Classical Authors Directory

Classical Authors Directory Classical Literature in English Translation | Index of Classical Authors Genres and Literary Terminology: Philosophy | Epic | Epigrams | Old Comedy | Roman Drama | Satire | Epistle | Terminology for Tragedy | Tragedy | Meter in Greek and Latin Poetry At some point in our prehistory people started telling stories to one another. Later, stories were composed in forms that others could repeat. Story-telling is easy to envision as the origin of some forms of literature, especially bardic ballads, novels, and plays. Even philosophy is an attempt to explain a story or truth about the world. Here is a quick look at how the genres of Greek and Latin literature evolved and many of the major contributors to the genres at least those whose works survive.After a quick review of the genres youll find an alphabetical list of the Greek and then the Roman writers. Philosophy Ancient thinkers wrote verse about what they observed in nature. Did that make them scientists? poets? Yes, but they are generally referred to as Presocratic Philosophers. Many aspects of culture were still without distinct form at this time, which was during the Archaic Age of Ancient Greece. Drama / Plays The origin of drama is mired in legend, but to the best of our information, drama seems to have arisen as part of religious worship. Today we divide plays into the categories of comedy and tragedy. TragedyThe word tragedy appears to come from the words for goat and song or ode.ChorusThe first element in Greek tragedy was the chorus, which danced and sang poetry created by the dramatist at the religious festivals.ActorsActors came later, with the great tragedians.ComedyComedy seems to have come from phallic processions followed by sacrifices, but we dont know. Its etymology appears to come from komos (connected with revels), plus the word for song. Poetry Epic PoetryThe man​ who is  credited with creating the epics we know of as the Iliad and Odyssey, (whom we refer to as Homer) was a rhapsode, a person who accompanied his improvised performances with a musical instrument. Epic poetry came to be distinguished by its distinct (epic) meter.Lyric PoetryLyric poetry, developed according to legend, by Terpander, was poetry accompanied by a lyre.EpigramsEpigrams were composed for funerals. It was an epigrammatist, Mimnermus of Smyrna, who is credited with developing the elegiac meter that was used for love poetry (elegies). Prose HistoryHistory, as developed by Herodotus, was a (prose) story about whatever Herodotus set his inquiring mind to.Ancient Historians TimelineSatireIn ancient Rome, satire was a recognized and somewhat defined literary verse genre. It was the only genre the Romans claimed as their own invention. Some early novels fell within the genre of (Menippean) satire.Epistle (main Roman writers)Epistles are linked with Satire, as in the work of Horace, but some epistle writers used the letter for for actual correspondence, so the style is quite varied. Here you will find some resources on this site related to Classical writers and the genres of Classical literature, specifically, timelines of the major Greek and Roman authors, articles about the writers and their genres that are on this site, and links to some of their writing, mostly in English. Timelines Latin WritersEarly Greek PoetsAncient Historians Women Writers Enheduanna (An Akkadian) | Korinna | Moero | Nossis | Sappho | Sulpicia Greek and Roman Writers of Drama - Comedy and Tragedy Aristophanes | Aeschylus | Euripides | Plautus | Seneca | Sophocles | Terence Roman Satire Verse Satire: Ennius | Horace | Juvenal | Persius | Petronius Satire Timeline | Atellan Farce | Fescennine Verse | Menippean Satire Classical Greek and Roman Writers ...and some of their works  mostly translated into English Greek Classical Writers A Aeschylus | Aeschylus Plays in English | Aeschylus ResourcesAesop Biography | Fables of AesopAlcaeusAnacreonAnyteArchilochusAristophanes | About the Individual Plays of Aristophanes | Aristophanes Plays in EnglishAristotle | Aristotle Texts in English B Bacchylides D Demosthenes | Demosthenes in EnglishDio (Cassius Dio) E Euripides | Euripides in English H HecataeusHerodotus | Herodotus in EnglishHesiod | Hesiod in EnglishHippocrates | Hippocrates in EnglishHomer | Homer in English I Isocrates in English K Korinna L Lysias | Lysias in English M Moero N Nossis P PindarPlato | Plato in EnglishPresocratic PhilosophersPlutarch | Plutarch in English S SapphoSemonides of AmorgasSophocles | Tragedies of Sophocles in EnglishStrabo in English T TerpanderThalesTheognisTheophrastusThucydides | Thucydides in English translation Xenophon | Xenophon in English Z Roman Classical Writers (Latin) Also see: A History of Roman Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius, by Charles Thomas Cruttwell (1877) A Abelard - Text in LatinAlcuin Texts in LatinAmmianus Marcellinus Texts in LatinApuleius | Apuleius in EnglishAurelius, Marcus | Texts in EnglishAurelius Victor Texts in Latin B Bede English translation of LatinBoethius - Text in Latin and Translation into English C Caesar Civil and Gallic Wars in EnglishCassiodorus - Text in EnglishCato | Cato in EnglishCatullus​Cicero | Cicero texts in LatinClaudian in Latin D Donatus E Ennius | Ennius in LatinEpictetus | Epictetus in English H Horace | Horace in English J Julian | Julian in EnglishJuvenal L Livius Andronicus | LivyLucan | Lucan in English M Martial N Naevius O Ovid P Pacuvius | PersiusPetronius | Petronius in EnglishPlautusPliny the Elder | Pliny in EnglishPliny the Younger | Pliny in EnglishPropertius Q Quintilian S SallustSenecaStatiusSulpicia T Tacitus | Tacitus in EnglishTertullianTibullus V VarroVelleius PaterculusVergil (Virgil) | Vergil in English See: Online Texts in English Translation(Index of Authors and Translated E-texts)