From Medieval times on up, Latin literature was considered the essential core of classics and the Greek stories that were studied were mostly studied through Roman translations. Roman names (Jove, Ulysses) and stories are much more common and in general Roman writers had a huge impact on early English literature.
By the present day (at least late 20th century onwards) the opposite is true. Greek literature like Homer and Sophocles are much more likely to be studied than something like the Aenid. Big pop culture movies like Disney's Hercules draw mostly on Greek names and versions of myths.
When and why did that change happen? Was it a sudden event, or did it happen gradually as we got more access to Greek writings? My background is in Anglophone literature so I'm coming from that perspective.
I am already aware of the two prevailing pieces of literature/articles.
HEAT AND LIGHT: DAVID BENTLEY HART ON THE FIRES OF HELL
https://afkimel.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/heat-and-light.pdf
May Catholics Endorse Universalism?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/afkimel.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/may-catholics-endorse-universalism/amp/
So I started getting interested in roman history, which I admittedly didn't know all that much about until recently. I devoured some history books but now I'm really interested in the direct, contemporary sources but don't really know where to start.
So far I obtained most of Tacitus work and de Bello Gallico.
Hope someone who has more knowledge about that time can help me - thank you in advance.
What's the virtue and joy of roman literature? I've tried to find something which interests me but so far I haven't found anything. I don't understand why the classical literature is condidered so great. Whatever text I take up makes me disppointed. Let me summarise what I'm found so far down the latin rabbit hole.
War propaganda (Ceasar) -- lame
History (Livy) Self boasting fairy tales about roman virture and insensible violence. Daydreams about cutting the throats of barbarians and extending roman power and civilisation to the rest of the earth.
Trivia. Accounts of aggriculture. Greediness bashing. The necessity of not fearing death (Cicero)
Political speaches and pamphlets (Cicero) I don't like political speaches!
Strange old fasioned philosophy (Lucretius)
The constant reference of the gods. I'm sure I will vomit next time some swears by Hercules.
I'm almost given up classical literature. I'm reading Harry Potter now iin Latin and I find it more interesting than Cicero.
Maybe I should look in some poetry but I'm afriad that my IQ isn't high enough to deciphre Latin poetry.
Please tell me: What's the true virtue of roman literature. Have I missed something?
I'm looking for a book which deals with all or most of the story of the HRE. Since I know German it would be best if the book was written in that language.
The book should be somewhat in-depth, but still readable and not too dry.
Short question, but thank you very much for any advice!
While I'm aware Greek thought, literature, and sciences were important influences on Arab society even before the expansion, much work seems to have been done in translation, and while Persian texts were of course translated into Arabic, Persian language also became the literary language of elites all over mainland Asia for several centuries. While emirs from Algiers to Bukhara were reading the Shahnameh in Persian, it seems only a few were reading the Iliad in Greek. Why?
I am currently interested in the early Islamic conquests of the Eastern Roman territories in Egypt, Syria and the Levant (and also of Persia, but this interests me a bit less). What are the main reasons for this impressive military success in such a short while?
I am of course aware of the very basic explanations: "The Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanids had been severely weakened by their exhausting war with each other; they also did not expect the Arabs to unite and form a strong force."
But this seems like a bit of a simplistic explanation. I am interested in more details, such as: Why were the Byzantines unable to recover the lost territories (I am aware that some areas around Antioch were retaken for a while later)? Were serious attempts made to do so? If not, why? If yes, why did they fail? What were possible systemic reasons for this failure?
And how about the warfare of the Islamic armies? How did they fight? Were their tactics or weaponry in any way special, similar to how other nomadic tribes were successful in history (e.g. huns, composite bows, mongols etc.)?
Also, I am especially interested in literature on this whole topic, either in English or German. Importantly, I am not looking for broad, general descriptions of "how" the Arabs did this, then that, then this, but rather explanations of "why" this could happen the way it did. Why was the Eastern Roman Empire so weak and unable to recover, why were the Islamic conquerors so successful?
I know that there are some books in the wiki, but most of them are fairly old (and they're all in English), so I'd love to know if there are interesting, serious newer books on this topic, also maybe in German.
Thank you very much!
I understand that there are many sources and studies on these areas but I really wanted to know intriguing stories from this time period, such as the Roman ones have stories of valor and funny anecdotes and misinformation that they spread like for the war between Augustus and Mark Anthony.
8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell[a] of fire.
I’m reading Michael Grant’s translation of Livy from 1960 at the same time as Mary Beard’s SPQR of 2016. Grant says unequivocally in his intro “a man can know it” of the classical literature - ie any specialist can easily read through all the existing texts. Beard in her conclusion says exactly the opposite - “no one has read it all”.
I’ve tried to find a list online of the extant Greek and Roman literature (rather than inscriptions etc) without luck. Of course there are the Loeb Library and Penguin Classics but to my knowledge these do not aim at being completist.
My question is whether there is a compressive list of known surviving classical literary works?Also can anyone explain the discrepancy between my authors?
'Conventional approaches to the Synoptic gospels argue that the gospel authors acted as literate spokespersons for their religious communities. Whether described as documenting intra-group 'oral traditions' or preserving the collective perspectives of their fellow Christ-followers, these writers are treated as something akin to the Romantic poet speaking for their Volk - a questionable framework inherited from nineteenth-century German Romanticism.
In this book, Robyn Faith Walsh argues that the Synoptic gospels were written by elite cultural producers working within a dynamic cadre of literate specialists, including persons who may or may not have been professed Christians. Comparing a range of ancient literature, her ground-breaking study demonstrates that the gospels are creative works produced by educated elites interested in Judean teachings, practices, and paradoxographical subjects in the aftermath of the Jewish War and in dialogue with the literature of their age. Walsh's study thus bridges the artificial divide between research on the Synoptic gospels and Classics.'
https://preview.redd.it/k8im5llfvql61.png?width=916&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ad6da278feae4786a573605f8e3aea8de8696bd
I hope this is clear — essentially I'd like to know if similar concepts, discourse and sentiments today around U.S. American / broadly Western imperialism existed in the Roman Empire. Particularly given today is Indigenous People's Day in the U.S. and perhaps elsewhere, I'm looking for historical parallels.
I'd love to learn about what the native people of the Iberian Peninsula or Syria or the British Isles thought of their Roman rulers, and what native Romans knew and thought about their empire and its conquests.
It's a question that I imagine has a complex answer. Thanks for y'all's help.
What the title says.
In this case,art as in material art such as buildings,everyday objects,coins,statues,not poetry.
It has come to interest me ltely quite a bit,already have some books,although would be interested in a few more titles.
What I currently own: 1)Paul Zanker's book "The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus" 2)Ramage's book "Roman Art:Romulus to Constantine" 3)Beard and Henderson's book "Classical Art:From Greece to Rome" 4)Henner von Hesberg's book on Roman architecture
My main interest would be Pauline and pseudo-Pauline letters, but nevertheless interested in the whole new testament. Thanks in advance for all answers :)
I’m looking for some book recommendations from Ancient Greece and Rome, doesn’t matter on its genre or length, I just like reading some of the classics
The Romans of the same time period (200’s-100’s BCE) conquered Carthage and Spain, but other than the gladius and a navy, the amount taken from those cultures pales in comparison to what the Romans got from Greeks.
The cost of a copy and the making of books seens to be very costly and the volume of literature very big, so when a 1st. Century CE Roman politician for example wants to study the rhetoric of Cicero, where and how does he do that?
I've read this in several place, but I am still unclear about what kind of treatments were prescribed? #I want to ask some people who believed that God appointed kings. Did the government pay wages to soldiers in the Roman empire in the centuries after his death?
(and Modern/Contemporary literature. Sorry, hit "post" before reviewing the title and just noticed I can't edit it)
My main interest is in philosophy, but to properly read philosophy one has to have a good background in other types of literature. This is why I'm creating a list of must-reads of Greek, Roman, Medieval and Modern literature (+Portuguese, since I'm a Portuguese speaker) so that I can be a better reader of philosophy.
I also want to have a basic list instead a super comprehensive one, since, as I said, my main target is philosophy. The ideal list is one that we could say that everyone should read if they want to have a general background in literature. This list should also be doable in 2-3 years for someone that is not 100% dedicated to reading these (as opposed to say many many years if I were to include everybody in the "considered" list below)
Greek
- Aristophanes - The clouds
- Aristophanes - The wasps
- Aristophanes - Lysistrata
- Hesiod - Works and days
- Hesiod - Theogony
- Aeschylus - The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides
- Aeschylus - Prometheus bound
- Plutarch - How to distinguish a flatterer from a friend
- Plutarch - How to profit by one's enemies
- Plutarch - On friendship
- Plutarch - On affection for offspring
- Sophocles - Antigone, Oedipus the king, Oedipus at Colonus
- Euripides - Heracles
- Homer - Iliad
- Homer - Odissey
Roman
- Plautus - Amphytrion
- Ovid - Metamorphosis
- Marcus Velleius Paterculus - Compendium of Roman History
- Seneca the Younger - The madness of Heracles
- Seneca the Younger - Trojan Women
- Seneca the Younger - Phoenician Women
- Virgil - Aeneid
Medieval
- Marco Polo - The travels
- Boecius - The consolation of philosophy
- Beowulf
- Sir Lancelot of the lake (Prose Romance of the XIII century)
- Sir Thomas Mallory - The Death of Arthur
- Jacobus da Varagine - Legenda Aurea
- Dante - Alighieri - The Divine Comedy
Modern and contemporary
- William Shakespeare - The tempest
- William Shakespeare - The merchant of venice
- William Shakespeare - Macbeth
- William Shakespeare - Othello
- William Shakespeare - King Lear
- William Shakespeare - Hamlet
- Fiodor Dostoyevski - Crime and Punishment
- Fiodor Dostoyevski - The Brothers Karamazov
- Fiodor Dostoyevski - The possessed (The Devils; Demons)
- Fiodor Dostoyevski - The idiot
- Fiodor Dostoyevski - Notes from underground
- Lev Tolstoy - The death of Ivan Ilitch
- Nikolai Gogol - Dead Souls
Why did Persian language and culture become so widespread among the elites of medieval Muslim societies? Why didn't the same diffusion happen with Greek? While I'm aware Greek thought, literature and sciences were important influences on Arab society even before the expansion, much work seems to have been done in translation, and while Persian texts were of course translated into Arabic, Persian language also became the literary language of elites all over mainland Asia for several centuries. Why Persian?
My main interest would be Pauline and pseudo-Pauline letters, but nevertheless interested in the whole new testament. Thanks in advance for all answers :)
