where to start with ancient classics | greek and roman recs

Ancient classics don’t have to be intimidating! These are some of my suggestions for beginners!
#ancientsathon
Books I mentioned:
The Oresteia by Aeschylus
The Odyssey by Homer
The Odes and Epodes of Horace
The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
The Metamorphoses by Ovid
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[@ChristyLuisDostoevskyinSpace]

The Orestia is such a fun place to start! It's just so entertaining

[@fruzsimih7214]

I absolutely love Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex. It's so suspenseful and impactful.

[@MargheritaReads]

I agree with your recommendations! Euripides plays are my personal favourites. I studied greek and latin literature in high school, and from my experience these were the most liked: - Plautus’ comedies. They’re short, easy to read and fun. Surprisingly similar to modern comedies. My favourite is “Pseudolus”. - Catullus. - Plato’s dialogues. They’re not as complicated as some people think they are, and some of them are very short reads.

[@zachreads]

For Beowulf I recommend the translation by Seamus Heaney And for Norse mythology Jackson Crawford is my goto I've read The Poetic Edda and Saga of the Volsungs

[@clarepotter7584]

If you like Robert Brownings's monologues I would recommend the 'Heroides' by Ovid, characters reveal themselves beautifully, great irony.

[@apocalypsereading7117]

finding the right translator is such good advice ~ "i always want to applaud when jokes land thousands of years later" gave me a big smile, never thought of it like that ~ thanks for another informative and enticing vid!

[@TheConsultingReader]

You wearing a txt shirt in one of your previous videos actually got me into checking them out and now really enjoying their music 😊 I studied Latin at school but I haven’t read a whole text in Latin for years and years. I may splurge on a Loeb edition this year to get back into it.

[@jenniferbrooks]

oh wow, i'm so glad you like them! they're so talented. good luck with the loeb edition if you go for it!

[@TheConsultingReader]

@@jenniferbrooks thank you! I’ve become a little obsessed with them, I’m listening to my favourite songs at least once a day now 😄

[@sev-svn]

I have been waiting for this video from you so I'm glad it is here already! I do need to start on these classics this summer ☺️ thank you!

[@tumblyhomecarolinep7121]

Hello, I have fairly recently read these with the exception of Horace, so I have just ordered that one, thank you for the recommendation. I agree about Ovid, I think it is so easy for people like me who are new to ancient classics. The chapters are short and so enjoyable. I also agree about The Iliad, I like that better than the Odyssey too and can’t wait for Emily Wilson’s translation. Her Odyssey was brilliant and made me really laugh in places.. which I think you might enjoy too since you have Odysseus issues like me. Lastly my favourite book I have read in many years is Herodotus.. I read the Tom Holland translation and I was absolutely glued to to it. It is my desert island book.

[@barbarahelgaker390]

Love your videos on the ancient classics, Jennifer and always inspires me to read more! Like anyone described as an interesting dude! Must get to Horace!

[@kristineredmond5196]

Interesting and thorough video, thank you for your valuable content!

[@KellyannMitchell]

Jennifer, to the rescue always!! Thanks for these recs love💕

[@anjakuemski]

I just read Beowulf for Ancientsathon and really enjoyed it. I did try the original but that didn't go well, so I opted for Seamus Heaneys's translation and it was absolutely beautiful. Next I might pick Petronius as a reread, because I just love Trimalchio' Feast.

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

Uh oh, I have Herodotus and Thucydides. 😳 I bought them used so I only spent $4, but I think I'll still read them at some point. haha. I have The Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius, which I don't know is the same book, but I'll read that. I did start going to the library again, but none of my library are ancient classics. Library books become priority for me usually.

[@tsulasbigadventures]

Excellent recommendations. Thank you.

[@WillOrr1]

Excellent recommendations!

[@maryfilippou6667]

Thank you Jennifer for another instructive and fun video! As another fan commented recently, I could listen to you all day. Unfortunately need to work And read!!

[@jenniferbrooks]

thank you, Mary!

[@acchyutjolly]

"Nero and Caligula are fascinating" xD. 100 percent agree. Nothing more fun than reading unhinged dudes in power going absolutely batshit crazy xD

[@mimishimaineko1173]

Great suggestions! I think verisimilitude was the only "truth" rule a non-fiction (historian) writer had to follow back then.🧡

[@ElenaGaunt]

Great video! While studying latin literature, I have found two underrated authors from the Augustan age, called Tibullus and Propertius... I highly highly recommend them if you enjoy love poetry.

[@rebeccaharris4823]

I want to get into ancient classics, but they intimidate me. This helps! Thanks

[@bananabimb0]

I cannot agree more with the note on trying different translators! Honestly some translations stall your progress or interest in a piece. My edition of the Iliad and the odyssey isn’t bad per se, but sometimes I read something and ask myself “why did he translate it like that?” And it kind of pulls me out of the story. (Also leads me to cross referencing other editions to see if it was supposed to sound like that or it was … a choice. That is a personal issue tho)

[@jenniferbrooks]

i also cross reference with different translations all the time!

[@EdwardTheMedievalist]

I like Herodotus and Thucydides.

[@jackgeorge21]

Thanks!

[@jenniferbrooks]

thank you!!

[@Shellyish]

You’re selling me on Horace!

[@starcapture3040]

can you do other cultures from antiquities

[@davidsigler9690]

The "Illiad" is the only book I would change.....all good over-all.....and your explantion why you don't like the Odyssy is my reason; I just find it not as interesting or fun to read as the Illiad.

[@caseydavitt4817]

Okay I gotta be honest with you, I read Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey and then later on I read Robert Fagles’s translation of the Iliad. I totally agree that the Iliad is better than the Odyssey but I just feel like Robert Fagles is such a better translator. I just feel like he was more poetic and descriptive than Wilson. I plan on reading the Fagles’s Odyssey soon.

[@jenniferbrooks]

oh that's interesting! I'm wondering how I'll feel about her.

[@krizzu93]

@@jenniferbrooksI was not a fan of Wilson’s translation at all, as a classicist. She sure knows how to put together pretty words, but it did not feel like Homer at all. I especially disliked the way she decided to translate the epithets; ruined the whole thing for me. I think hers should not be the translation to get yourself acquainted with Homer, but rather should be read when you already have read something better, like the Fagles translation.