'The greatest historian that ever lived' Such was Macaulay's verdict on Thucydides (c. 460-400 BC) and his history of the Peloponnesian War, the momentous struggle between Athens …
The first philosophers paved the way for the work of Plato and Aristotle - and hence for the whole of Western thought. Aristotle said that philosophy begins with wonder, and the …
The only work of its kind to survive from classical antiquity, the Library of Apollodorus is a unique guide to Greek mythology, from the origins of the universe to the Trojan War. …
Hesiod, who lived in Boetia in the late eighth century BC, is one of the oldest known, and possibly the oldest of Greek poets. His Theogony contains a systematic genealogy of the …
'With fair-tressed Demeter, the sacred goddess, my song begins, With herself and her slim-ankled daughter, whom Aidoneus once Abducted...' Most people are familiar, at least by …
Starting with the most meagre resources, Philip made his kingdom the greatest power in Europe The Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily is one of our most valuable sources from …
Alexander * Demosthenes * Phocion * Eumenes * Demetrius * Pyrrhus * Agis and Cleomenes * Aratus * Philopoemen * Flamininus This selection of ten Lives traces the history of …
'Even if everyone else succumbs to slavery, we must still fight for our freedom.' Admired by many in the ancient world as the greatest of the classic Athenian orators, Demosthenes …
'The god wanted everything to be good, marred by as little imperfection as possible.' Timaeus, one of Plato's acknowledged masterpieces, is an attempt to construct the universe and …
Lycurgus, Pericles, Solon, Nicias, Themistocles, Alcibiades, Cimon, Agesilaus, Alexander `I treat the narrative of the Lives as a kind of mirror...The experience is like nothing so …
