Ancient Classics to Read in 2023

[@MarelisaFabrega]

"Caesar was a drama queen", I laughed so hard at that.😁

[@stephenn3727]

You are so enjoyable to listen to! Thank you for all your hard.

[@Read2live]

I LOVE Ovid's Metamorphoses. I'm rereading it now. I have the Penguin Classics edition. I don't know how good it is translation wise because I don't know Latin, but I love the flow. Also, Plutarch is Greek and a favorite writer of mine.

[@christinaalvarez332]

You have inspired me! I'm going to read some Ancient Classics this year! 🥳

[@somebenfen]

I am so ready for a daily penguin style single book review series from you! Also 'city of god' 😳 good luck!

[@unstartedartist]

love your videos

[@arlissbunny]

I predict this will be an amazing year of videos for you with that as your potential reading list! Have you ever thought about doing a buddy read/ discussion with Allen from The Library of Allenxandria? He’s a high school Latin teacher and is extremely enthusiastic during discussions. You are both so thoughtful and articulate about what you read, I think listening to you two talk about an ancient classic would be incredibly fun. Just a thought, of course.

[@jenniferbrooks]

I would LOVE to discuss a book with him. I adore his channel! Maybe I'll reach out to him.

[@lits3212]

This would be fascinating!

[@karenbethstrovas9135]

I am a huge fan of Catullus and Ovid. Looking forward to your reviews.

[@melissahouse1296]

Jenny your uploads last few months 👌💗! *So* inspiring. Your love/ knowledge re ancients (& historical fic) was what got me.. your way of talking about them 😍I've no background but have always been sooo strongly drawn to R& Medieval settings for films stories series’ etc.. & despite issues with The Iliad (Fagel) this really lights me up. W’s Odyssey is top priority along with Ovid & Horace (all on shelf), & single book reviews are my favourite (MDick 🧐💖). The Aeneid *&* Lavinia are lined up also along with The Death Of Virgil (H Broch)😉 & yes ‘honest / hard dnf’s’ are part of the process!! Listening to you is just a joy 🥰😊

[@jenniferbrooks]

The Death of Virgil is also on my list!

[@dansarkozi]

Another interesting video - thanks. My list for the year: - as you like it - the Spanish tragedy - the misanthrope - the country wife - hamlet - the Turkish embassy letters - Gulliver travels - Julie’s Caesar (your old role lol) - pride and prejudice - persuasion - The Readers digest Bible (in the background, don’t expect to finish) - king Lear - Macbeth - paradise lost - Faust 1&2 - bleak house - song of myself - Ramayana - Pindars odes - Aristotle ethics - Herodotus histories - 3 Euripides plays - the poetry repair Manuel I’ve already started the year by completing a book kit on my list 🙈 - essays of Virginia Woolf

[@Shipwrecked_Alien]

The way you talk a about books always gets me excited and makes me want to read them as well. So now I want to ditch all my reading plans for 2023 and just get back into Ancient Classics 😂 I've been meaning to re-read the Odyssey in Emily Wilson's translation for years. The Greek plays can be hit-and-miss for me, but my favourite Ancient Classic is probably The Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus - which I should re-read as well, it has been ages...

[@amyofhearthridge]

This is such a cool project! ♥️

[@officialejprice]

ooo good luck with these this year!! the iliad is on my tbr for this year as well!! loved listenin to you speak about these classics!! good luck :)

[@BL-mf3jp]

I want to read the following books this year: War and Peace The Arabian Nights Volume 1 The Iliad The Divine Comedy The Odyssey The Brothers Karamazov And a book about film techniques

[@angelacraw2907]

All those books look very interesting. I hope you get to your goal. I'm reading Greek mytholgy at the moment, but I haven't read any of the roman writers. You have given me some good suggestions. Thank you.

[@barbarahelgaker390]

What a great idea to put classics on the tbr for 23. hope to join you for some of them, especially the new translations of Homer.

[@robmann400]

The Republic will be a breeze of a read because you’ll be so familiar with so many of its ideas, so much has been borrowed from it. Not having read The Republic at this point for you I would say is like for a decades long 60s pop music enthusiast / scholar not ever having listened to The Beatles’ White Album. Thanks for making videos.

[@jenniferbrooks]

Thank you!!

[@rhaesenya]

thank you for this !! recently got a thrifted copy of I, Claudius and also read Oedipus Rex and I really wanna delve deeper into ancient classics.

[@mattkean1128]

I was going to mention the upcoming Emily Wilson but I see you're on top of things 😄 I have Sarah Ruden's Aeneid to try. Tangent, but there's a great book, Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch, about Virgil's last hours and the Aeneid. It's VERY dense and rich, in stream of consciousness, but full of great moments. Also, Jo Walton's Thessaly trilogy is about the Greek gods pulling people from time to try to create a city based on Plato's Republic. Such a wild premise I want to try this year.

[@melissahouse1296]

Matt.. you're freaking me out lol😆 (in a good way).. I just mentioned TDOVirgil.. & almost mentioned Waltons 'Lent' (historical fantasy- Florence / Savanarola) etc.. after our similarities in yesterdays sprint this made me laugh! Havent actually read either mind u..😅😊

[@mattkean1128]

@@melissahouse1296 lol that's wild!

[@jenniferbrooks]

I'm adding those to my list!

[@patriciatolliver4057]

Patty - I read Josephus when I was in university. I'm a History major so I had to read it for my History of the Jews class. I liked it. Probably will read it again in the future.

[@literaryfireflies5470]

Hi Jennifer thanks for sharing! I have always been intimidated by ancient classics (funnily enough I was a Philosophy major so I guess we just have opposite fears :D), but I was just thinking yesterday that I would love to pick up The Odyssey in the Wilson translation and try it out sometime soon after stalling for at least 2 years. I didn't know her Illiad translation was slated to come out this fall- how exciting! I think between your reading plans and the book launch the stars are aligned for me to finally attempt The Odyssey. Hopefully it goes well and I can continue on with The Illiad not long after! Splendid idea about dedicating an in-depth video to each book. I am sure it's a lot of work though, so if you do decide to do them we appreciate your efforts in advance! Always looking forward to more book content from you regardless of the format :) Happy New Year!

[@clarepotter7584]

I picked up a copy of 'Heroides' when studying 'The Taming of the Shrew' then bought the Oxford World's Classics version of 'Metamorphoses 'and loved it. I chose a classical studies course on the strength of reading that translation. I studied 'Metamorphoses' on the course but the set text was the Penguin Classics translation and I much prefer the Oxford World Classics. There's a lot more metaphor use, which makes it more poetic. So Melville over Raeburn for me. Enjoy! I'd be interested to hear what you think.

[@snowingonolympus8588]

Emily Wilson's Odyssey translation is PHENOMENAL! I'm excited to hear what you think about it, and I'm super excited for her Iliad translation! Catullus is a favorite of mine (got through my final semester of Latin on my Catullus translations), and Tacitus is hard to get on with but he's not the hardest to dive into. Excited for this video series!

[@cheddar322]

I’ve read both the Emily Wilson’s Iliad and the Odyssey and they sure are pretty and sound like YA books. And that’s exactly why I didn’t like them.

[@dqan7372]

So glad you mentioned Plutarch. Dug him out to read and was so disappointed to see it was just Noble Greek lives that I left it on the shelf. I'm hoping this will be the year I read Metamorphoses, though it's not a priority. Also have a trilingual edition of The Illiad that i keep starting and restarting. I too was disappointed with Confessions. City of God is a book I pull off the shelf to read at random; am rarely disappointed. I see I have a bio on Josephus; that's catching my fancy now. I think my dad had The Complete Josephus in giant paperbacks. Afraid they got thrown own out, but will check.

[@novelideea]

I’m so excited to hear your “exegesis” on the ancient classics!! ❤ I have never read the Aeneid in full. Plato intimidates me - hard! Suetonius I have never read. I am loving my time with Plutarch. I read Ovid a few, well, quite a few, years ago. Just Metamorphoses. Really enjoyed it. I should reread it. I read Augustine’s Confessions, and I remember struggling through it, but really appreciating it in the end. I don’t think I have read any of the others you mentioned, but I have always wanted to read Josephus. I might have to see if I can get my hands on something of his.

[@novelideea]

Btw- my Plutarch is Roman /Greek. It is the Dryden translation, a Modern Library Classic edition (imprint of Random House).

[@hannahdaisy6905]

I'm also planning on reading The Odyssey this year but the Fagles translation. I would highly recommend The Aeneid by Shadi Bartsch. I would also day the Senecas, Letters from a Stoic is a favourite of mine. I also really like Lucretius, On the Nature of Things.

[@Lokster71]

I wish someone would put a one book version of Livy rather than spread it across a load of books. Plutarch should get the same treatment too. It might be a chunky bugger. I read 'On Ovid's Metamorphoses' by Gareth Williams recently, which has just come out. I'd decided to put Ovid on my TBR. But 've got a lot of these on my list for this year.

[@faithbooks7906]

This is wonderful, Jennifer! I was thinking to myself that I wanted to do “Ovid in April” this year and really focus on Metamopheses. I have only read snippets here and there. I did not like Confessions and I read it a couple times in the John K. Ryan. Then a couple years ago i got a new translation am in my car so can’t look up who it was) and suddenly it came alive for me! It showed me translations are important! We just concluded a year long city of God read. I would love to read more Plutarch’s Lives and I have never read Josephus but want to. Good luck on your goals. Let me know if you want to focus on Ovid in April!

[@jenniferbrooks]

Let's do Ovid in April, Faith! I think that will be great!

[@faithbooks7906]

Fantastic!

[@lorimiller854]

None of these for me this year, but I will absolutely love to hear you talk about them, especially as deep dives. I'm confident you'll also completely convince me I need to read everything on your list. I love your passion for ancient works. On a side note...did you see that Waterstones has The Cloisters with sprayed edges? Don't know if you are tempted by sprayed edges (hopefully not), but I am. 😭 Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

[@czgibson3086]

Thanks for the video. I like listening to you. My favourite works from the ancient world are the Iliad and the Metamorphoses. Don't worry too much about Plato - he's more literary than most philosophers and compared to the likes of Kant, Hegel or Heidegger he's a much easier read.

[@starcapture3040]

you must be kidding! Plato is the most boring authors in world history if you are not into philosophy reading him is torture but for sure translation play big role. I find roman philosophers far more rich and colorful in their approach. greek philosophers tend to be superdry. if it wasn't for Ibn Rushd philosophy on Aristotle I wouldn't have touched a page. Greek language is not as poetic in its approach like latin or standard arabic of the middle ages were even in translation.

[@czgibson3086]

@@starcapture3040 Well I suppose reading anything that doesn't interest you is going to be dull. Which Roman philosophers do you like?

[@starcapture3040]

@@czgibson3086 No not really. Greek philosophy is known for its less emotional approach since greek language tend to be robotic. Greek poetry is not that all great if you compare it to roman or poetry from older civilizations of Mesopotamia or Egypt. seneca is my favorite. Roman literature with the Mesopaminina one are the best among the best in the ancient world as if the first close with the last. the greek one is in the middle nether totally beautiful or totally not.

[@czgibson3086]

@@starcapture3040 Well we'll have to disagree about that. Is Homer really not all that great? The Romans were enormously influenced by his work and gave him a central position in their education system. But we all like different things I suppose. I'm not familiar at all with Mesopaminina.

[@starcapture3040]

@@czgibson3086 the version of homer that we have is not the original archaic version but the Egyptian one from Alexandria. it is super modified to fit a beautiful structure so extremely well. it is not as original as many think. also its problematic since it glorify all the bloody thirsty characters. the only character I love in it is Hector. it is surlay great over all but not as romantic or emotional in its approach the way the aeneid of virgil on the other hand is. poetically the aeneid is much more superior . the influence of greek culture on roman culture is normale its cycle of civilization just how Mesopotamia and egypt influenced Greece before but what is cool about the Romans they filled what greek culture was always missing which is emotion and cohesion. Mesopotamian literature is the first and most original and many of greek myths came originally from there. read Myths from Mesopotamia oxford edition, the book cover is really cool then read Gilgamesh and enheduanna poetry. you are missing a lot of fun and magic.

[@Clothmom1]

I want to read the Aeneid to prepare for reading The Divine Comedy and I would love to see a video about translations on the Aeneid for beginners.

[@electrocamels6621]

11:43 😭😭😭😂😂

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

I have copies of The Iliad and The Odyssey and The Aeneid but the only one I've been able to get through is The Aeneid. I really liked that book; a lot of the emotions still hit pretty hard, like when Aeneas has to leave Dido. I should probably read more of the ancient classics, but I don't know when that'll be. XD Looks like nifty reading though! :)

[@discipulussimplex]

nice list! also consider Ammianus Marcellinus's excellent Roman History

[@jenniferbrooks]

Oh, I knew there was something I was forgetting! That's definitely on the list.

[@englishenglish8426]

I love you

[@haydenkuhns3993]

Hi, it’s super cool that you’re into history, classics and philosophy, personally I’m a big reader and I wanna get into more classics, history and philosophy. A KZbin channel I’d highly recommend, if you’ve never heard of it, is Robin Waldun. He’s super into literature, philosophy, history, etc, etc. He brings very interesting perspectives on different topics from what he’s read, if you’re interested, give ‘em a shot.

[@KellyQ123]

Is there a certain translation you prefer for Plutarch?

[@apocalypsereading7117]

what's your fourth Ovid? i've read the Metamorphoses, the Heroides, and (most of?) the Tristia, but all of them I've found just phenomenal. i feel like you might especially like the Tristia, since it's great poetry but also an autobiography of his exile but ALSO this tone-switching (that Ovid does so well) from begging to berating Augustus that's just ugh, i

[@jenniferbrooks]

The Heroides is my fourth! The Tristia has been on my list for some time too. With your recommendation, maybe I will go with that one!

[@frankmorlock9134]

Odd, I just read Lucan's Civil War in the Robert Graves translation. I thought it was pretty good, especially for a poet in his twenties. I noticed on Amazon there is a new translation available. Now I'm trying to read Statius' Thebiad, which I think is better than Lucan but I got stuck after completing Book II. Has anyone read the Dionysiaca of Nonnus ? I want to read it but it's long and hard to get an English translation. Anyway, a good list, Jennifer but I think you ought to include Quintus Smyrnaeus The Trojan War. I liked it much better than I liked the Odyssey even though it was written in Roman times. No Plautus ? No Terence ? No Juvenal. ? But you cannot read everything in 6 months. I hope you have a good New Year.

[@starcapture3040]

Why Nothing from Mesopotamia or egypt? also not true the genre of biography was created in egypt

[@rhaesenya]

do you have book recs from those places? I'd like to add them to my reading list if you will.

[@starcapture3040]

@@rhaesenya Oh for sure! for none faction I recently read these and all of them got big prise from big Historians. Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East by Amanda Podany. The Very First Ghosts and Noah before the flood by Irving Finkel. Bettany hughes - Aphrodite and venus, the book explains their origin in mesopotamia and how the greeks adopted them. a World Beneath The Sands by Toby Wilkinson along with the Story of Egypt by Johanne fletcher. Kara cooney the woman who would be king is also very good, Egypt's Golden Couple by Colleen Darnell. other than the story of egypt majority of them you can get through them without priers advanced basic knowledge. on Mythology Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell is a must. Myths from Mesopotamia Oxford World's Classics. the egyptian by mika waltari is great re telling of an original ancient egyption historical faction, it still mika waltari most famous retelling. Check history with Cy and fall of civilization channels on youtube for more visual understanding of these such old cultures. DW history and let talk about religion channels are also good places for more knowledge.

[@flipgsp]

Because she likes Greece and Rome. It's not a mystery. Did you really need to ask that? 😂

[@starcapture3040]

@@flipgsp yeah she need to read some older stuff too