Reading Rat

What to read, 301-1100

\/ 300 B.C.-A.D. 300 | 1101-1400 /\

Annotations: to (rating) - (etexts) - (study guides) - (references) - (criticism) - (note) - (comment)

11th Century

If one reads a great deal without knowing the essentials, he is but a bookstore. --Yin T'un (1071-1142)

GEOFFREY of Monmouth (c. 1100-1155) The Online Books Page

History of the Kings of England (1135-1139)
his accounts of the early myths of England, from its colonization by Brutus through Lear to Arthur, are charming and seminal. --Raphael and McLeish

The Song of Roland (La Chanson de Roland c. 1100) Online Medieval and Classical Library
The friendship of Oliver and Roland, demonstrating the medieval ideal of sapienta combined with fortitudo, is only one of the stirring elements in the vigorous narrative; others include the exaltation of Christendom over Islam, the enmity of Roland and his stepfather Ganelon, and the magnanimity of Charlemagne as a conqueror and lord. --Philip Ward

BERNARD of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Christian Classics Ethereal Library | Eternal Word Television Network

Modus bene vivendi in christianam religionem

Anna COMNENA (1083-c. 1153)

Alexiad (after 1148) Medieval Sourcebook

Sirat 'Antar [The Romance of 'Antar] (1080-1400) Medieval Sourcebook

Pierre ABELARD (1079-1143) The Online Books Page Turner

Letters (c. 1128, with HELOISE 1101-1164) Humanities Handbook Heffernan | Jain
Abelard was the greatest French logician and scholastic philosopher of the twelfth century, but his literary immortality is due to his correspondence with his mistress Heloise, a lady of great learning who married Abelard secretly. --Philip Ward

Plaints (after 1130)

Historia Calamitatum (after 1133, "History of my Sorrows") Medieval Sourcebook
recounts his life from the period in St. Denis (from 1119) to some time after 1132. --Philip Ward

Judah HA-LEVI (c. 1075-after 1140) Ward The Online Books Page Jewish Virtual Library

Poems

Abu Hamid Muhammed al-GHAZALI (1059-1111)

Deliverance from Error (Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal c. 1100) Muslim Philosophy
The Incoherence of the Philosophers, Michael E. Mamura translation, Brigham Young University Press (1998)
He made aspects of philosophy palatable to theologians, partially reconciled Sufism with orthodoxy and completed the edifice of scholastic system founded by al-Ashari. He made use of the Gospels and, of all Moslem theologians, his ideas came nearest to Christian views. Thomas Aquinas and other Christian scholastics bear marks of his influence. --Philip K. Hitti, 'Islam and the West' (1962) p. 44
Alas, Islam turned against science in the twelfth century. The most influential figure was the philosopher Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali, who argued in The Incoherence of the Philosophers against the very idea of laws of nature, on the ground that any such laws would put God’s hands in chains. --Steven Weinberg, A deadly certitude, review of 'The god delusion' by Richard Dawkins, Times Literary Supplement, January 17, 2007
A very personal spiritual autobiography, by one of the greatest Islamic theologians, concerning the relation of mystical experiences to theology and the rational sciences. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

MOSES Ben Jacob BEN EZRA (c. 1055-c. 1138)

Selected Poems Poetry Searcher

al-HARIRI of Basra (Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Hariri 1054-1122)

Maqamat [The Assemblies] Medieval Sourcebook
A major work of classical Arabic literature, in fifty episodes, which illustrates some of the tensions between piety and civilization, the desert and the city in Islamic culture, and reflecting the Arab love and linguistic dexterity. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

MILAREPA (1052-1135)

The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

SOMADEVA Bhatta (11th Century)

Kathasaritsagara [Ocean of streams of story] The Online Books Page
The book, like its Arabian equivalent [the Arabian Nights] can be considered a useful source for Indian social and religious life in Somadeva's time... --Philip Ward

U'mar KHAYYAM (11th Century) The Online Books Page

The Ruba-iyyat Marina Warner review
The Ruba'iyyat represents a persistent trend of skepticism and reflections on the transience of the world in Persian lyric poetry, and forms an important aspect of its poetic sensibilities. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

BILHANA (c. 1040-1095) The Online Books Page

Fifty Lyrics of a Thief (Caurapancasika c. 1070-1100)
a series of verses of remembered love --A Guide to Oriental Classics

SU Tung-P'o (1036-1101)

Poems Poem Hunter
it is as a poet that we love the 'gay genius', whose inspiration while tipsy reminds us of the case of the Persian poet Hafiz--and a number of others in our own time, such as Dylan Thomas. --Philip Ward

Saint ANSELM (1033-1109) The Online Books Page | Hopkins post

Proslogium (1077-1078)

Hasan Ibn Ali Tusi, NIZAM al-Mulk (1018-1092)

Siyasatnama (1086-1091)

Lady SARASHINA (Takasue No Musume, 1008-c. 1065)

Sarashini nikki Hanover Historical Texts Project | University of Pennsylvania

ASVAGHOSHA (100?-?) Buddha-karita | Vajra Suchi

The Awakening of Faith in Mahayana (Mahayana-Sraddhotpada Shastra; Ta-ch'eng ch'i-hsim lun; 6th Century) Order of Hsu Yun
A brief but seminal treatise of uncertain provenance that came to have profound influence on many of the traditions of East Asian Buddhist thought. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

10th Century

The Poetic Edda (10th-11th Centuries) The Online Books Page
Disovered in 1643 by Brynjult Sveinsson, Icelandic Bishop of Skalaholt.

Hekigan Roku (c. 1000) Eric Boix

Fujiwara no NAGAKO (c. 1000?)

The Emperor Horikawa Diary [ Sanuki no Suke Nikki] Other Women's Voices

A Thousand and One Nights or The Arabian Nights (Alf Layla wa Layla c. 900-1500) The Online Books Page | The Online Books Page
A collection of imaginative tales for popular audiences, dating from the fourteenth century although probably containing older elements. The genres include fairy tales, romances, legends, didactic stories, humorous tales, and anecdotes. --A Guide to Oriental Classics
(Richard Francis Burton translation, 1885)
remains the finest and most readable version in a western language. --Philip Ward

IBN HAZM (Abu Muhammad 'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Sa'id ibn Hazm 994-1064) Islamic Philosophy Online
Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazm went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practise idolatry. --Pope Benedict XVI, 'Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections', Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg, September 12, 2006

The Ring of the Dove (Tawq al-hamama, "The Dove's Necklace") Islamic Philosophy Online
A book on the anatomy of love, by an Andalusian Muslim scholar. Personal experience and direct observation lend depth and psychological truth to this outstanding example of an Arabic literary genre. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Kagero nikki (c. 974) Questia

AVICENNA (Abu Ali a-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina, 980-1037) Muslim Philosophy Koons

Canon of Medicine
His Kitab al-Shifa (book of healing) is based upon the Aristotelian tradition, modified by Neo-Platonic influences and Islamictheology. --Philip K. Hitti, 'Islam and the West' (1962) p. 42
added a couple of classifictions including epilepsy and hysteria. --David W. Martin

MURASAKI Shikibu (pseudonym, c. 978-1030) The Online Books Page post

The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari 1000-1008) Canary
[A] lively love story, portraying the elegant sensibility of the courtly circle. --William H. McNeill, The Rise of the West (1963), p. 479
The great saga tells the history of the court of a certain Prince Genji and his amorous adventures in the first forty-four chapters, and the story of his putative son in the final ten chapters, which might be by a different hand, or may simply reflect a change in Lady Murasaki's prose style. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 8
A long, psychologically insightful and moving novel ... dealing with Prince Genji and his descendants at the Japanese court ... . It is usually considered the supreme work of Japanese literature ... --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Diary (1008-1010)

The Nibelungen Lied (c. 971-991) The Online Books Page
First written down about 971 to 991 as Der Nibelunge Not, revised by Konrad about 1140, further revised and renamed (by Rudolf von Ems?) after 1190.

SEI Shonagon (c. 966-after 1008)

The Pillow Book (Majura no soski) The Diary Junction
A collection of perceptive reflections and sharp and witty anecdotes, mainly concerned with court life in the late tenth century, by one of Japan's greatest literary stylists. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

al-HAMADHANI (964-1008) The Online Books Page

Maqamat al-Hamadhani (968-1008; The Maqamat)
A major work of classical Aribic literature, in fifty-two maqamas, or rhetorical anecdotes, portraying the adventures of a sophisticated bohemian and a credulous bourgeois. The satire of medieval manners and morals is accomplished with a much-admired linguistic virtuosity. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Tales of Yamato (Yamato monogatari c. 951)

IZUMI Shikibu (976?-1033?) The Online Books Page

Diary

Tales of Ise (10th Century)

Sasunti Davit (David of Sassoun or The Daredevils of Sassoun, c. 10th C.) Cleveland State University

FERDOWSI (940–1020) The Online Books Page Wikipedia entry

Shahnameh (c. 977-1010, 'The Book of Kings')
Firdausi's purpose in the Book of Kings was to chronicle the entire history of Persia from the creation of man down to the Sasanian empire (226-641 A.D.)... --G. L. Anderson, Masterpieces of the Orient (1961) p. 28
It took him about thirty years to compose the 60,000 couplets of the Shah-Namah (book of kings), recounting and glorifying the deeds, historic and legendary, of Iranian kings and heroes from Adam to the Arab conquests. --Philip K. Hitti, 'Islam and the West' (1962) pp. 60-61
It comprises the mythical, legendary, and factual history of Iran from earliest times to the Arab conquest. --A Guide to Oriental Classics
To imagine an equivalent to this violent and beautiful work, which is expecially impressive in Dick Davis's recent translation, think of an amalgam of Homer's Iliad and the ferocious Old Testament book of Judges. --Michael Dirda

GENSHIN (Eshin Sozu 942-1017) post

Ojoyoshu (985)

al-MUTANABBI (Ahmad Ibn Husain, 915-965)

Poems

Kokinshu (905)
The organization, poetic form, vocabulary, tone, and themes in the Kokinshu, compiled in 905 by Ki no Tsurayuki (c. 868-945) and others, set the standards of poetic expression for centuries. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

9th Century

Ki no TSURAYUKI (872-945) The Online Books Page Wikipedia entry

Tosa Diary (Tosa nikki, 935)

868 ... first printed book that is actually dated ... the Chinese translation of an Indian Sanskrit treatise, the so-called Diamond Sutra ... --Amartya Sen

Hadith [Narrative] or Traditions of Islam (9th Century) see Koran The Online Books Page
In the third century Hijriah, corresponding to the night century A.D., a need was felt to systematize the thousands of traditions which had grown up around the life, work and sayings of the Prophet Muhammed, the criterion of authenticity being the isnad, or chain of transmission, some sources being more reliable than others. --Philip Ward

HAN Shan (9th Century)

Poems

LI Shang-yin (813-858)

Poetry twelve poems | China the Beautiful

8th Century

LIN-CHI Hui-chao (d. 866)

The Record
The recorded sayings of the late T'ang Buddhist master Lin-chi Huichao, founder of the Lin-chi (Rinzai) school of Ch'an, which spread throughtout East Asia. It contains many stories used later as subjects of meditation. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

LI Ho (791-817)

The Poems of Li Ho

al-JAHIZ ('The Goggle-Eyed', Abu 'Uthman Amr bin Bahr, c. 780-c. 868) The Online Books Page post

The Life and Works of Jahiz (D. M. Hawks translation 1969, from Charles Pellat translation) Medieval Sourcebook

YUAN Chen (779-831)

Poetry Hamill | CPD

KUKAI (Kobo Daishi, 774-835)

Major Works
Kukai, greatest of the Heian period Buddhist teachers, studied esoteric Buddhism and Sanskrit in the T'ang capital Ch'ang-un and brought back to Japan a type of Buddhism that was to have an enormous impact on Heian culture. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

PO Chu'-I (772-846)

Poems Project Gutenberg
Po felt that poetry should be didactic, that it should disseminate wisdom and discuss topics more important than the landscape, dancing girls, and the pleasures of drinking wine. ... But, ironically, his non-didactic poems have appealed to readers--Chinese and Western alike--more than his didactic ones. --G. L. Anderson, Masterpieces of the Orient (1961) p. 221

MENG Chiao (751-814)

Poetry

Beowulf (after 680, before 793) The Online Books Page Wikipedia entry | Martin Irvine resources | James Grout on translations post
(The recent version by poet Seamus Heaney is quite thrilling, while that by Michael Alexander, in prose, achieves greater exactness and fidelity.) --Michael Dirda

Man'yoshu (c. 770, 'Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves') Japanese text
The earliest extant anthology of Japanese poetry, containing over four thousand poems in twenty books, compiled about A.D. 770 by Otomo Yakamochi and others. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (Liu-tsu t'an ching, early 8th Century) San Francisco State University | Zen.ru Zenspace
attributed to the sixth Chan patriarch, Huineng
An original Chinese work and early statement of Ch'an (Zen) thought, which assumed the status of both classic and scripture because of its unique claim to religious enlightenment. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

SHANKARACHARYA (Adi Shankara 788-820)

The Vedanta Sutra with the Commentary of Shankaracharya
Shankaracharya, or Shankara, is the most influential of Indian philosophers, representing nondualistic philosophy based on the Upanishads (Vedantas), the form of Indian thought best known in the West. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

TU Fu (Tu Kung-Pu) (712-770) Poem Hunter | Du Fu Index post

Poems

LI Po (Li T'ai Po) (701-762) Project Gutenberg

Poems

BHAVABHUTI (8th Century)

The Later Story of Rama

7th Century

WANG Wei (c. 699-c. 761) Selected poems | Deer Park Hermitage | Four poems
great T'agn dynasty poet, composer and painter... --Philip Ward

Wang Yu-ch'eng Chi Chien-chu (1736)

MENG Hao-jan (689-740)

Poetry Yefei

The Ulster Cycle (or The Red Branch Cycle, 7th-8th Centuries) The Online Books Page

The Venerable BEDE (673-735) The Online Books Page post
It is inspirational to note the speed, ambition and confidence with which an illiterate society took up a foreign belief, language and technology, and made themselves masters of all three within two long lifetimes, so that the Venerable Bede ended his long life in 735 AD, in his far north-eastern monastery of St. Peter's, Monkwearmouth, the most learned man in Europe. --Tom Shippey, The Most Learned Man in Europe, review of The Anglo-Saxon Library, by Michael Lapidge, London Review of Books, June 8, 2006

Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731?)
The history of Britain from the landing of St. Augustine in 597 to the year 731, discussed in elegant, clear prose. --Raphael and McLeish

SHANTIDEVA

The Bodhicaryavatara (c. 650) Buddhist Information
This primarily devotional work occupies a position in Mahayana Buddhism analogous to that of the Bhagavadgita in Hinduism, the Dhammapada in Theravada Buddhism, and the Imitatio Christi of Thomas a Kempis in Christianity. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Koran (Al-Qur'an, "The Reading," 610-632; 653) The Koran and The Qur'an, The Online Books Page | Quran.com see Hadith | al-Islam | The Meadows of the Righteous post | Khaleel Mohammed on translations
Regarded by Muslims as revelations to Muhammed (570-632) during the last 22 years of his life, the Koran was assembled into a single book in 653 under Uthman, the third caliph. The Islamic University Al-Azhar in Cairo produced what has been called the first thoroughly examined text in 1923, which also attempts to fix the verse numbering. --Islam: An Introduction for Christians (1994), edited by Paul Varo Martinson, pp. 23-26
Yes, it's true: the Koran speaks of mercy and compassion and calls for ethical living. But such passages are no match for the ferocity of instruction found there for waging war for God's sake. --Bill Moyers, Union Theological Seminary's 170th Convocation, September 7, 2005, in 'Cross Currents' Winter 2005-06
We must understand that the Koran, unlike the Bible, is not a collection of stories and parables but almost a guidebook or manual for a godly life. --Mark Baillie, Sallsbury Review, Summer 2006, p. 42
The revelations to the Prophet Mohammed, compiled soon after his death, are accepted by Muslims' as God's final word; the Qur'an is indispensible to all reading in the later tradition. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

HARSHA (606-647) post

Ratnavali

6th Century

The Seven Odes (Al-Mu'allaqat c. 6th or 7th C.) Muslim Philosophy
This collection, the most celebrated among several, has exerted a lasting influence on Islamic poetry. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Raja BHARTRHARI (6th or 7th Century) two poems

Satakatraya: Niti, Srngara, Vairagya (Centuries of Worldly Life, Passion, and Renunciation)
lyric and epigrammatic verses expressive of life's conflicting concerns --A Guide to Oriental Classics

The Vimalakirti nirdesa Sutra (Wei-mo-chieh so-shuo ching 6th Century?) Kenyon College
An originally Indian scripture that struck a responsive chord in the minds of Chinese Buddhists and that has always been one of the most cherished texts in the Chinese Buddhist tradition. Coming from the mouth of the sagely, humane layman Vimalakirti, alien notions such as 'emptiness', 'nonduality', and 'inconceivable liberation' seemed more accessible to the Chinese. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

5th Century

PROCOPIUS (c. 498-c. 560) The Online Books Page

Discourses about the Wars (554, History of the Wars of Justinian)
The reign of Justinian and the achievements of Belisarius... . --Raphael and McLeish

Peri Krismaton (554, 'On the Buildings' of Justinian)
describes in eulogistic manner how Justinian and his Empress Theodora enriched their capital, Constantinople, with beautiful new buildings: the language of Procopius is tarnished with sycophancy. --Philip Ward

Secret History (1623; Historia Arcana c. 552-558, called Anekdota, i.e., 'Unpublished')
a secret chronicle showing the other side of the picture, in which Justinian and the ex-prostitute Theodora are shown up in their 'true' colours, often exaggerated for effect. --Philip Ward

JUSTINIAN (Flavius Anicius Justinianus, 483-565) The Online Books Page

Corpus Juris Civilis (565)

BOETHIUS (Anicius Manlius Severinus 474-525) The Online Books Page post

Consolation of Philosophy (510-524)

VISHAKHADATTA (c. 5th C.)

The Signet Ring of Rakshasa

Lankavatara Sutra (443) Daisetz Teitaro Suzuk translation Wikipedia entry
Its emphasis on interior experience testifies to the continuing importance of meditation in Mahayana Buddhism, while its 'mind-only' teachings anticipate the 'idealism' of the Yogacara tradition of Mahayana. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

PROCLUS (c. 410-485) The Online Books Page

Commentaries on Euclid

4th Century

HSIEH Ling-yun (385-433)

Works selections

KALIDASA (c. 400) The Online Books Page
brought the Sanskrit drama to its greatest excellence. His style was simple, yet elegant, with telling metaphors, skilful characaterizations, and well-contrived, if trifling plots. --William H. McNeill, The Rise of the West, p. 371

Shakuntala or Abhijnanasakuntala Brians
He takes a simple story, which is hardly more than a legal wrangle over the recognition of the king's child--a story with no subtlety of character or development--and makes it a tender drama of dawning love in a young girl and of the vicissitudes of a king whose conduct is irreproachable, but who is cursed. --G. L. Anderson, Masterpieces of the Orient (1961) p. 97
The play, with its rich mythological layers and vast cosmic landscape, is the model of Indian 'heroic romance'. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

Meghaduta ("The Cloud Messenger", c. 400)
a long love lyric --A Guide to Oriental Classics

SHUDRAKA (c. 400) Project Gutenberg Internet Broadway Data Base

The Little Clay Cart
'The Little Clay Cart', attributed to King Shudraka, with an impoverished Brahman merchant as the hero and a courtesan as the heroine, is the standard dramatic example of the Indian secular romance. --A Guide to Oriental Classics

T'AO Ch'ien (365-427)

Poetry selections
He avoided the conventional poem, or set-piece, concentrating on aspects of his own life which were treated in a manner compounded of Taoist and Confucian elements. He saw man as a part of nature, understanding the value of Taoist quietism, but balanced this with a respect for Confucian practicality, filial piety, and social stability... --Philip Ward

AUGUSTINE of Hippo (354-430) The Online Books Page Christian Classics Ethereal Library Wikipedia entry | James J. O'Donnell fan site post
To judge by the large number of manuscripts which have survived, and the dog-eared condition of many of them, Augustine's work was by far the most widely circulated and read of the entire Middle Ages. --Paul Johnson, 'The Human Race', The New Criterion, November 2006, p. 11
St. Augustine thought he had found / The sin by which mankind is bound: / 'It was not,' so said he, / 'The fruit on the tree, / But the lust of the pair on the ground.' --Bob L. Staples, in 'Liberating the Limerick: 230 Irresistible Classics' (2006) by Ernest W. Lefever

On Lying (De mendacio, 374)

On the Teacher (De magistro, c. 389)

Confessions (Confessiones, 397-398)
Hence he had cause for maintaining that unless the whole of man gave allegiance to a theory of values which recognizes knowledge of the truth as an essential good, he could not be trusted to use his reason with integrity; and as for him Christianity was the means by which such a theory could be propounded to the whole of man, his argument that faith should precede reason has a sound psychological basis which is not easy to refute. --Rebecca West, St. Augustine (1933), in The Essential Rebecca West, p. 207
But although it takes a long time to reach the actual conversion, Augustine is throughout in some relation to God, either fearing him, doubting him, misunderstanding him, seeing him, rejecting him, or, finally, accepting him. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 90">
It's important for us to take a look at what our enemies say and see whether there is any truth to it, and use it for our own good. --William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman
Comparing the tone and intention of Augustine's writing about himself with the cheerfulness, the blandness even, of Socrates' 'Apology', say, prompts the thought that there must be something distinctively Christian in Augustine's obsessiveness in self-interrogation, amounting at times almost to desperation. --Anthony O'Hear

On Christian Doctrine (De doctrina christiana, 397, 426)

Reply to Faustus the Manichaean (Contra Faustum [Manichaeum], c. 400)

The City of God (De civitate Dei, 413-426)

Treatises on the Gospel of John (In Iohannis evangelium tractatus, 416)

To Consentius, Against Lying (Contra mendacium [ad Consentium], 420)

On Patience (De patientia, 421)

Enchiridion (421)

also

Your Own Mystery (c. 430) Assembly (March 1997)

Talmud (Mishna, c. 200; Gemara, c. 500) The Online Books Page | Sacred Texts E-Daf Wikipedia entry
The Talmud is a huge encyclopaedia of laws both Levitical and ceremonial (the Hallakhah) and of parables, tales and anecdotes (the Haggadah). --Philip Ward

AMBROSE (339-397) The Online Books Page | Christian Classics Ethereal Library | New Advent Wikipedia entry
'si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi' (374; 'if you were in Rome, live in the Roman way; if you are elsewhere, live as they do there')

Letter to Simplicianus (c. 387)

\/ 300 B.C.-A.D. 300 | 1101-1400 /\

Revised December 9, 2012.

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