Ancient Greece

Ajax is an ancient Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. Its production date, the festival at which it was first presented, and the other tragedies performed alongside it remain unknown, but it is believed to be among Sophocles’s earlier plays, possibly from the 440s BC. The narrative retells a story from Trojan war mythology concerning the suicide of the hero Ajax and its aftermath, exploring the hero’s excesses, reversals of fortune, and social bonds. Other famous works... Read Ajax Summary

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Plato’s Republic takes the form of a series of dialogues between the first-person narrator (Socrates, Plato's teacher) and various real-life figures. “The Allegory of the Cave,” perhaps the most well-known section of The Republic, takes place as a conversation between Socrates and Plato’s brother, Glaucon. In this section, Socrates attempts to illustrate a point about how one can gain knowledge and wisdom and “perceive [...] the Essential Form of Goodness” (paragraph 31, line 10), via... Read Allegory Of The Cave Summary

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Sophocles, one of the three great ancient Greek tragedians, premiered Antigone in Athens circa 441 BCE. The Classical Greek theater tradition to which this play belongs began in Athens in the sixth century B.C.E. with the performance of plays in dramatic competitions at yearly religious festivals. The forms of comedy and tragedy, first developed in plays such as Antigone, have lasting influence on theater today. This study guide uses the 2003 Oxford University Press edition... Read Antigone Summary

Apology, also known as The Apology of Socrates, is a philosophical dialogue written by the Greek philosopher Plato chronicling the trial of his mentor Socrates in 399 BCE. After finding Socrates guilty of impiety and corrupting the youth, the Athenian jury sentenced him to death. Socrates carried out his own execution by drinking a mixture of poisonous hemlock. Although Plato likely took modest artistic liberties in the work, many historians believe Apology to be a... Read Apology Summary

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Crito, written by the philosopher Plato, is a dialogue between the famous philosopher Socrates and his friend Crito. This dialogue, which Plato is believed to have published shortly after 399 BCE, is set after the city of Athens has sentenced Socrates to death. Crito takes place after the events of Plato’s Apology, which details Socrates’s defense speech at his trial. Within the corpus of Plato’s many Socratic dialogues, scholars generally group Crito with Euthyphro, Apology... Read Crito Summary

Content Warning: The source text and study guide both contain references to suicide.“Cupid and Psyche” is a story from the ancient Roman novel The Metamorphoses (also known as The Golden Ass) by Apuleius, written around 160 CE. The story describes the love between Cupid, the god of love, and Psyche (pronounced SY-kee), a young woman, and the trials they undergo as the result of human and divine meddling.Although the legend of Cupid and Psyche was... Read Cupid and Psyche Summary

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IntroductionDaphnis and Chloe is an ancient Greek romance novel and the only known work of the mysterious writer Longus, who lived during the 2nd century C.E., when Greece was part of the Roman Empire. The novel is a pastoral work depicting the idealized life of shepherds and rural communities, while following the love story of the two eponymous protagonists, Daphnis and Chloe. Due to the descriptions of nudity, desire, and sex, critics have traditionally considered... Read Daphnis and Chloe Summary

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Eumenides is an Attic tragedy by the playwright Aeschylus (circa 525/4-circa 456/5 BCE). Eumenides was the final part of the Oresteia, a tragic trilogy first produced for the City Dionysia in 458 BCE. The Oresteia describes the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra and the aftermath of this act; in Eumenides, Orestes—the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra—must undergo a trial to be purified of the blood of his mother, whom he murdered to avenge... Read Eumenides Summary

The philosopher Socrates and a man named Euthyphro meet at the court of a magistrate in charge of religious law. They discover that they both have cases to plead there. Socrates explains that he has been accused by a young man named Meletus of corrupting the youth of Athens by questioning the traditional beliefs about the gods and introducing new gods. Euthyphro says that he, too, has received similar accusations before, and that the thing... Read Euthyphro Summary

Sappho wrote “Fragment 31” centuries ago in her Greek homeland with the intention of performing her poetry as songs. Contemporary readers should therefore remember two important details. First, readers who do not read Greek experience Sappho’s poetry through the words of a translator who adds unique interpretations and impressions to Sappho’s original version. This study guide uses the Christopher Childers translation of “Fragment 31” which first appeared in Boston University’s literary magazine AGNI, volume 83... Read Fragment 31 Summary

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Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin was first published in hardcover in 1967. A collection of stories from ancient Greek and Roman mythology retold for a young adult audience, it is considered a modern classic in the genre of ancient myth retellings.Plot SummaryIn a short introduction, Evslin shares his personal experience hearing stories from Greek mythology as a child and explains how he understands them. He notes that ancient Greek... Read Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths Summary

Hippolytus is a tragedy by Euripides, originally produced in Athens at the City Dionysia of 428 BCE. The tetralogy to which Hippolytus belonged earned Euripides the first prize that year. According to ancient authorities, this was Euripides’s second attempt at a play on the myth of Hippolytus, his earlier play having apparently horrified contemporary Athenians with its allegedly sensational depiction of Phaedra. Euripides’s original Hippolytus no longer survives, but the revised play quickly came to... Read Hippolytus Summary

The History of the Peloponnesian War, also known as Histories, recounts the war between the Athenian alliance (called the Delian League by modern historians) and Sparta and its allies (called the Peloponnesian League by modern historians), which took place from 431-404 BC. Composed in the 5th century BC by Thucydides (c. 460-400), it is the first attempt to apply empirical research and analysis to understanding contemporaneous human events. For this reason, the text is inextricably... Read History of the Peloponnesian War Summary

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Jason and the Golden Fleece is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius of Rhodes during the third century BCE. A scholar of the Library of Alexandria, Apollonius draws on and adapts Homeric themes, motifs, and techniques and incorporates a vast knowledge of geography, religion, and ancient and modern cultures. The epic has also been published under the titles Jason and the Argonauts, The Voyage of the Argo, and the Argonautica. It is the only... Read Jason and the Golden Fleece Summary

Lysistrata (411 BCE) was written by the best-known Greek comic poet, the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. We know little of Aristophanes’ life outside of his work. His birth and death cannot be firmly dated, but he was believed to have been born around 460 BCE and died sometime in the mid-380s BCE. His active period, though, is more certain— around 425 to 388 BCE—making him a contemporary of other fifth-century Athenian luminaries like Socrates, Euripides, and... Read Lysistrata Summary

Medea is a tragic play written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It was composed in 431 BCE as Euripides’s entry for the Dionysia, an important religious festival and theatrical competition in the city of Athens. Though Medea placed third in the competition that year, it has since become one of Euripides’s most popular works, enjoying special attention for its nuanced treatment of revenge and domestic strife and for the complexity of its lead character... Read Medea Summary

One of the founding documents of Western philosophy, Plato’s Meno recounts a dialog on the nature of virtue between Socrates and his pupil Meno, a rising star among the leaders of ancient Greece. They discuss how virtue can be recognized, where it comes from, and whether it can be taught.Meno takes place in 402 BCE in Athens; Plato, Socrates’s most famous student, in 385 BCE wrote down his recollection of the conversation. It offers a... Read Meno Summary

Publius Ovidius Naso, known more commonly today as Ovid, originally composed his Metamorphoses in Latin and completed the work around 8 CE. The Metamorphoses combines hundreds of Greco-Roman mythological tales into 15 books of poetry, brief summaries of which follow.This guide follows A. D. Melville’s 1986 translation for Oxford World’s Classics, and citations reference page numbers rather than line numbers. This guide follows Melville’s divisions of the various myths, although not all editions will make... Read Metamorphoses Summary

Aristotle’s Metaphysics, a foundational text in Western philosophy, is attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle and is believed to have been compiled around 350 BCE. As a work of philosophy, the book, thought to be based on his lectures and subsequently recorded by his students, dwells in the genre of metaphysical inquiry, exploring topics such as existence, reality, and the nature of being. Aristotle, a student of Plato and a teacher to... Read Metaphysics Summary

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle consists of 10 books that explore the best way to live. The work was compiled from a collection of notes based on Aristotle’s lectures at his school, the Lyceum. The philosopher was a student of Plato and an observational scientist. Nicomachean Ethics provides a roadmap for achieving happiness, which is not wealth or gratification, but the “good soul” that is a product of virtue. In this work, Aristotle defines virtues and... Read Nicomachean Ethics Summary

Oedipus at Colonus is an ancient Athenian tragedy composed by Sophocles in (it is widely believed) the last year of his life, approximately 406 BC. His grandson, who was named Sophocles after him, first produced the play in 401 BC at the Festival of Dionysus, also known as the Great Dionysia. Along with Oedipus Rex and Antigone, it is one of three surviving tragedies by Sophocles, known as the Theban plays, that retell episodes from... Read Oedipus at Colonus Summary

Sophocles’s play Oedipus Rex, first performed in the early-to-mid 400s BCE, is one of the most famous and influential tragedies left to us from the ancient Greek tradition. Based on the myth of Oedipus, whose cursed fate was to marry his mother and kill his father, the play explores themes of destiny, free will, and literal and metaphoric vision and blindness. This guide uses the 1984 Penguin edition of The Three Theban Plays, translated by... Read Oedipus Rex Summary

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Aristotle (384-322 BC) was an important ancient Greek philosopher whose work embraced politics, ethics, and metaphysics. The title of his treatise On the Soul (sometimes known by its Latin title De Anima) suggests it is a seminal work on the process of understanding human beings. For Aristotle, “soul” denotes the life principle in plants, animals, and humans, and is thus a more biological and psychological than a spiritual concept. Some scholars believe that On the... Read On the Soul Summary

On the Sublime is a treatise on aesthetics and literary criticism originally written in Greek between the first and third centuries AD. The author is not definitively known, but the text is typically credited with the name Longinus. Although the work has come to be known as On the Sublime in English, its subject is advice to writers on “the essentials of a noble and impressive style.” For this reason, G. M. A. Grube translates... Read On the Sublime Summary

Written in 458 BC by Greek playwright Aeschylus, The Oresteia is a trilogy of plays that includes Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides, as well as the lost satyr play, Proteus. The plays of The Oresteia are classic tragedies, a dramatic genre focused on the piteous and cathartic downfall of great heroes. The plays were written to be performed at the City Dionysia festival which celebrated Dionysus, god of wine and theater. The festival was... Read Oresteia Summary

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One of the founding documents of Western philosophy, Plato’s dialog Phaedo sets forth some of the most important beliefs of Socrates, who shares these ideas with his disciples just before he is executed in ancient Athens. Phaedo is one of Plato’s most widely read works, second only to his Republic and Symposium. It ponders the nature of the human soul and the possibility of an afterlife.A well-known English translation by Benjamin Jowett is widely available... Read Phaedo Summary

Phaedrus is a dialogue written by Plato around 370 BC. It details a conversation between two characters, Phaedrus and Socrates. As with other dialogues by Plato, the characters are historical, but the conversation is not. The two encounter each other the morning after Phaedrus has heard Lysias, a prominent Athenian and famous orator, give a speech arguing against love. A man not in love, Lysias argues, is to be favored over one who is in... Read Phaedrus Summary

Philoctetes is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles, which was first performed in ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian War in 409 BC. It was performed at the ancient Greek festival of City Dionysia, where it was awarded first prize. Philoctetes takes place during the final year of the Trojan War and explores themes of friendship, trauma, deception versus morality, fate, and the individual versus the collective. This study guide uses the translation of Sophocles’ play... Read Philoctetes Summary

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Poetics, written around 335 BCE, is one of the most important works of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. This guide refers to the 2013 Oxford World’s Classics edition, translated and edited by Anthony Kenny.Poetics sets out to analyze the nature and uses of poetry. To Aristotle, poetry doesn’t just mean verse but theater; the works he examines are mostly plays. While Poetics is one of the most influential works of world philosophy, it’s also incomplete:... Read Poetics Summary

Politics by Aristotle is a study of political theories and approaches written in the fourth century BCE. Politics serves as a companion to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. In Politics, Aristotle builds a case in response to Plato’s Republic. Aristotle argues that the purpose of a city is to contribute to the common good, creating a framework for individuals to pursue happiness through virtue. The philosopher and scientist gathered data on 158 different cities before writing his... Read Politics Summary

Prometheus Bound is a Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus. The play, whose authorship and date are disputed, dramatizes the story of the Titan Prometheus and his defiance of Zeus, the new ruler of the gods. After Prometheus steals fire from the gods and gives it to humanity, Zeus punishes Prometheus by chaining him to a remote mountain to suffer eternal torment. The play explores the themes of The Conflict Between Power and Justice, The... Read Prometheus Bound Summary

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Aristotle’s Rhetoric is a comprehensive treatise on the art of persuasive speech that dates back to the fourth century in Ancient Greece. Aristotle was a tremendously influential philosopher whose work had a foundational influence on Western philosophy, politics, logic, and science. He developed Rhetoric over several decades, spanning his time at Plato’s Academy (367-347 BCE) and his time teaching at the Lyceum (335-322 BCE).Aristotle did not intend for this work to be widely published; rather... Read Rhetoric Summary

Seven Against Thebes is a tragedy composed by Aeschylus and performed for the first time at the City Dionysia festival in 467 BCE. It was the final play of a connected trilogy based on the myths of Oedipus and his family, but the first two plays—Laius and Oedipus—are now lost, as is the satyr play Sphinx that would have been performed following the trilogy. This set of plays won first prize the year it was... Read Seven Against Thebes Summary

Theaetetus is a philosophical work written by Ancient Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BCEE). Written in 369 BCEE, it is an account of a dialogue between the Greek philosopher Socrates (470-399 BCEE) and a young geometry student, Theaetetus, about the nature of knowledge. Socrates asks Theaetetus questions that lead them to discuss, and assess, several theories and definitions of knowledge. These are, first, that knowledge is perception, that knowledge is true judgment, and that knowledge is... Read Theaetetus Summary