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Crete, Mycenae and Dorians
Iliad
Odyssey
Hesiod and Homeric Hymns
Aristocrats, Tyrants, and Poets
Spartan Military Laws
Athenian Political Laws
Aesop's Fables
Pythagoras and Early Philosophy
Persian Invasions
Athenian Empire 479-431 BC
Peloponnesian War 431-404 BC
Spartan Hegemony 404-371 BC
Theban Hegemony 371-360 BC
Syracusan Tyranny of Dionysius 405-367 BC
Aeschylus
The Persians
The Suppliant Maidens
Seven Against Thebes
Prometheus Bound
Agamemnon
Libation Bearers
The EumenidesSophocles
Ajax
Antigone
Oedipus the Tyrant
The Women of Trachis
Electra
Philoctetes
Oedipus at ColonusEuripides
Rhesus
Alcestis
Medea
Hippolytus
Heracleidae
Andromache
Hecuba
The Cyclops
Heracles
The Suppliant Women
The Trojan Women
Electra
Helen
Iphigenia in Tauris
Ion
The Phoenician Women
Orestes
Iphigenia in Aulis
The BacchaeAristophanes
The Acharnians
The Knights
The Clouds
The Wasps
Peace
The Birds
Lysistrata
The Thesmophoriazusae
The Frogs
The Ecclesiazusae
Plutus
Empedocles
Socrates
Xenophon's SocratesDefense of Socrates
Memoirs of Socrates
Symposium
OikonomikosXenophon
Cyropaedia
Hiero
Ways and MeansPlato's Socrates
Alcibiades
Charmides
Protagoras
Laches
Lysis
Menexenus
Hippias
Euthydemus
Meno
Gorgias
Phaedrus
Symposium
Euthyphro
Defense of Socrates
Crito
PhaedoPlato's Republic
Plato's Later WorkSeventh Letter
Timaeus
Critias
Theaetetus
Sophist
Politician
Philebus
Laws
Hippocrates
Isocrates
Aristotle
Aristotle's Rhetoric
Aristotle's Ethics
Aristotle's Politics
Diogenes
Dionysius II, Dion, and Timoleon in Sicily
Wars and Macedonian Expansion under Philip
Demosthenes and Aeschines
Alexander's Conquest of the Persian Empire
Battles of Alexander's Successors
Egypt Under the Ptolemies
Alexandrian Poetry
Seleucid Empire
Judea in the Hellenistic Era
Antigonid Macedonia and Greece
Xenocrates, Pyrrho, and Theophrastus
Menander's New Comedy
Epicurus and the Hedonists
Zeno and the Stoics
Roman and Etruscan Kings
Republic of Rome 509-343 BC
Rome's Conquest of Italy 343-264 BC
Rome at War with Carthage 264-201 BC
Republican Rome's Imperialism 201-133 BC
Reforms of the Gracchi Brothers
Marius and Sulla
Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, and Cato
Julius Caesar Dictator
Brutus, Octavian, Antony and Cleopatra
Plautus
The Menaechmi
The Asses
The Merchant
The Swaggering Soldier
Stichus
The Pot of Gold
Curculio
Epidicus
The Captives
The Rope
Trinummus
Mostelleria
Pseudolus
The Two Bacchides
Amphitryo
Casina
The Persian
TruculentusTerence
The Woman of Andros
The Mother-In-Law
The Self-Tormentor
The Eunuch
Phormio
The BrothersLucretius
Catullus
Virgil
Cicero
Cicero on Oratory
Cicero's Republic and Laws
Cicero on Ethics
Greece
Rome
Evaluating Greece and Rome
Powerful foundations for western civilization were laid by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks developed the mind with great depth, and in many ways their philosophy and literature are still unsurpassed. From the epic poetry of Homer to the dramatic tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides and the hilarious comedies of Aristophanes to the brilliant Socratic dialogs of Plato, and the comprehensive lectures of Aristotle that founded many academic disciplines, the classics of ancient Greece are still being studied and appreciated. Yet the aggressive Greeks and Romans fought almost continuous wars. Although the Athenians pioneered democracy and defended themselves against invasions by the Persian empire, they developed their own imperialism that brought them into a devastating conflict with their more militaristic neighbors in Sparta. Alexander got revenge by conquering the Persian empire; but eventually the Romans with their Senate and ability to govern other peoples enabled them to overcome the Greeks. Yet their republic was divided by social conflicts and the ambitions of powerful generals, causing a series of civil wars involving Julius Caesar and his heir Octavian that ended the republic and began the powerful Roman empire.
Many of the current trends in western civilization are based on the experiences and ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and we can learn much from understanding their history, literature, and philosophical ideas. The Chronological Index and Alphabetical Index make this a useful reference book for looking things up. For readers wanting to begin by getting an overall picture of this era, I recommend that you read first the last chapter, the Summary and Evaluation. Reading this entire book will give one a basic understanding of the main events and contributions of the ancient Greeks and Romans. With that overall background, one will then be able to choose which original works to read to gain further knowledge and wisdom. I hope that we can learn important lessons from the ethics of the Greeks and Romans so that we can save our own civilization, which is currently in great danger of self-destruction.