Top 10 Favourite Classical Books | Ancient Greek & Roman Literature

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Check out my podcast That's Ancient History: / user-591915376
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Where to read ancient myths: • Want to know Ancient M...
The Ancient Greek Novel: • The Ancient Greek Novel
Intro to ancient poetry: • An Introduction to Anc...
Full ancient history & classics playlist: • History & Myth
The Books:
Jason & the Golden Fleece: www.bookdepository.com/Jason-...
The Odyssey: www.bookdepository.com/The-Od...
Alternative translations in verse:
Emily Wilson: www.bookdepository.com/The-Od...
Richmond Lattimore: www.bookdepository.com/Odyssey...
The Library of Greek Mythology: www.bookdepository.com/The-Li...
The Satyricon: www.bookdepository.com/The-Sa...
Daphnis and Chloe: www.bookdepository.com/Daphni...
Leucippe and Clitophon: www.bookdepository.com/Leucip...
The Art of Love: www.bookdepository.com/The-Ar...
The Nature of Things: www.bookdepository.com/The-Na...
Sappho's Collected Poems: www.bookdepository.com/Sappho...
Theocritus' Idylls: www.bookdepository.com/Idylls...
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Пікірлер: 111

@m.v.8689 5 жыл бұрын

the list: 1. The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes 2. The Odyssey by Homer 3. The Library of Greek Mythology by Apollodorus 4. The Satyricon by Petronius 5. Daphnis and Chloe by Longus 6. Leucippe and Clitophon by Achilles Tatius 7. The Art of Love by Ovid 8. The Nature of Things by Lucretius 9. Sappho's poetry 10. Idylls by Theocritus

@mrddm3 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for uploading and your suggestions! Thanks even more for your preferences on each translation that helps a real lot!

@thejoyofreading7661 4 жыл бұрын

You really have a wonderful channel! I studied Latin and Ancient Greek during high school, I am a huge fan of classics and I love to hear about them.

@kirikincell8294 6 жыл бұрын

I didn't keep up with KZfaq during the semester, but I knew this was a video I wanted to go back and read. Thanks for all your suggestions! Having read and enjoyed The Iliad and The Aeneid, I definitely want to delve more into classical literature. This was a great video for my TBR.

@JasmineReads 6 жыл бұрын

This video was WONDERFUL, I’m really interested in reading some Classical literature so this was really interesting for me to hear about a range of them. Really great video, you always explain books so well!

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Let me know if you pick any of these up and I hope you enjoy it ^_^

@PullDownTheMoon 6 жыл бұрын

I've only recently discovered you so had no idea about the PhD in Classics - that's amazing! I've never read any of these but you've inspired me to pick up some.

@JS-mj3lb 6 жыл бұрын

Wonderful video. I love the way you give context to the books you're talking about. Thank you!

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@renee_3364 6 жыл бұрын

What an awesome video this was! I am a sucker for Greek and Roman literature and love to see someone discuss it. I love that you mentioned Ovid, because eventhough he is not my favourite I had so much fun translating his texts in Highschool. Some of his imaginary is só bizarre that me and my classmates were convinced we mistranslated it, but it was actually correct. We had so much fun with it and I just treasure those memories so much. I was not able take Latin or Greek after Highschool again and sometimes actually miss it. Especially Latin in my opinion is a beautiful language and there are so many treasures of literature out there from that period. I would love to see more of these types of videos from you if you enjoy making them!

@stardust5379 6 жыл бұрын

I liked Antigone by Sophocles. Short but to the point and a sad ending, almost tragic. How would we amuse ourselves without the Ancient Greeks. I adore your videos especially the Classics.

@olegshadsky 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, definitely Antigone by Sophocles will be in my top three.

@saurabhpal8605 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your video! I started reading Theocritus because of Milton's Lycidas, which is an amazing poem and which I love. I didn't know about the Hellenistic novels, they seem really interesting. I really like your videos, especially when you introduce and talk about little known classical works. I think I'll pick up the Argonautica next- Penguin has got a new verse translation.

@thebookbelle 6 жыл бұрын

I love this video Jean! I really want to read more Ancient Greek and Roman texts so this video was perfect timing! x

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot

@sopheyrac1204 6 жыл бұрын

I read Daphnis and Chloe from your recommendation and loved it! A lot of my reading for uni brings me back to thinking about it, like reading pastoral poetry and love poetry. I have a little Oxford world classics collection growing its great

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

It makes me so happy when people tell me they read Daphnis and Chloe and enjoyed it ^_^.

@samantha.irenes 6 жыл бұрын

Love this!! I've read a fair amount of ancient literature and adore it, but it's a limited genre (just in terms of how much as survived) so I'm afraid of running out, but given how many in this video I haven't read I should be ok! Would you ever do a video on the relevance of ancient literature today?

@aracruz1988 5 жыл бұрын

I love this video!!! Thank you so much for making it. :)

@carogirl1999 5 жыл бұрын

Hi! Just wanted to say thank you for this awesome video! I'm so happy I found your channel! I'm German & I'm going to start university in October. :) Basically also going to study Classics, although that's not what it's called (it's called "Antike Welt" = "Ancient World" & combines Latin Studies, Greek Studies, Archaeology, Ancient History & Egyptology from which you have to choose two). Already had Latin in school & it has always been my favourite subject. I just loooove (ancient) languages, stories, mythology of all sorts, etc. Recently, I've started learning Ancient Greek (I use the material from my uni) & love it so far! The grammar is a little intimidating but it's not that strange, really. ;) I have not yet read any of the works you've mentioned but I definitely will! I think I'll start with The Odyssey I mean, it's so popular, it's a must-read! :D

@lynnachen3113 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your video!

@AdrianasWonderland 2 жыл бұрын

great video, thank you so much!

@nymeria941 6 жыл бұрын

The Satyricon is one of my favorites! I also love The Golden Ass, the poems of Catullus, satires of Juvenal, and Plautus's plays.

@freeyourmind16 6 жыл бұрын

This was awesome! Thanks for the great suggestions. Kind of following the same vein, I think a similar video that focuses on nonfiction (maybe modern scholarship, or maybe just historical nonfiction) related to antiquity or even your own research interests would be cool to watch!

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

I do have a video on places to start with ancient history nonfiction if that’s of interest ^_^ im also starting a classics podcast this summer so I’ll probably discuss this more there.

@sealevelbear 4 жыл бұрын

Awesome video!!!

@americalost5100 3 жыл бұрын

Recently watched a performance of Medea and was amazed at such depth of feeling and thought.

@caolila181 6 жыл бұрын

I just found Jason and the Golden Fleece (same edition you have) in a charity shop for less than 50p and knew I just had to have it. Your enthusiasm for ancient classics is contagious and you’ve made me intrigued to read some of it 🙃

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Aaaah amazing! I hope you enjoy it ^_^

@rperez445 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you, very useful video

@eleonoralydia8884 6 жыл бұрын

After teaching myself to read at the age of five, I got obsessed with three books. The first one was an illustrated version of the Odyssey, which to this day remains one of my favorite books of all times, the second was The Labours of Hercules, and the third one was a summary of the Persian wars. The weird thing is that when I had to study the Persian wars for history class at school I hated it... Btw great video. I got some really good recommendations.

@mur2932 6 жыл бұрын

hullo! I was wondering whether I should read The Illiad in order to read The Odyssey. Great book recommendations for a Classical lover ✨

@EricKarlAnderson 6 жыл бұрын

This is great. I really haven't read many ancient books except for The Odyssey so it's fascinating hearing your take and summaries on these. Also I'm planning to curate a group of classical books for a reading group in a few months time so this is really helpful! Thank you! Have you seen the memoir An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn? I've only read 50 pages so far, but it's a really emotional journey the author takes with his father touring the Mediterranean spots referenced in the Odyssey.

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

So glad to hear you enjoyed it! Always happy to help spread the classical joy. I’d love to know what you pick. I haven’t no but a friend of mine from uni was reading it last summer.

@Xenu 6 жыл бұрын

I'm a fan of Daniel Mendelsohn and really enjoy his essays and translations. Glad to hear you think highly of it even when only 50 pgs in. I'll have to give it a read. :-) - Good luck on your classics reading group. It sounds fascinating.

@fleurdelis816 6 жыл бұрын

I would love to try some of these! I believe we read the Odyssey back in school but I don’t at all remember it. So I’d like to give it another try as well as Jason and the Golden Fleece and the Library of Greek Myths!

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoy them when you get a chance to read them ^_^!

@Itania333 6 жыл бұрын

I'm definitely gonna pick up Sappho, that sounds amazing

@italianbookworm 6 жыл бұрын

I did Greek & Roman Civilizations as one of my major in college, so I read a lot of ancient literature. We were much more focused on the plays though. Of the ones I remember, we did Homer's Iliad & Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid & bits of the Eclogues, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Theogony/Works & Days, a whole course of mythology, Daphnis & Chloe, plenty of Plato/Socrates/Aristotle, Thucycides and Herodotus, and then tons of plays. A couple of my favorite plays were Iphigenia at Aulis and Terence's Brothers (not sure, but I think it's the basis for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). I also enjoyed translating Lysias' On the Murder of Eratosthenes.

@danecobain 6 жыл бұрын

Cool! I have The Odyssey as my bedside book at the moment, I'm reading roughly ten pages a night haha. It's very good though. Mine is an Oxford University Press translation in verse, they actually sent it to me for review about two years ago and it's taken me forever to get to it. Beautiful book though and I'm enjoying it. I aim for ten pages a night but quite often I get ten pages in and don't want to put it down :D

@phillipedwin2833 6 жыл бұрын

'..The Library of Greek Mythology's!' perhaps where I'll begin my Greek mythology journey (..as it sounds so comprehensive!)! Stupendous video; and many thanks!!

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Is definitely an excellent place! I hope you enjoy learning more about mythology ^_^ and thank you.

@nickywal 6 жыл бұрын

I read some of these while I was doing Latin and Greek in school, I've been meaning to pick them up again. My TBR doesn't need this video

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Aha sorry not sorry ;)

@SunriseFireberry 6 жыл бұрын

Classics I've read. The Odyssey. an abridged Iliad & Jason 'n Golden Fleece. Oedipus Rex. Aesop's Fables. Half of Metamorphoses/Ovid, Theogony, Works & Days, myth of Cupid & Psyche, Plato: complete dialogues except The Laws, Lysistrata, Elektra, Antigone. Some non-fic history excerpts from Tacitus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Josephus. Does Augustine & Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagus & all those so-called Early Church Fathers like Athanasius, Origen, Eusebius, Irenaeus et al count as classical lit.? Boethius?

@yungfaas6688 4 жыл бұрын

Well about the early church fathers and Christian writers and philosophers, they do count as classics. If you study classics you should also get Boethius in your philosophy course so yeah they count.

@Xenu 6 жыл бұрын

Unsurprisingly, this is one of my favorite videos of yours and it is now *favorited.* Every once in a while I've toyed with the idea of starting a BookTube/commentary channel and this has tempted me once again! I haven't read Apollodorus since I was a teenager. Do you find it a very different experience from reading Robert Graves' "The Greek Myths" or Edith Hamilton's "Mythology"? When I think of Apollodorus I think of him as the original predecessor but I can't rely on remembrances of a reading from long ago. Wonderful video. Consider me a fellow admirer of Lucretius and "The Odyssey." :-)

@Bluewater225 2 жыл бұрын

I just finished reading the metamorphosis by Ovid. Definitely one of my top favorites along with the divine comedy and Argonautica.

@TallowTheQuoll 3 жыл бұрын

I just personally picked up an 18th century edition of The Odyssey and a mid 1800's edition of Antiquities of Athens. Alot of the literature you mention here is currently on my hunt list for pre 20th century editions

@dogearedreads1288 6 жыл бұрын

I watch all your vids and I This this is my most favourite you’ve ever done 👍 Do you think an audiobook of The Odyssey would work well or do you think it’s a better read in the more traditional style?

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

I haven't listened to one but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It was originally performed orally, that's how most ordinary ancient people would have experienced it ^_^. You probably couldn't zone out though aha. Glad you enjoyed the video.

@wordswordseverywhere9113 6 жыл бұрын

I love how you had some lesser known picks here! But I'm surprised about the lack of the Metamorphoses :(

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

I was only going to include one Ovid and the Ars Amatoria is still my favourite :).

@WestTexasGothic 6 жыл бұрын

Nooooo! This video made my TBR grow again!

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

I make no apologies aha.

@jennisrandom42 6 жыл бұрын

Other than The Odyssey, I haven’t read any of these. I’ve read a couple of the dramas and really liked them. I definitely want to read more classical lit so I’m happy to see these kinds of videos.

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Ah I’m glad to introduce you to a few new Classical reads in that case! I hope you enjoy some of these.

@robertdavis1783 4 жыл бұрын

Quite interesting how Apollonius can split opinions. I also first encountered the Argonautica in an "Greek and Roman Epic" course at university, but that was the one work of the 5 we studied that put me to sleep. And using the same (Hunter) translation, no less! The Metamorphoses (trans. Martin), on the other hand, instilled an interest in the rest of the classics that's still with me. I suppose the moral of the story is there's always at least one epic that'll please each person!

@laitae 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing, I've put some of these on my to read list! You mentioned you don't know Latin. How about Greek? Have you considered learning to increase your "classical experience"?

@JeansThoughts 5 жыл бұрын

I do read Ancient Greek :) my PhD deals with Ancient Greek literature.

@IcanMayBee 3 жыл бұрын

Thankyou x

@paulwahlstrom8530 4 жыл бұрын

Theocritus sounds interesting. I like fragments by Herakleitos, fables by Phaedrus, satires by Juvenalis, epigrammes by Martialis, The comfort of philosophy by Boethius, everything by Seneca and Epiktetos. Marcus Aurelius as well. Plato reads as entertaining literature also. Aulus Gellius. Diogenes Laertius.

@tjpieraccini 6 жыл бұрын

The Penguin edition I have of the Argonautica (Rieu, 1959, reprinted '67) is called The Voyage of Argo.

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Yup there we go they all just title it whatever they fancy aha. The penguin translation by Poochingian is called Jason and the Argonauts.

@tjpieraccini 6 жыл бұрын

I'm sure more people will recognise the story by that title, certainly since Ray Harryhausen...

@binduvishwakarma9615 3 жыл бұрын

Can you please make a video on top 10 classical non-fictional book of all-time?

@davidthom7127 5 жыл бұрын

Hi. I'm very new to classics and I wanted to ask a question. I see both Sophocles and Euripides both wrote about Electra. Which one is considered most important ?

@inessamaria2428 6 жыл бұрын

I am currently reading Iliad by Homer (in verse), it has been a very interesting experience. Most likely I will read Odyssey too later. In january, I´ve read Theogony and Works and days, and I hope I can find The Library of greek Mythology. I am fascinating by Myths. Thank you for making this kind of content on youtube.

@georgeshirtcliffe604 5 жыл бұрын

Dope video - but where was the Aeneid?? Such a brilliant text even though it was kind of riding off the back of Homer. Wild imagery and an all round solid epic.

@JeansThoughts 5 жыл бұрын

Never enjoyed Virgil’s writing to be honest aha

@TheReadersAthenaeum 6 жыл бұрын

One of my reading goals for 2018 was to read some ancient Greek and Roman books and so far I've managed zero, so this is really helpful! :)

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Woohoo I hope this kicks off your goal, really think you start?

@TheReadersAthenaeum 6 жыл бұрын

I like the sound of Jason and the Golden Fleece and The Satyricon so I'll definitely pick up one of those soon :) I've been reading a few myth retellings which is a nice way to learn about classical stories and mythologies but without the apprehensiveness about reading ancient literature!

@evanfont913 6 жыл бұрын

How is your Ancient Greek coming along? Have you tried to do any extensive reading in Ancient Greek yet?

@caroline9477 3 жыл бұрын

what would be your methodology to tell apart the internal sens of the poem and the ptolemaic ideological elements in Jason and the golden fleeces. In other, according do we have in this poem A) an apolitical piece centered arrows aesthetics and conventions B) a pure product Alexandrian royal ideology or C) or the problem must be seen in an other way?

@pooyashirazi1991 6 жыл бұрын

you seem to like Classics and also poetry a lot and also seem well versed in Greek and Roman literature, so i thought to recommend you something outside of this, if you don't mind. i highly recommend you to check out Book of Kings or Shahnameh which is written by the Persian author Ferdowsi. it is the longest epic poem ever with over 50,000 couplets. Persians are masterful poets but Ferdowsi is the one that even the best Persian poets like Rumi and Hafiz called him the master. if it wasnt for him and his collection of tales and poems called Shahnameh, there wouldn't be a Persian language today. his work is lesser known in europe and other parts of the world that don't have that much Persian speaking people, mainly because of lack of good translation, which have been remedied in these past decade or so, both by the new English translation which is also in couplets and does a very good job of translating the heart of the stories. also there is a new Illustrated English version of the book which is very good, you could find it on Amazon. www.amazon.com/Shahnameh-Epic-Persian-Kings/dp/B078JMPS1H

@lachlanmoir79 6 жыл бұрын

Great choices. I need to check out the later Greek novels, but I’m concentrating on the comedies and plays concurrent with my studies atm. I absolutely adore Aristophanes and Sophocles. Aeschylus and Homer both write (or compose) excellent drama. Historiography is represented via Herodotus and Thucydides. Herodotus especially seems like somebody you would actually like to travel with. Just getting into Roman authors now and looming forward to Ovid. I enjoyed the Aeneid, but can’t help being biased more towards Homer. But, most importantly I am loving the classics and so glad to be studying these remarkable people.

@wrighty321go 6 жыл бұрын

I'm going to have to read Sappho's poems now this is the second time I've heard of them in a week.

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Woohoo the universe is telling you something aha - I hope you enjoy them.

@lucashondros3418 3 жыл бұрын

I usually see classicists using the Loeb series. Are penguin/Oxford world used in college courses and cited in academic papers? Thanks! 😊

@spannycat2 6 жыл бұрын

Have you read Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica or Orphic Argonautica?

@jessbfoster 6 жыл бұрын

Do you think it’s important to read The Iliad first? Oh and have you read Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey yet? 😁😊

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Absolutely not. Lots of people read the Odyssey first, I think it's better and more accessible. They aren't direct sequels, the Iliad is just first chronologically but there is a huge gap in the narrative between the two. Not yet :).

@sargondp69 4 жыл бұрын

Plato (esp Socratic dialogues). Aeschylus, Prometheus: act 1 (acts 2, 3 missing). The Golden Ass (Cupid and Psyche), Apuleius. Modern work: The Greek Myths, Robert Graves. The Iliad (Fagles verse translation): μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, / murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, / hurled down to the House of Death so many stury souls, / great fighter's souls, but made their bodies carrion, / feasts for the dogs and birds, / and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end. / ...

@davidthom7127 7 ай бұрын

Hi Jean. Can you tell me if there's a difference between the two books Lives of the Caesars and The Twelve Caesars, both by Suetonius ? One published by Penguin and the other by Oxford World's Classics.

@JeansThoughts 7 ай бұрын

They'll be different translations but it is the same book by Suetonius - the 12 lives is just a common name in English for the original work which is just the lives of the Caesars :D.

@davidthom7127 7 ай бұрын

@@JeansThoughts thank you, Jean 😊

@couchpotatoe91 3 жыл бұрын

No Marcus Aurelius in here? Not sure if it fits the criteria as it wasn't meant as a book, but it's one of the most fascinating books ever written in my opinion.

@Naeem_Vlogs303 5 жыл бұрын

I am just looking for Greek writers to read. Thanks for guidance

@The0nlyProdigy 6 жыл бұрын

As someone taking an ancient history degree I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t read many ancient books except those set on the course and small bits and bobs. I think it’s time to get stuck into some of these during the summer!

@JeansThoughts 6 жыл бұрын

Don't worry, I think five of these were mandatory reading for class and five of them were of my own volition, although two I had read extracts from in class so that peaked my interest. It takes time :).

@abdul2009 4 жыл бұрын

aahh I want your voice in my head I love you accent so much

@inanimatecarbongod 5 жыл бұрын

I've got, but haven't yet read, that version of Lucretius. I did read a much older verse translation which was kind of odd, partly cos didactic poetry seems like such a strange idea now, but also the translation performs some barbaric acts on the English language. Poetry is a nightmare to translate at the best of times, but Greek & Roman poetry behaves according to such different rules to English poetic conventions that it's even worse. Prose translations, at least of the more narrative stuff like Homer or Ovid or Lucretius, are probably the best way to start with those works, cos at least you can get a literal sense of what happens. Always a good idea to have more than one translation (I've read four Iliads and two Aeneids).

@_weirdo_3670 6 жыл бұрын

Please will you help find a book that i forgot it's name.The book talks about a girl who was lost in a city I believe with other teenagers. The cover of the book is a half-face of a girl with green eyes.

@jairolondono6824 5 жыл бұрын

I don't know what's up with the Classics. There must be something really profound and immortal in those writings or maybe some kind of magic that surrounds them. I am obssessed I just finished the Illiad and the Odyssey and I want to read as much as I can Latin and Greek pieces and philosophy. The fact that there is a PHD in classics proves it is still important and relevant today

@deamicisfrank1308 Жыл бұрын

i love your accent

@spannycat2 6 жыл бұрын

Myth Compendiums from Creation to Trojan War that I love: Apollodorus Library, Hyginus Fabulae, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Star Myths of The Greeks and Romans, Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women, Diodorus Siculus Library of History Books 4-6, John Malalas’ Chronicles Books 4-6, The Vatican Mythographers, Pherecydes of Athens Fragments. And those are just myth compendiums from Creation to Trojan War. I’m not even going to try to list the other stuff, it’s too much. Oh my god, one myth compendium of this genre that I hate is Fulgentius Mythologies, it’s so boring. I’ve tried to read it several times but I just can’t take it seriously.