A Student's Guide to Classics / Edition 1

by Bruce S. Thornton

Overview

To even the most highly educated among us, the names of classical authors are often just that—names.

If you want a better acquaintance with the Greek and Latin thinkers whose work served for millennia as the foundation of our civilization, this crisp, lively, and informative guide is the place to start.

Bruce Thornton introduces you to the major poets, dramatists, prose stylists, and historians of ancient Greece and Rome, ranging from Homer, Aeschylus, and Thucydides to Virgil, Plutarch, and Herodotus. Including short bios and a list of suggested readings, Thornton’s guide is unparalleled as a brief introduction to the literature of the classical world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932236156
Publisher:	Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date:	12/10/2003
Series:	Guides to Major Disciplines
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Bruce S. Thornton writes widely on the discipline of classics and issues in contemporary culture. His books include Eros: The Myth of Ancient Greek Sexuality, Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization, and Decline and Fall: Europe’s Slow Motion Suicide. He is Professor of Classics and Humanities in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at California State University, Fresno.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	What is Classics?	2
	Epic	11
	Poetry	21
	Drama	42
	Prose Fiction	53
	Literary Criticism	56
	Oratory and Rhetoric	59
	Letters	63
	Biography	66
	History	71
	The Classical Heritage	78
	Further Reading	80
	Greek Literature	82
	Roman Literature	84
	Notes	87
	Student Self-Reliance Project: Embarking on a Lifelong Pursuit of Knowledge?	91