An epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats - shipwrecks, battles, monsters and the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon - Odysseus must test his bravery and cunning to the full.

Tells the story of Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his refusal to fight after being humiliated by his leader Agamemnon. But when the Trojan Hector kills Achilles' close friend Patroclus, he storms back into battle to take revenge - although knowing this will ensure his own early death.

Building on the formula of York Notes, this series introduces students to more sophisticated analysis and wider critical perspectives. This enbables students to appreciate contrasting interpretations of the text and to develop critical thinking. This text covers The Aeneid by Virgil.

Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, Republic is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. This work addresses the purpose of education and the role of both women and men as 'guardians' of the people.

Describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. Frequently giving rise to colorful digressions, this book blends fact and legend to offer a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.

Ovid's witty and exuberant epic starts with the creation of the world and brings together a series of ingeniously linked Greek and Roman myths and legends in which men and women are transformed, often by love - into flowers, trees, stones and stars.

Free when packaged with any Damrosch World Literature title.

Presents a contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta. This title compiles a factual record of this disastrous conflict.

In the Oresteia - the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity - Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. Moving from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, its spirit of struggle and regeneration is eternal.

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is the world's oldest epic. The story tells of Gilgamesh's adventures with the wild man Enkidu. This text is translated by Andrew George.

Chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero and the recovery that came with his successors.

The trial and condemnation of Socrates for heresy and corrupting young minds is a defining moment in the history of Classical Athens. In tracing these events through four dialogues, Plato also developed his own philosophy, based on Socrates' manifesto for a life guided by self-responsibilty.

Sets out to examine the nature of happiness. This book argues that happiness consists in 'activity of the soul in accordance with virtue', for example with moral virtues, such as courage, generosity and justice, and intellectual virtues, such as knowledge, wisdom and insight.

Presents a readable translation of a poem that is crucial to the history of ancient thought. This title offers an elaboration of Greek Epicurean physics and psychology. It argues that the soul is mortal, that pleasure is the object of life, and that humanity has free will, among other ideas.

Published between 1776 and 1788, this text is acknowledged as a masterpiece of English historical writing. Covering the history of Europe from the 2nd-century AD, to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, this edition includes footnotes, explanatory comments, and a precis of the chapters not included.

This volume aims to bring to life for the modern reader, the Greek, Roman and Norse myths that are the keystone of Western culture - the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.

Written in Greek without any intention of publication, this book offers spiritual reflections and exercises developed by the author, as the leader who struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. It covers topics such as: the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods, and Aurelius's own emotions.

Composed towards the end of the first millennium of our era, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is a Northern epic and a classic of European literature. In this new translation, Seamus Heaney has produced a work that is true, line by line, to the original poem.

Orients the reader in matters of authorship, narration, genre, religion, structure and style. This title includes a browsable index, bibliography, and maps.