My Favorite Ancient Classics

Some of my favorite ancient classics

As my ancient texts project draws to a close, it’s time to present my ancient classics recommendations! Here are some favorites from different genres of ancient Greek and Latin texts. These are all works of fiction. I have a lot of nonfiction recommendations as well, but those will have to wait for another blog post.

 

Novel: Daphnis and Chloe by Longus

I want to begin with my favorite ancient genre, which surprisingly seems to be less well-known to general public. Did you know that romance novels existed already in antiquity? Only five have survived to our day in their entirety, and I recommend reading all of them. My favorite, however, is Longos’ Daphnis and Chloe.

The novel is set on the isle of Lesbos, where the titular characters of the novel, Daphnis and Chloe, are abandoned as children and raised by a goatherd and a shepherd, respectively. The novel follows the main characters as they tend their herds together, fall in love, and have their first bumbling (and hilarious) experiences and failures in trying to consummate their love – which they obviously only manage to do in the safe haven of their marriage bed. In modern terms, it’s a light-hearted friends-to-lovers story with a little spice thrown in the mix.

If you want to read more ancient novels, Collected Ancient Greek Novels edited by B.P. Reardon is a great edition. In addition to the five romance novels, it includes other prose narratives such as the first-ever science fiction novel, Lucian’s A True Story.

 

Tragedy: Medea by Euripides

I’ve talked about Euripides’ Medea in an earlier post, but obviously I have to include it here as well. It’s my favorite ancient Greek tragedy and one of my all-time favorite books, period. Based on the myth of Jason (of the Golden Fleece and Argonauts fame) and Medea, the tragedy narrates the events later in their life when they have settled in Corinth and had two sons. When Jason abandons Medea for a younger woman (and the daughter of the city’s king), Medea plots a horrifying vengeance where she kills not only the new bride but her own sons as well. Medea’s monologues paint a moving portrayal of her inner turmoil as she contemplates her plan and wavers back and forth between her desire to avenge herself and to save her children.

 

Comedy: Lysistrata by Aristophanes

Continuing with strong female leads in drama, Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is a hilarious comedy about a group of women led by Lysistrata who end the Peloponnesian War and convince the Greek men to stop fighting against each other. Their ploy: a sex strike. The women are supposed to deny sexual favors from their husbands and lovers and thus force them to negotiate peace.

For modern Westerners living in a world heavily influenced by Victorian sexual mores, it might come as a surprise to learn that in antiquity, women were not considered the pure unsexual creatures the Victorians painted them to be. On the contrary, the ancient audience of Aristophanes would have expected the women of the play to fail their plot. Much of the humor in the play does come from the women’s struggles to accept Lysistrata’s suggestion to refrain from sex, but in the end, the men in the play turn out as lustful and unable to control their sexual urges as the women. Lysistrata may not be the feminist heroine some interpreters have wanted to see her as, but I still find the play absolutely hilarious.

 

Epic: Odyssey by Homer

Out of the three most well-known ancient epics (Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s The Aeneid), Odyssey is my favorite. Less gruesome battles and more shenanigans with mythological creatures, I guess that’s my preference for an epic poem. Odyssey narrates the events after the Trojan War has ended, focusing on what happened to Odysseus and how he wandered around the Mediterranean for a decade before finally coming home. Some of the events of the last year of the war are narrated in Iliad, and it does make more sense to read Iliad first to get acquainted with the style and the recurring characters. But if you’re not a huge fan of long-winded battle scenes, you probably will find Odyssey more readable.

 

Poetry: Sappho

Last but definitely not least, my favorite ancient poet. Not very many texts from ancient female writers survive, but fortunately we have fragments from one of the best, Sappho. Ancient philosopher Plato considered Sappho to be the Tenth Muse, which tells you something of how highly the ancients esteemed her. It’s such a misfortune that only fragments of her poems survive, but at least they show us glimpses of Sappho’s genius.