborn
Two stars: Poems
infected Latin poetry with gaiety, informality, and idiosyncrasy. He is mocking, ironic and often malicious, but never dull. --Philip Ward

SALLUST (Gaius Sallustius Crispus, 86-34 B.C.) Etext: Project Gutenberg Criticism: post
One star: The War with Catiline
The War with Jugurtha

Titus LUCRETIUS Carus (c. 96-55 B.C.) Etext: Internet Classics Archive He was a scientific materialist who did not believe in an afterlife, and provided many reasons why it is irrational to fear death. The point of life was pleasure, by which he meant not luxury and excitement but the purring detachment of a somewhat self-satisfied philosopher. --Kenneth Minogue, The New Criterion, September 2001, p. 17
Five stars: On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura)
Men, writes Lucretius, must be delivered from the bondage of religion (illustrated by the tale of Iphigeneia), and from fears of death and hell. Only the evidence of our senses is to be believed. --Philip Ward

2nd Century B.C.

Caius Julius CAESAR (102-44 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: post victor in the civil war, failed utterly to solve the political crisis that had destroyed peace and order in republican Rome. --Thomas R. Martin, From Polis to Imperium, review of 'The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian' by Robin Lane Fox, Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2007, p. 43
One star: Commentaries on the Gallic War (51 B.C.)
this book introduced me to the remarkable fact that history really did happen! --James Hodgson

Marcus Tullius CICERO (106-43 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: post More than any other single figure, Cicero influenced the theory of both European and American politics--and through that theory, our political institutions. --Russell Kirk, Enemies of the Permanent Things (1969) p. 32
One star: Against Gaius Verres I (In Verrem I, 70 B.C.)
The foundation of Cicero's reputation was his magnificent impeachment of Verres for maladministration in Sicily, forcing that rascally to go into exile. --Robert B. Downs
One star: Letters to Atticus (Epistulae ad Atticum 68 B.C.-43 B.C.)
It is a strange fact that no contemporary history of the age of Cicero has survived. ... For this reason, the social and political history revealed in more than nine hundred extant letters from and to Cicero are of unique historical value. --Robert B. Downs
About Oratory (De Oratore 55 B.C.)
On the Laws (De Legibus 52 B.C.)
Cicero's aim is to present a constitution for an ideal state, based in general upon the law and custom of Rome, but including much original material derived from his own political ideas. --Robert B. Downs
About the Best Kind of Orators (De Optimo Genere Oratorum 52 B.C.)
protrays the ideal orator, who is represented as a person of great versatility, capable of adapting himself to any case and audience... --Robert B. Downs
On the Republic (De Republica 51 B.C.)
The ideal state, Cicero concludes, is a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, because alone kingship may develop too easily into tyranny, aristocracy into plutocracy, and democracy into anarchial mob rule. --Robert B. Downs
About the Orator (Orator ad M. Brutum 46 B.C.)
essentially a historical and comparative survey of Roman oratory, containing much valuable information about Cicero's predecessors, climaxed by an autobiographical account of Cicero's own training and development. --Robert B. Downs
Stoic Paradoxes (Paradoxa Stoicorum 46 B.C.)
Questions debated at Tusculum (Tusculanae Quaestiones 45 B.C.)
discusses the essentials of happiness, defined by Cicero as despising death, enduring affliction, alleviating grief, controlling other disconcerting emotions, and recognizing that for a happy life virtue is all-sufficient. --Robert B. Downs
About the Ends of Goods and Evils (De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum 45 B.C.) Source of 'Lorem ipsum' --Wikipedia, 'Cicero'
a consideration of the fundamental question of ancient philosophy: What is the chief good, the final aim, of life? --Robert B. Downs
On the Nature of the Gods (De Natura Deorum 45 B.C.)
On Divination (De Divinatione 45 B.C.)
dealing with many forms of the art of foretelling future events--a discussion in which Cicero is careful to dissociate religion from superstition. --Robert B. Downs
On Fate (De Fato 45 B.C.)
expounding the Stoic conception of fate and drawing a distinction between fatalism and determinism. --Robert B. Downs
One star: On the Nature of the Gods (De Natura Deorum 45 B.C.)
setting forth in dialogue form the views of the Epicurean, Stoic, and the Academic schools. --Robert B. Downs
One star: Second Philippic (Philippica II, 44 B.C.)
On Duties (De Officiis 44 B.C.)
a discussion of the moral obligations of men in society, and the place of wisdom, courage, justice and self-control. --Robert B. Downs
One star: On Friendship (Laelius de Amicitia 44 B. C.)
discusses the bases of friendship, its qualities and obligations, and the problem of possibly conflicting loyalty, such as patriotism. --Robert B. Downs
Two stars: On Old Age (Cato Maior de Senectute 43 B. C.)
praises advanced age and refutes the complaints generally made against it, holding that old age is not a subject for rejoicing but for philosophical acceptance... --Robert B. Downs

SSU-MA Ch'ien (145-86 B.C.) Etext: Sacred Texts
Two stars: Shih Chi ("Records of the Historian")
The masterpiece of Chinese histories, this monumental attempt to record the entire known past became a standard for future historians, and is notable for its combination of chronicles, tables, topical treatises, and biographies. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

TERENCE (Publius Terentius Afer, c. 195-159 B.C.) Etext: Project Gutenberg Reference: Julia Holloway fan site
wrote for the aristocracy of Rome, taking his themes from the Greek New Comedy and greatly surpassing Plautus in his handling of plot and character. The regard in which his plays have always been held can be judged from the fact that all have survived from antiquity. --Philip Ward
One star: The Girl from Andros
One star: The Eunuch
One star: The Mother-in-Law

VALMIKI (c. 200 B.C.) Etext: Sacred Texts
Two stars: Ramayana
The earlier of the two major Indian epics and the best known in Indian art and legends, this work is primarily a court epic that exemplifies fundamental values and tensions in the classical tradition and forms the basis for many later religious texts. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Pancatantra (c. 200 B.C.)
see PURNABHADRA (c. 1199)

3rd Century B.C.

POLYBIUS (c. 204-122 B.C.) Etext: Ancient History Sourcebook
The Histories

Marcus Porcius CATO ("Cato the Elder" 234-149 B.C.) Criticism: Plutarch essay
On Agriculture

APOLLONIUS Rhodius (fl. 220 B.C.) Etext: Internet Classics Archive Reference: A Hellenistic Bibliography Criticism: post
Argonautica Humor: Amazon
believed fervently that the smart new belles-lettres was a diminishing of Greek writing, and undertook to prove the vitality--and the superiority--of the Homeric epic style by producing a new epic--on Jason's voyages in search of the Golden Fleece. --Philip Ward

APOLLONIUS of Perga (fl. c. 240 B.C.) Reference: Weisstein
On Conic Sections

CALLIMACHUS (fl. c. 250 B.C.) Reference: A Hellenistic Bibliography
Hymns
Epigrams

Titus Maccius PLAUTUS (c. 255-184 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Theatre Database
Though not an innovator, Plautus can be read today for an insight into the kind of production that one might have witnessed in the Roman theatres throughout Italy and the Empire. --Philip Ward
One star: Pseudolus
One star: The Braggart Soldier
One star: The Rope
One star: Amphitryon

THEOCRITUS (fl. 3rd Century B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Ancient History Sourcebook
Idylls

HSUN Tzu (3rd Century B.C.) Reference: Whitlock
Works
Writings of the third great formulator of Confucian teaching ... who gave special attention to the basis of learning and rites. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

HAN Fei Tzu (c. 280-233 B.C.) Etext: Humanistic Texts Reference: Kyle M.
One star: Complete Works or Basic Writings
The fullest theoretical statement and synthesis of the ancient school known as Legalism (fa-chia), which exerted a major influence on the Chinese political tradition. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

ARCHIMEDES (c. 287-212 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Rorres Criticism: post
One star: On the Equilibrium of Planes ...since mathematical analysis and proof are indispensable to Archimedes, it can also be said the 'Equilibrium of Planes' is an example of mathematical physics. It is probably the earliest example. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 35
One star: On Floating Bodies All he asks is to grant him a single postulate stating the characteristics of water and other fluids. The rest is simply a matter of geometrical reasoning. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 61
One star: On the Sphere and the Cylinder
His chief interest was in pure geometry, and he regarded his discovery of the ratio of the volume of a cylinder to that of a sphere inscribed in it as his greatest achievement. --Robert B. Downs
One star: The Method Treating of Mechanical Problems
One star: Measurement of a Circle
One star: The Sand-Reckoner

Panchatantra or Panca-tantra aka The Fables of Bidpai (c. 300 B.C., "The Five Books") Etext: Padmanabhuni | FunDooz | A - Z Hinduism | Ashliman
The 'Five Books' deal with the five categories of worldly wisdom and the art of practical government: both the winning and the losing of friends, war and peace, the loss of one's property, and the perils of acting too hastily. --Philip Ward

One star: The Dhammapada (c. 300 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page
A short work of 423 verses dealing with central themes of Buddhism, perhaps the most popular and influential Theravada Buddhist text. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

< through 301 B.C. | A.D. 301-1100 >



Revised March 13, 2010.

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