The Norton Book of Classical Literature

by Bernard Knox (Editor)

Preface
Introduction
Greece
Homer
Hesiod
The archaic lyric & iambus
Archilochus (7th century B.C.)
Tyrtaeus (7th century B.C.)
Alcman (late 7th century B.C.)
Hipponax (middle 6th century B.C.)
Alcaeus (late 7th century-middle 6th century B.C.)
Sappho (a contemporary of Alcaeus)
Xenophanes (570-early 5th century B.C.)
Mimnermus (2nd half of 7th century B.C.)
Theognis (6th century B.C.)
Solon (c.640-after 561 B.C.)
Anacreon (c.570-?B.C.)
Ibycus (6th century B.C.)
Simonides (556-468 B.C.)
Pindar (518-after 446 B.C.)
Bacchylides (6th-5th centuries B.C.)
Praxilla (5th century B.C.)
Herodotus (490-c.425 B.C.)
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.)
Thucydides (middle 5th century-399 B.C.?)
Sophocles (496-406/5 B.C.)
Euripides (485-406 B.C.)
Aristophanes (455?-c.385 B.C.)
Plato (427-341 B.C.)
Menander (342-c.292 B.C.)
Theophrastus (c.370-287 B.C.)
Callimachus (c.310-240 B.C.)
Apollonius Rhodius (c.295-215 B.C.)
Theocritus (1st half of 3rd century B.C.)
Herodas (c. 300-250 B.C.)
Erinna (4th century B.C.?)
From the Greek anthology
Anonymous
Plato
Anyte (early 4th century B.C.?)
Antipater of Sidon (2nd century B.C.)
Diotimos
Nikarchos
Asclepiades of Samos (c.320-?B.C.)
Leonidas of Tarentum (1st half of 3rd century B.C.)
Alexander Aetolus
Dioskorides
Meleager (c.100 B.C.)
Glaukos
Anonymous
Philodemos
Krinagoras
Automedon
Anonymous
Erucius
Antipater of Salonica (1st century B.C.-1st Century A.D.?)
Marcus Argentarius (1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.?)
Pompeius
Lucilius
Nikarchos
Paulus Silentiarius (6th century A.D.)
Lucretius (98-c.55 B.C.)
Catullus (c.84-c.54 B.C.)
Horace (65-8 B.C.)
Virgil (70-19 B.C.)
Livy (59 B.C.-A.D.17)
Propertius (c.50 B.C.-after 16 B.C.)
Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 17)
Tacitus (A.D. 56/7after 117)
Petronius Arbiter (?-A.D. 65)
Juvenal (55?-138?)
Marcus Aurelius (121-180; Emperor, 161-180)
Aurelius Augustinus (St Augustine (354-530)
For futher reading
Permissions
Index

Genres: Classics, Literature, Anthologies, Fiction, Reference, Poetry, Philosophy

866 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 1993

About the author

Bernard MacGregor Walker Knox (Ph.D., Classics, Yale University; M.A. Harvard University; B.A., St. Johns College Cambridge, 1936) was a classicist, author, and critic. He taught at Yale until 1961, when he moved on to become the first director of Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC. He was the editor of The Norton Book of Classical Literature and wrote the introductions and notes for Robert Fagles’s translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

In 1939 he married American novelist Betty Baur, who wrote under the name Bianca van Orden. He served in the United States Army during World War II, making his way from private to captain between 1942 and 1945 in the European Theatre, and was awarded a Croix de Guerre a l'Ordre de l'Armée for parachuting behind Allied lines in Brittany to arm and organize French Resistance forces. Knox additional was the recipient of the 1977 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, 1977 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism (1990), and the Charles Frankel Prize from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1990).

Reviews

[Charles]

I'm reading almost all of this book. Good book for selections, and quite good translations. I particularly like the snippets from less well known classical authors, such as Tyrtarus, Alcman, Hipponax, Alcaeus, Xenophanes, and more.

[Thomas George Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the Greek and Roman poets and dramatists featured in this book, I concentrated on a few: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Plato. Aeschylus is my favorite; only because, I suppose, he was a particular favorite of the late Bobby Kennedy. From "The Seven Against Thebes" is about the fall of the city. The play was written in 467 BC; the story dealt with the family of Oedipus. A fascinating play, and I enjoyed reading it. Plato was a young aristocrat, and an admirer of Socrates. Plato's "The Apology" which is a Greek phrase, "a speech for the defense." This play is about Socrates trial for impiety and subsequent execution. It, too, was an excellent read. Sophocles lived between 496-406 B.C. Of of the Greek poets, he is regarded the most admired and successful. His "Antigone" was a success at its premier, and is still regarded as one of the finest plays written. A particular favorite of mine.

[Sam Sigelakis-Minski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very comprehensive and helpful book on Classical Literature. I wish they were able to fit ore full-length plays, but it is understandable that they are not included.

[Francisco Colon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to the Classical cultures.

[robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable book, beautifully compiled.

As a critic says on the back cover, "I know of no anthology of classic literature as exciting as this one."

Bernard Knox finished this book at the age of 79 in 1993. There has been no new edition and it's out of print because Norton has replaced it with a compilation of World Literature. I glanced at the index and most of Knox's selections for this book seem to be missing from that one. So I'm really glad that I picked this up at the Forest Park Mall when a gigantic abandoned department store had been temporarily converted into endless tables piled with books. It's as exciting as promised. I had no idea that Classical Literature could still sing and that I could feel transported thousands of years into the past.

My only reservation is this:

"Go tell the Spartans, though who passest by;
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie."

The translation of the above in this collection is horrible. Are there other times in this collection when I am missing the essence of a great writer due to inadequacies of translation?

[Calvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

just a wealth of historical literature, and well worth reading for the work as much as the history.

[LInda L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is just too much in one book == interesting, but HUGE.

[Walt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved re-reading"Tthe Classics".