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Read Me What to read, through 301 B.C.

300 B.C.-A.D. 300 >

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4th Century B.C.

KAUTILYA (fl. 322-299 B.C.) Etext: Warring States Philology
Artha Shastra (c. late 4th Century A.D.) Rediscovered as recently as 1909, the book reversed earlier views on the strict moral code of early Indian rulers, in fact recognizing no good other than the ruthless seeking and keeping of power by the king. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 184

EUCLID (c. 330-275 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Downs | Rexroth | Van Doren | see PROCLUS
Two stars: Elements of Geometry It it the classic textbook of Greek geometry, which has served as the basis for study for over twenty centuries. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), pp. 1-2

EPICURUS (341-270 B.C.) Etext: Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Weikart 'You Cannot Live a Happy Life if you Follow Epicurus' --Plutarch his teachings were malinged as immoral and hedonistic, whereas in fact Epicurus taught the renunciation of worldly ambition and desires, freedom from fear of death and gods. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 102
One star: Letter to Herodotus
One star: Letter to Menoeceus
Aphorisms

MENANDER (c. 343-292 B.C.) Reference: Theatre History one of a group of some sixty-four playwrights who, almost a half-century after the death of Aristophanes, created the so-called New Comedy, essentially a comedy of manners or a form of domestic comedy. --Robert B. Downs, Famous Books: Ancient and Medieval (1964), p. 135
One star: The Girl from Samos
The Dour Man
The Shearing of Glycera
The Arbitration

TZU Szu Etext: Galileo Library
The Mean [Chung-Yung] (c. 4th C. B.C.) ...traditionally attributed to Tzu Szu, Confucius' grandson, and also one of the 'Four Books'. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 189

Herostratus (the man who in 356 B.C. burned down the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the world, so his name would be immortal). --Joseph Bottum, Death and Politics, First Things, June/July 2007, p. 25

CHUANG Tzu (c.369-286 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Complete Works It is a paradox of Chuang-tzu's school that it denied the value of reducing to writing the insights received through the contemplation of the mystic way of life (the Tao), yet it persistently tried to set down such insights in writing. --G. L. Anderson, 'Masterpieces of the Orient' (1961) p. 205 ...characterized by speculative ramblings, at once delightful and utterly serious, philosophical parodies, and amusing parables. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 180

THEOPHRASTUS (Tyrtamus c. 370-287 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Criticism: Downs
On the History of Plants
On the Causes of Plants
Characters (319 B.C.) The series of 'good' characters has been lost, but we have the thirty 'bad' characters, such as 'Ostentation', 'Brutality', and 'Stupidity'. Concise, droll and probably aimed at individuals known to the author's audience... --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 305

MENCIUS (Meng Tzu, 372-289 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Comparative Religion Criticism: Fadiman
One star: Works Relatively little needs to be done, for the structure of society itself is sound, according to Mencius. All that is required is a change of heart on the part of the rulers, and the citizens would instantly respond with the generosity of their own labour and imitation of virtuous conduct. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 155 With the 'Analects' of Confucius, the 'Great Learning', and the 'Doctrine of the Mean', the 'Mencius' came to be canonized one of the 'Four Books'. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 184

DEMOSTHENES (384-322 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Downs the greatest orator of Greece, with a forceful personality imbued with sincerity and moral strength. He was an able analyst of current politics, and skilled in argument and all the rhetorical devices named by the Syracusan Corax and his pupil Teisias in their treatises. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 252
On the Crown (330 B. C.)
One star: The Philippics (351-341 B. C.)
Olynthiacs
Minor Public Orations

ARISTOTLE (384-322 B. C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Study: Koons Reference: Bullen Criticism: Downs | Fadiman | Rexroth | Van Doren | Schall | Weinberger | Azarias
Four stars: Nicomachean Ethics (Ethica Nicomachea) Happiness, in other words, is a moral quality for Aristotle, involving *all* virtues and all of a lifetime. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 44 For Aristotle, happiness is man's highest good, the end to which all human activities contribute when properly performed. Happiness is attained through the satisfaction of all human needs and through the perfection of all of man's natural faculties. It is the fulfillment of human nature and also, in its ultimate, ideal stage, a sharing in the divine activity and bliss of contemplation. --Seymour Cain, Ethics: The Study of Moral Values (1962), p. 37 The highest virtue is the last, happiness consisting in the activity of *theoria*, the disinterested contemplation of truth. It is to be inferred that the business of politics is to organize the affairs of state in such a manner that most or all of the citizens are fitted by nature and by education to attain this end. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 141 ...the only sound and pragmatic moral philosophy that has made its appearance in the last twenty-five centuries. --Mortimer J. Adler, 'Desires Right and Wrong', (1991) p. 109
Three stars: Politics (Politika) Nicomachean Ethics and Politics...The foundations of the thought of the West about the good life and the good state. --Robert M. Hutchins, Chicago Daily News, December 5, 1945, Sec. 2, pg. 1A The state exists for the sake of the good life. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 53 If each of us has the obligation to vote for a system of government through its known candidates, then much of this obligation is owed to a mental and moral world-attitude crystallised by Aristotle in the fourth century B.C. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 96
The Athenian Constitution ...in Aristotle's time the legislative, executive, and judicial power were all in the hands of the people. ----Peter Wolff, Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence (1961), p. 67
On the Soul As the essence of the body, the soul is the inner meaning of the body's movement, not something extraneous to it. --V. J. McGill, Biology, Psychology, and Medicine (1963), p. 39 ...[T]o have a soul, as plants, animals, and humans all do, is to have a body organized for performing the life functions proper to a given species. Soul, as such, is nothing more (but also nothing less) than the combination of functional capacities for which the material body is organized. --M. F. Burnyeat, The New York Review of Books, November 1, 2001, p. 56
On the Parts of Animals Linneaus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle. --Charles Darwin to Dr. Ogle
Metaphysics The very title of this work has provided the name for one of the main branches of philosophical inquiry--the study of the underlying principles of things. --Seymour Cain, Philosophy (1963), p. 35
One star: Logic (Organon)
Categories (in Logic)
On Interpretation (in Logic)
On Sophistical Refutation (in Logic)
Posterior Analytics (in Logic)
Topics (in Logic)
History of Animals
One star: Physics
On the Heavens
Meteorology
Mechanics
One star: Rhetoric The object of advocacy is persuasion. But how does one persuade? That question has challenged great minds since at least the days when Aristotle lectured about the persuasive power of ethos, pathos, and logos at the Lyceum during the reign of his pupil, Alexander the Great. --R. Daniel Lindahl, Perspectives on Persuasion, For the Defense, July 2007
Four stars: Poetics (Peri Poietikes) Criticism: Carson Plato had complained of the disturbing, debilitating effects of the drama; Aristotle's defence is that the effects are really hygienic, curative in kind. --J. W. H. Atkins, Literary Criticism in Antiquity, I, 86 often considered a mere reply to Plato's disparagement of poets on the grounds that they compose their works under the influence not of wisdom but of mere inspiration, but this charge is baseless, since Aristotle puts forward many original ideas of his own. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 68 Hollywood takes its cue in narrative principles from Aristotle. Europe, in rebelling against Hollywood-style filmmaking, has had to rebel against Aristotle's 'Poetics'. This is bad for their movies. --Barbara Nicolosi, sPAiN'S Labyrinth, Church of the Masses, January 27, 2007 5:27 PM
Generation of Animals
Memory and Reminiscence
On Generation and Corruption
On the Gait of Animals
On the Motion of Animals
On Youth and Old Age
Prophesying by Dreams

5th Century B.C.

PLATO (Aristocles c. 427-347 B. C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive | Apology Study: Koons Criticism: Weblog | Downs | Rexroth | Van Doren It was Plato's contribution to formulate a mode of philosophical discourse that emphasized reason, the meaning of words, and the crucial relationship between the knower and the known. In a sense, Plato thereby 'invented' the task of systematic philosophy itself, which his influence is felt even today among philosophers who come to conclusions that are the opposite of his. --Robert L. Heilbroner, 'Marxism: For and Against' (1980) p. 16
Four stars: The Apology Far from being penitent and humble, he [Socrates] asserts--with what must have sounded to his judges like consummate arrogance--his intention to continue his offensive ways; and even after he has been found guilty he persists in saying that he will not change. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 5 The candour, dignity and nobility of the language and matter must be authentic, for Athenians would scarcely have tolerated misrepresentation of the facts in such a weighty case. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 2
Five stars: The Republic (Politeia) This book must be the starting point of any discussion of politics and education. --Robert M. Hutchins, Chicago Daily News, December 5, 1945, Sec. 2, pg. 1A The dialogue turns from the subject of justice to that of the state because Socrates suggests that he and the other persons in the dialogue will have an easier time understanding what a just man is if they first can see what a just state is. Since a state is larger than a man, it will be easier to see an attribute like justice in a state than a man. --Peter Wolff, The Development of Political Theory and Government (1959), p. 3 The conventional anglicized title 'Republic' is misleading, *politeia* meaning originally 'state', 'society' of 'constitution', that is much the same significance as the Latin *respublica*. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 97
Three stars: The Symposium
Three stars: Crito The 'Crito' not only carries Socrates' biography forward, it also gives us a good example of the Socratic method. It is of special interest here to see Socrates conversing on an abstract moral problem derived from his own case, since it enables us to judge the charges that were brought against him. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 6 deals with the attempt of an old man, Crito, to persuade Socrates to escape, and with his failure to do so, in dialogue form. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 2 Understanding that Socrates and Crito represent the complicated relation between Socratic philosophy and civic virtue is the key to understanding that the dialogue articulates the problem of political obligation. --Michael J. Rosano, 'Citizenship and Socrates in Plato's Crito', The Review of Politics, Summer, 2000 p. 451
One star: Euthyphro Criticism: Goggans If piety is right action or duty to the gods, it must be an aspect or part of right action generally. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 21 It one not bound to contradict oneself when trying to communicate the incommunicable. --Leo Strauss
One star: Laws This dialogue is concerned with the political, social, and religious institutions that could be established in a state in Plato's time, rather than with the ideal community portrayed in 'The Republic'. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 22
Laches We all know what it means to experience fear and to face, or fail to face, the things we fear. This common human experience is the basic starting point for anything we may say or think about courage. --Seymour Cain, Ethics: The Study of Moral Values (1962), p. 1
One star: Gorgias Against all skills, pleasures, and powers, the impassioned and relentless philosopher holds up the single ideal of 'justice' or 'the good'. And he insists that doing injustice--harming others--is always wrong and always worse for the person who does it than suffering injustice is for the person who suffers it. --Seymour Cain, Ethics: The Study of Moral Values (1962), p. 16
One star: Meno Some of the most influential and controversial theses in the history of psychology are to be found in this dialogue. --V. J. McGill, Biology, Psychology, and Medicine (1963), p. 23
Three stars: Phaedo a dialogue within a dialogue, in which the eye-witness Phaedo of Elis discusses the last day that Socrates spent in prison with a company of fellow-philosophers. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 2 ...Socrates expounds the Platonic Theory of Ideas and argues that the soul is incorporeal and immortal... [E]ven though a philosopher should wish to die as soon as possible, suicide is impious and wrong; one must await some god-sent necessity... . --M. F. Burnyeat, The New York Review of Books, November 1, 2001, p. 55
One star: Statesman Criticism: Glendon
One star: Timaeus ...according to Timaeus, hypotheses must be used in cosmology, because the creation and constitution of the world is too difficult to permit precise knowledge. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 89
One star: Protagoras
One star: Phaedrus In the famous metaphor of Plato's 'Phaedrus', reason is a charioteer who drives two horses, one noble and obedient, representing the will, the other passionate, headlong, and uncontrolled, representing desire. When the latter has his way the chariot is wrecked and the soul destroyed. --V. J. McGill, Biology, Psychology, and Medicine (1963), p. 371
One star: Sophist
One star: Theaetetus
Charmides
Cratylus
Euthydemus
Ion
Lysis
Philebus
Parmenides
Seventh Letter ...instead of succeeding in making a philosopher-king out of Dionysius, Plato very quickly became involved in the intrigues of the Syracusan court. Dionysius was apparently more interested in using Plato as a pawn in his political machinations than in learning from him... --Peter Wolff, The Development of Political Theory and Government (1959), p. 20 It concerns Plato's three visits to Syracuse, far away on the island of Sicily, where, at great hazard to his life, he sought to persuade the young tyrant Dionysius to institute a reign of law and justice. --V. J. McGill, Biology, Psychology, and Medicine (1963), p. 17 The philosopher-king is an 'ideal,' not in the modern sense of a legitimate object of thought demanding realization, but what Socrates calls a 'dream' that serves to remind us how unlikely it is that the philosophical life and the demands of politics can ever be made to coincide. --Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books, September 20, 2001, p. 84

XENOPHON (c. 430-350 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Ancient History Sourcebook Reference: The Xenophon Page | Beck Criticism: Weblog | Downs
One star: Anabasis
Cyropaedia (Kurou Paideia) [The Education of Cyrus] a political fiction, in which the ideal ruler (Cyrus, known personally to Xenophon) undergoes the education of a Spartan youth. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 99 Considered Xenophon's masterpiece in antiquity, the Cyropaedia presents an idealized account of the rise of Cyrus the Great and the foundation of the Persian Empire. --Jacob Howland, The Review of Politics, Spring 2002, p. 356
Memorabilia make Socrates sound like Boswell's Dr. Johnson. --Edward T. Oakes, Jr., review of 'Kierkegaard and Socrates: A Study in Philosophy and Faith' by Jacob Howland, First Things, March 2007, p. 52

ARISTOPHANES (c. 445-c. 380 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Adelaide | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Downs | Fadiman | Van Doren
One star: The Acharnians (425 B.C.) Criticism: Jones
One star: The Knights (424 B.C.) attacked the demagogue Kleon. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 26
Three stars: The Clouds (423 B.C.) attacks the popular sophists of the day through the person of Socrates, a most unjust caricature, since Socrates detested the superficial sophists who taught rich young men for money as much as did Aristophanes himself. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 26
One star: The Wasps (422 B.C.) satirizes the Athenian system of trial by mass paid juries. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 26
One star: The Peace (421 B.C.)
Three stars: The Birds (414 B.C.)
Three stars: The Lysistrata (411 B.C.) Criticism: Jones 'The Acharnians', the 'Peace', and the 'Lysistrata' are all anti-war plays. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 26
One star: Thesmophoriazusae or The Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria (c. 411 B.C.)
Three stars: The Frogs (405 B.C.) 'The Frogs' and 'The Thesmophorians' are attacks on Euripedes, whom the conservative Aristophanes hated for his radical views of the Greek gods. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 26
One star: Ecclesiasuzae or The Assemblywomen or The Parliament of Women (c. 392 B. C.)
One star: Plutus or Wealth (388 B.C.)

SUN-TZU (c. 450-380 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page a realist who recognized that warfare sometimes could not be avoided, and then must be pursued with the utmost vigor to a successful conclusion; his special talent lay in teaching rulers how to deploy their forces to maximum advantage. --John S. Major, The New Lifetime Reading Plan (1997), p. 21
The Art of War

THUCYDIDES (455-399 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Weblog | Downs | Fadiman | Rexroth | Van Doren he felt personally involved in the war and its outcome, and records with anguish the gradual deterioration of morals and values as the Greek world is weakened by internecine slaughter. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 171
Five stars: The History of the Peloponnesian War

HIPPOCRATES (460-377 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page His method was to ignore all the gods and to hold instead that disease is a natural phenomenon governed by natural laws. --Robert B. Downs, Famous Books: Ancient and Medieval (1964), p. 68 He classified mental illness into three categories: mania, melancholia, and phrenitis, which was probably a brain fever of some sort. Mania is probably what we call psychotic today; a person who is running around out of control. Melancholia is probably what we call depression today. --David W. Martin, Psychology of Human Behavior, Lecture 7: Classification of Mental Illness, The Teaching Company
One star: The Oath You will easily see that there are great difficulties and hazards in specifying the conditions under which a doctor would be entitled to completely reverse the role of healer and prolonger of life. --V. J. McGill, Biology, Psychology, and Medicine (1963), p. 6 [T]he Hippocratic ethical injunctions--for example, that the doctor should never knowingly kill his patient--have been superseded in practical importance by the more pressing principle that he who pays the piper calls the tune. --Anthony Daniels, The New Criterion, November 2001, p. 5
One star: On Ancient Medicine It would seem that Hippocrates was ill prepared to understand the nature of disease or its remedies, yet students of the history of medicine have been surprised at how far he was able to go. --V. J. McGill, Biology, Psychology, and Medicine (1963), p. 7
One star: On the Sacred Disease
One star: Aphorisms
One star: The Book of Prognostics
One star: The Law
One star: Of the Epidemics
One star: On Airs, Waters and Places
One star: On Regimens in Acute Diseases
One star: On the Articulations

MO Tzu (c. 470-c. 391 B.C.) Reference: Hansen A sharp critic of Confucianism in the late fifth and early fourth centuries B.C., and a major alternative in politics and religion. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 173
One star: Works ...attacked the Confucian school as aristocratic and ritualistic. --G. L. Anderson, Masterpieces of the Orient (1961) p. 205

EURIPIDES (c. 480-406 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Mendelsohn | Downs | Fadiman | Rexroth | Van Doren The innovations of Euripides include the separation of chorus from action, using the prologue as an explanation to introduce the action, advancing dramatic treatment of female psychology to the very limit, and making language correspond to the colloquial styles of his own day... --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 101
Three stars: Alcestis (438 B.C.) His earliest dated work... --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 101
Four stars: Medea (431 B.C.) Criticism: Fischer | Mendelsohn
Heracleidae (c. 430 B.C.) Criticism: Mendelsohn
Four stars: Hippolytus (428 B.C.)
Two stars: Andromachae (c. 425 B.C.)
Two stars: Hecuba (c. 424 B.C.)
Suppliant Women (c. 423 B.C.)
Two stars: Heracles (c. 416 B.C.)
Two stars: Electra (c. 420 B.C.)
Three stars: The Trojan Women (415 B.C.)
Two stars: Iphigenia Among the Taurians or Iphigenia In Tauris (c. 414 B.C.)
Two stars: Helen or Helena (412 B.C.)
Two stars: Ion (411 B.C.)
Phoenecian Women (c. 410 B.C.)
Two stars: Cyclops (c. 408 B.C.)
Orestes (408 B.C.) ...Euripides, living in a later and more sophisticated time, had definite ideas about the crime of Orestes and what could have been done to avoid it. Unlike the older poet [Aeschylus], Euripides does not seem to think that the path of doom was inevitable. ----Peter Wolff, Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence (1961), p. 9
Two stars: Iphigeneia at Aulis (405 B.C.)
Four stars: The Bacchae or The Bacchantes (405 B.C.)
Rhesus (c. 350 B.C.?)

HERODOTUS (c. 484-c. 424 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Downs | Fadiman | Van Doren When Cicero called Herodotus the Father of History, he meant that the Greek was the first to conceive an historical work as an artistic and dramatically unified whole. --J. A. Hammerton, Outline of Great Books (1937), p. 2
Five stars: Histories Criticism: Bowersock | Rexroth took for his theme the invasion of Greece by the Persians between 490 and 479 B.C. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 60

SOPHOCLES (c. 495 B.C.-406 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Downs | Fadiman | Rexroth | Van Doren Among the great dramatic innovations of Sophocles was the introduction of the third actor; the idea that men play a larger part in life (and hence in drama) than do gods; the introduction of stage scenery; and the augmenting of the chorus from twelve players to fifteen. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 105
Two stars: Ajax (445 B.C.)
Four stars: Antigone (441 B.C.) Criticism: Weblog Like her father Oedipus, Antigone is possessed of a single-mindedness of purpose and a stubbornness that is both admirable and dangerous to its possessor. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 31
Four stars: Oedipus the King (430 B.C.) The Plot in fact should be so framed that, even without seeing the things take place, he who simply hears the account of them shall be filled with horror and pity at the incidents; which is just the effect that the mere recital of the story in 'Oedipus' would have on one. --Aristotle, 'Poetics', 1453b Sophocles understood the most sorrowful figure of the Greek stage, the unfortunate Oedipus, as the noble human being. --Friedrich Nietzsche
One star: Women of Trachis (413 B.C.)
One star: Electra (410 B.C.)
Two stars: Philoctetes (409 B.C.)
Four stars: Oedipus at Colonus (401 B.C.)

The Great Learning [Ta-Hsueh] Etext: Galileo Library The basic text of the early Confucian school, later canonized in the 'Four Books'. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 187
See Confucius

6th Century B.C.

PINDAR (c. 522-442 B.C.) Etext: Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Downs
Two stars: Odes of Victory These are mainly *epinikia*, or choral odes in honour of a victor at one of the games festivals, pre-eminently that of Olympia. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 285

AESCHYLUS (c. 525-456 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Theater History Criticism: Downs | Fadiman | Rexroth | Van Doren
The Persians (472 B.C) part of a tetralogy of seemingly unrelated plays. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 11 the oldest surviving play in Western literature. --Damien Jaques, 'It's al Greek to us', Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 9, 2008
Seven Against Thebes (467 B.C.) part of a tetralogy dealing with the royal house of Thebes. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 11
Suppliant Maidens (463 B.C.) the first play in a tetralogy on the legend of Danaus. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 11
Two stars: Prometheus Bound (c. 460 B.C.) Can the ultimate power in the universe consist merely in absolute might? 'Shall not the ultimate judge of all the earth do right?' Is it right or wrong to stand up to the divine power over the universe? Shall man rely on his own cultural powers alone and judge the universe by his own ethical standards? Which is right: revolt of obedience? Can human autonomy and divine rule be reconciled? --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 1 probably the central play in a trilogy on the legend of Prometheus. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 11
Four stars: The Oresteia (458 B.C.) Study: Mitchell-Boyak We are reminded that the Trojan War was won by the Greeks as a result of Agamemnon's sacrifice of Iphigeneia; the human tragedy reflecting national conflict and ultimately divine conflict must be resolved, and its resolution occurs amid unsurpassed poetry and rivalry. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 12 : Agamemnon ...begins at the point where Agamemnon, unaware of his wife's infidelity, returns victorious from Troy. Citing the death of her daughter Iphigenia as justification, Clytaemnestra traps Agamemnon in his bath. She and Aegisthus kill him. ----Peter Wolff, Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence (1961), p. 5; Choephoroe [The Libation Bearers] ...Agamemnon's son, Orestes, is urged by the god Apollo to revenge his father. With the help of his sister Electra, Orestes kills his mother Clytaemnestra, as well as her lover Aegisthus. ----Peter Wolff, Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence (1961), p. 5; Eumenides Seeking refuge from the Furies and to be purified of his sin, Orestes comes to the city of Athens and throws himself under the protection of her guardian goddess, Athena. To decide his fate, Athena convenes the first court in the history of Athens, a group of citizens. ----Peter Wolff, Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence (1961), p. 5

LAO Tzu (fl. 6th Cent. B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Weblog
Two stars: Tao-te Ching A basic text of Taoism that has become a world classic because of its radical challenge to basic assumptions of both traditional and modern civilization. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 176

CONFUCIUS (Kung Fu-Tse, c. 551-479 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Sacred Texts Criticism: Downs | Fadiman Confucius' most important departure from the old aristocratic point of view was his rejection of the idea that nobility was inborn. Nobility (or perhaps gentility) was for him a mark of education and conduct. --William H. McNeill, The Rise of the West, p. 230 Confucianism, the political philosophy focusing on human relationships, on both hierarchy and reciprocity, focusing on the ideas, a properly ordered society, regulated and facilitated by the use of ritual, based upon the moral self-cultivation of gentlemen, the gentlemen who learn, who study, who were educated in the teachings of Confucius, in the doctrines of the *Wei*. --Kenneth I. Hammond, From Yao to Mao: 5,000 Years of Chinese History, Lecture 7: The Early Han Dynasty, The Teaching Company
Three stars: Analects [Lun-yu] (c. 500 B.C.) one should strive to achieve *ren* (true humanity, goodness) in a social framework of *li* (order and correct behaviour) governed by the *te* (virtue, power) of the ruler. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 153 The best single source for the ideas of Confucius, which have shaped and influenced East Asian thought into modern times. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 168 'Every translation is an act of interpretation' but in few cases is this more true than of attempts to put the Analects into another language. --Alice W. Cheang, The Master's Voice: On Reading, Translating, and Interpreting the 'Analects' of Confucius, 'The Review of Politics' Summer, 2000 p. 564
See Ta-Hsueh

BUDDHA (Gautama Sakyamuni 563-483 B.C.) Study: An Introduction to Buddhism Reference: Internet Sacred Texts Archive | Buddhist Scripture Information Retrieval | Access to Insight Criticism: Weblog Strictly speaking, the teaching of Buddha is neither an ethical nor a religious system but a moral self-discipline. Unlike the Western religious concept of redemption from sin and evil, Buddhist salvation is to come by escaping from the Wheel of Life and finding refuge in nirvana. --Robert B. Downs, Famous Books: Ancient and Medieval (1964), p. 36 The literature of Buddhism is vast, and only the greatest classics are recommended for those who prefer not to become practicing Buddhists. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 13
Two stars: The Tipitaka or Tri-Pitaka The [Pali] canon itself--the 'Three Baskets' (Tipitaka)--is a lengthy anthology of the Buddha's teaching in three parts: the Vinaya-pitaka, which consists of the rules of discipline for monks and nuns and narrations of the incidents which prompted the Buddha to declare those rules; the Sutta-pitaka, containing the doctrinal utterance of the Buddha; and the Abhidhamma-pitaka, a repository of scholastic analyses of the doctrines. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 101

G. S. KIRK and J. E. RAVEN Etext: Fieser Criticism: Tallis
One star: The Presocratic Philosophers: a critical history with a selection of texts (1957) [6th-5th Centuries B.C.] To understand Plato and the systems against which he reacted in several of the Socratic dialogues, it is desirable to understand something of the prehistory of philosophy, as it were, from Thales in the early sixth century B.C. to the Atomists in the late fifth century. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 79

7th Century B.C.

SAPPHO (7th-6th Centuries B. C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Weblog
One star: Poems

AESOP (c. 620-560 B. C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | Internet Classics Archive Criticism: Downs | Van Doren
Three stars: Fables

SOLON (c. 640-560 B.C.) Reference: Plutarch
Poems It is a debatable point whether he was a poet first and incidentally a statesman, or whether he was a statesman first and found his poetry a convenient medium for making his political views known and acceptable. --Robert B. Downs, Famous Books: Ancient and Medieval (1964), p. 28

One star: Upanishads (c. 900-500 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page The philosophers deal with the responsibilities of the self in the cosmos, with individual salvation, with the vexed problem of the relations of a personal soul or *atman* to the world soul, or the real, or 'God' (*brahman*), or alternatively the identity of *atman* and *brahman*. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 179 The concluding portion of the Vedic texts dealing with, and setting the foundation for, classic Hindu philosophical and religious speculation. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 79

8th Century B.C.

HESIOD (c. 776 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: Works and Days Accoring to his theory, the world had been through five ages: the age of gold, marked by peace and perfection; the age of silver, less pure and noble; the age of bronze, a period of further degeneration; the age of heroes, which had inspired Homer; and, finally, the present age of sorrow, hatred, and strife. --Robert B. Downs, Famous Books: Ancient and Medieval (1964), p. 25
Theogony ...attempted to explain how everything got here. And this was attributed to wars and battles and contests among generations of the gods and goddesses, way back in the mists of time. --Thomas F. X. Noble, The Foundations of Western Civilization; Lecture 12: From Greek Religion to Socratic Philosophy; The Teaching Company
The Homeric Hymns

One star: The Book of Songs or The Books of Odes or The Books of Poetry [Shih Ching] (1000-700 B.C.) Etext: Galileo Library The 'Shih Ching' is divided into three parts, according to the type of musical accompaniment: *sung* ... *ya* ... and *feng*, the bulk of the work ... --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 97-98 This sixth-century anthology of 305 poems was traditionally believed to have been selected by Confucius himself and was given canonical status during the Han dynasty. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 241

9th Century B.C.

HOMER (c. 850 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page | University of Adelaide Criticism: Weblog | Downs | Fadiman | Van Doren
Five stars: Iliad a major epic in dactylic hexameters which narrates forty days' events in the war of the Greeks against Troy. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 103 Homer has started at the moment most ripe for tragedy. His people are packed into a limited space of earth which nine years have made them loathe. --Mark Van Doren, quoted in 'Van Doren & American Classicism', The New Criterion, May 2006 p. 26
Five stars: Odyssey The Odyssey by its ease and interest remains the oldest book worth reading for its story and the first novel of Europe. --T. E. Lawrence The plot is the main thing here, and Homer's minor characters are usually thinly outlined, functioning as stock types or playing functional roles in the story. It is the story and the dialogue--which often consists of long speeches--that carry us along. --Seymour Cain, Imaginative Literature I: From Homer to Shakespeare (1961), p. 19 recounts the wanderings of Odysseus (Ulixes in Latin, later Ulysses) and the final homecoming to Ithaca and the faithful Penelope. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 95 'The Odyssey', 'The Incredible Journey', 'Star Trek: Voyager'. In the end, it all comes down to finding your way home. --Michael Young in 'Making History' (1996) by Stephen Fry, p. 185

2nd Millenium B.C.

The Vedas (1500-1200 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Ritual hymns that are the earliest source for the fundamental concepts of the Hindu tradition. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 75

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Egypt 16th Century B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page The ancient Egyptian title is more accurately translated as 'The Coming Forth by Day'. Further, no definitive text exists; since the chapters were written over a period of not less than twenty-five hundred years, in different areas of Egypt, and under many rulers, textual variations are wide. --Robert B. Downs, Famous Books: Ancient and Medieval (1964), p. 1

HAMMURABI (c. 1797-1750 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Code of Hammurabi ...these are the keynotes of the Code of Hammruabi: supreme, centralized power, a stratified society, a uniform administration of justice by the state, individual responsibility, safeguards for property, protection for the weak, encouragement of a unified and efficient family institution. --Robert B. Downs, Famous Books: Ancient and Medieval (1964), p. 9 1775 B.C.: Code of Hammurabi radically defines social contract from 'I will kill you' to 'I will kill you if you do one of the following 282 things'. --Timeline of Democracy, 'America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Government Inaction' (2004) by John Stewart, et al., p. 4

c. 1800 B.C. Oldest surviving recipe, for beer, on a clay tablet containing a hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of brewing --The Economist, December 22nd 2001, p. 29

SINUHE (c. 1938 B.C.) Sinuhe was a high administrative official who fled from the service of Queen Nofru after an unsuccessful palace revolt, wandered across the desert, and sought refuge with a Syrian chiefain whose daughter he married. Always nostalgic for Egypt, Sinuhe finally travelled home and established himself once more. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 130
The Story of Sinuhe Etext: Gardiner

3rd Millenium B.C.

Two stars: The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2300 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Weblog Antedating Homeric epic poetry by at least fifteen hundred years, the various poems which together make up the poem of the legendary demigod and king of Uruk (or Warka) in Babylonia are as secular in nature as the 'Odyssey'. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 3 Scattered passages of the earliest version of the epic, in Sumerian, have been dated to around 2000 B.C.E.; the fullest known text, in Babylonian, was written by a scribe named Sin-Leqi-Unninni on tablets deposited in the library of King Ashurbanipal around 700 B.C.E. --John S. Major, The New Lifetime Reading Plan (1997), p. 3

c. 2350 B.C. First recorded seven day week instituted by Sargon I, King of Akkad, and conquerer of Ur and the other cities of Sumeria --The Economist, December 22nd 2001, p. 102

FU Hsi (2852-2738 B.C.) Etext: The Online Books Page
I Ching [Book of Changes] What we call coincidence seems to be the chief concern of this peculiar mind, and what we worship as causality passes almost unnoticed. ... Thus it happens that when one throws the three coins, or counts through the forty-nine yarrow stalks, these chance details enter into the picture of the moment of observation and form a part of it--a part that is insignificant to us, yet most meaningful to the Chinese mind. --C. G. Jung, Forward (1949) to the 'I Ching: or Book of Changes' translated by Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes (3rd Ed. 1979) p. xxii, xxiii The legendary Fu Hsi, emperor of China, is supposed to have invented the eight basic trigrams--sets of three lines, broken and unbroken--which form the basis of the I Ching. Any two of the trigrams will combine into sixty-four hexagrams. The original text of the I Ching consisted of accounts of the symbolic meanings of each of the hexagrams. --Martin Seymour-Smith, The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written (1998), p. 4

When did the blogosphere begin? The best answer is with ancient priests of Sumer--now southern Iraq--around 3000 BC. They invented 'text,' in that the symbols they scratched onto clay tablets were the first known use of writings. --Hugh Hewitt, 'Blog' 2005 p. 63 August 13, 3114 B.C. starting date of the Mayan calendar --Robert Kaplan, Mayan Mathematics: The Dark Side of Zero, American Scholar, Summer 1999, p. 27 October 22, 4004 B.C. 6:00 p.m. creation of the world as calculated by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armaugh --Robert Kaplan, Mayan Mathematics: The Dark Side of Zero, American Scholar, Summer 1999, p. 28

300 B.C.-A.D. 300 >



Revised July 4, 2008.

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