Author Topic: Nominations for our next Classics books discussion (Read 92831 times)

BooksAdmin · « **on:** July 19, 2011, 10:02:02 AM »

We've completed Homer's Odyssey and now need nominations for the next Classics book that we'll read together.

Please give us your nomination!

Frybabe · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2011, 10:32:35 AM »

Suetonius - The Twelve Caesars

or

The only complete Latin novel to survive, The Golden Ass - Lucius Apuleius

JoanR · « **Reply #2 on:** July 19, 2011, 05:48:30 PM »

I would like to suggest "Antigone" by Sophocles. It is, I think, mainly about the conflict between man-made law and what an individual believes to be divine law.

Another suggestion would be "The Aeneid" which might logically follow the Odyssey being set after the fall of Troy.

A lot of choices out there!!!!!!!!!!! All good!

kidsal · « **Reply #3 on:** July 20, 2011, 05:54:38 AM »

Suggest:

Epic of Gilgamesh

The Shahnamek: The Persian Book of Kings

JudeS · « **Reply #4 on:** July 20, 2011, 03:49:22 PM »

I would like to try the Aenid if there is a brave soul to lead it. The blurb on my book says that it is the Roman answer to Homer.

If you all want something lighter and much , much shorter how about Lysistrata by Aristophanes. I saw the play many , many years ago but never read it. It's about women who wish to stop the Pelopennisian wars and organize . They refuse to have sex with their husbands till peace is negotiated.

JoanK · « **Reply #5 on:** July 21, 2011, 03:26:48 PM »

WELCOME to our new site. Anyone who didn't get their last thoughts in can put them here. As well as your suggestions.

Someone in the other site had suggested "Plutarch's Lives". Who was it?

straudetwo · « **Reply #6 on:** July 21, 2011, 05:58:23 PM »

JoanK, if I'm not mistaken, it was Mippy.
I remember seconding the idea at the time.

roshanarose · « **Reply #7 on:** July 21, 2011, 08:21:21 PM »

I agree with all the abovementioned choices. Probably prefer Suetonius over the others though. Plutarch has both Roman and Greek lives. My choice would be obvious there.

Plutarch's best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving Lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek Life and one Roman Life, as well as four unpaired single Lives.

Babi · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2011, 08:32:46 AM »

I brought up Plutarch this time around, though someone else did initially in our
first book selection. Several other good suggestions here, though some might be
difficult to find, and one I've never even heard of. "Shahmanek; The Persian Book
of Kings". I suspect that one might be difficult to find.

PatH · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2011, 06:46:48 PM »

What happened to all the classics we voted on last time? We ought to feed them in here, or at least the ones that got a lot of votes.

kidsal · « **Reply #10 on:** July 23, 2011, 04:30:19 AM »

Shahnamek: The Persion Book of Kings may be purchased from Amazon. $395 or $13 for the paperback.
Composed more than a thousand years ago, this national epic of Persia tells the story of Iran from the first "lord of the world," Kayumars, through the seventh-century Arab/Islamic conquest of the Sassanid dynasty. With a foreword by Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, and illustrated with Persian lithographs, Davis's translation of this epic poem is an accessible combination of poetry and prose.

This immense volume translates into clear, accessible prose the bedrock work of Iranian literature. Compiled and cast into verse by a tenth-century bard, Shahnameh contains the stories of the kings of ancient Iran before Islam overwhelmed the land in the seventh century. The first half deals primarily with mythical and semimythical figures, chief among them the great hero Rostam, while the latter half, beginning with the conquest of Sekandar--that is, Alexander the Great--records historical persons and events. In the concise, informative introduction, Davis calls attention to the entire book's recurrent themes of father-son conflict and contrast between kings and heroes, the latter of whom are nobler in character than the former; indeed, so noble that they invariably decline the throne when it is proffered to them. Davis encourages viewing both themes as reflections of a detached and critical attitude toward formal power and markers of a humane spirit that has allowed the epic to persist as the supreme classic of its nation.

Some of the stories are here: http://classics.mit.edu/Ferdowsi/kings.html

I would also like to try Aeneid as it has been gathering dust on my bookshelf for years.

kidsal · « **Reply #11 on:** July 23, 2011, 05:10:19 AM »

Found these nominations in Odyssey discussion (#160)

The Odyssey

The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Plutarch (c.46 A.D.- c. 120 A.D.)

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Antigone

Sophocles (c.496-406/5 B.C.)

The Aeneid

Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass)

Apuleius (c. 155 A.D.)

Poetics

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Aesop's Fables

Aesop (c. 550 B.C.)

On Old Age

Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

Metamorphoses

Ovid (43 B.C.- 18 A.D.)

Babi · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2011, 08:58:47 AM »

Your review of 'The Persian Book of Kings' is intriguing, KIDSAL, tho' I confess I find "immense
volume" a bit daunting. I do hope you left a '0' of the end of that book price. It's not really
$395. is it?
Thanks for digging out that list of previous nominations. That's a good long list to work from
as it is.

JoanK · « **Reply #13 on:** July 23, 2011, 07:18:12 PM »

Working on the list. Bear with me.

The Odyssey DONE

The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Plutarch (c.46 A.D.- c. 120 A.D.)

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

"Antigone" Sophocles (c.496-406/5 B.C.)

"The Twelve Caesars" Suetonius

"Lysistrata" Aristophanes

"The Golden Ass" - Lucius Apuleius

"The Persian Book of Kings" Shahnamek

Epic of Gilgamesh

"The Aeneid"

"Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass)" Apuleius (c. 155 A.D.)

"Poetics" Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

"Aesop's Fables" Aesop (c. 550 B.C.)

"On Old Age" Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

"Metamorphoses" Ovid (43 B.C.- 18 A.D.)

JoanK · « **Reply #14 on:** July 23, 2011, 07:31:55 PM »

The list above is a mess, but I'm afraid to work on it when the site is squerrelly for fear of losing it. Better later.

JoanK · « **Reply #15 on:** July 23, 2011, 07:36:23 PM »

The Odyssey DONE

The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Plutarch (c.46 A.D.- c. 120 A.D.)

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

"Antigone" Sophocles (c.496-406/5 B.C.)

"The Twelve Caesars" Suetonius

"Lysistrata" Aristophanes

"The Golden Ass" - Lucius Apuleius

"The Aeneid" Virgil

"Poetics" Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

"Aesop's Fables" Aesop (c. 550 B.C.)

"On Old Age" Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

"Metamorphoses" Ovid (43 B.C.- 18 A.D.)

"The Persian Book of Kings" Shahnamek

Epic of Gilgamesh

kidsal · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2011, 04:44:16 AM »

Yes, that is $395.00

Babi · « **Reply #17 on:** July 24, 2011, 08:28:43 AM »

MERCY!!

Anyone who bought that book must want it badly.

JoanK · « **Reply #18 on:** July 24, 2011, 03:10:24 PM »

Lets wait til Ginny gets back August first to actually vote. She may have some suggestions. In the meantime, what do you think of our list above?

JudeS · « **Reply #19 on:** July 24, 2011, 04:08:51 PM »

Joan K
What do I think of that list?
Well it looks like a syllabus for a degree in Ancient Lit. from a good Univ.
That might be a BA,MA, and possibly a Doctorate if we choose to dwell too long on one of the cultures surrounding one of the titles.
Then of course there would probably be Greek, Latin and now Arabic(or is it Persian) language classes.
So, yes, it is a fine and all encompassing list.

Frybabe · « **Reply #20 on:** July 24, 2011, 05:32:10 PM »

It took us very little time indeed to come up with this longish list. And, of course, there are sooooo many more waiting. I think what we have is just fine.

Gumtree · « **Reply #21 on:** July 25, 2011, 06:14:46 AM »

Great List - but it's going to be hard to choose the next read.

Babi · « **Reply #22 on:** July 25, 2011, 08:37:23 AM »

Isn't Farsi the primary language in Iran? It's sounds so exotic. It's certainly not one of the
more common foreign languages that Americans decide to learn.

JoanK · « **Reply #23 on:** July 25, 2011, 07:34:45 PM »

Farsi is certainly spoken there. I don't know if it's the primary language or not.

Yes, the list looks pretty good. but if anyone thinks of others, please speak up! We have Latin classes, we used to have a Greek class, but no Farsi.

JoanK · « **Reply #24 on:** July 25, 2011, 07:45:25 PM »

Do you often wonder where clearly Latin words come from. here's one from "The Story of civilization."

" Syphilis, in ancient mythology was a shepherd who decided to worship not the gods, whom he could not see, but the king, the only visible lord of the flock; whereupon angry Apollo infected the air with noxious vapors, from which Syphilis contracted a disease'"

kidsal · « **Reply #25 on:** July 26, 2011, 06:10:58 AM »

I bought a Rosetta Stone Arabic years ago -- gathering dust on my bookshelf. Have a keyboard program for it but it is extremely difficult to read Arabic.

JoanK · « **Reply #26 on:** July 27, 2011, 03:19:35 PM »

I think it was ROSE who posted in the library a list of 1001 books you have to read before you die. Homer wasn't on the list, and some decidedly mediocre modern books were. GRR

roshanarose · « **Reply #27 on:** July 27, 2011, 11:09:51 PM »

Yes. I own up. I was a bit disappointed too. Maybe the list was put together by "Many Dead White Unknown Under Graduates".

If you struggle understanding the little bits of Greek that some of us added to The Odyssey topic, you will most certainly not want to see any Farsi turn up.

Babi · « **Reply #28 on:** July 28, 2011, 09:38:54 AM »

So true!

JoanK · « **Reply #29 on:** July 28, 2011, 02:22:49 PM »

ROSE: "Many Dead White Unknown Undergraduates"? Hilarious.

Frybabe · « **Reply #30 on:** July 29, 2011, 05:40:55 PM »

Ah, all the posts were moved so we don't have to relist our nominations. Thanks.

JoanK · « **Reply #31 on:** July 29, 2011, 07:50:37 PM »

My thought is that we should vote in August, after Guinny is back. If "The Aeneid" were to be chosen, I would want to have Ginny as a leader, but she can't do it due to her heavy Latin commitment. So I suggest, if it is chosen, we read our second choice in the Fall, hoping to persuade Ginny to do "The Aeneid" next Summer.

ginny put a farewell message in the old site, if you want to read it. It will be archived ina few days.

kidsal · « **Reply #32 on:** July 30, 2011, 05:59:46 AM »

Found on a shelf -- bought them about 50 years ago:
Euripides Plays: Alcestis, The Medea, The Heracleidae, Hippoytus, The Cyclops and Heracles, Iphigenia in Tauris, and Helen

Most translated by Latimore.

Babi · « **Reply #33 on:** July 30, 2011, 09:16:23 AM »

I agree, JOAN. If I'm going to tackle the Aeneid, I would definitely want GINNY's
terrific input. Trying some of the plays sounds like it would be fun for summer reading.

ginny · « **Reply #34 on:** August 07, 2011, 07:05:21 PM »

I'm back and excited about the slate I see here. I appreciate the kind words and I am so excited to be able to announce that Joan K and PatH, our Dynamic Duo (did you know they are twins?) will lead the way for our next Classics Read in October!

So we have to get cracking with the vote!

Are there any others that need to be added? Do you want to discuss any particular ones?

Now a couple of these are not Greek or Roman, do you want to leave them in or branch out in that way?

Of all the worthy titles here I sure would love to read some Plutarch. He's Greek but he wrote about the Noble Lives of the Greeks and Romans. He's good. He's interesting. Shakespeare certainly read him. We'd need to choose the subject carefully but I have always wanted to read Plutarch in company, there's nobody quite like him. I suggest the Death of Pompey and Antony and Cleopatra.

But really any one of the candidates would be wonderful. We'll need all hands on deck with lots of background information to bring to the table.

I guess we need to decide if we leave the list as JoanK has put it or add the others to it?

She has:

The Odyssey DONE

The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Plutarch (c.46 A.D.- c. 120 A.D.)

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

"Antigone" Sophocles (c.496-406/5 B.C.)

"The Twelve Caesars" Suetonius

"Lysistrata" Aristophanes

"The Golden Ass" - Lucius Apuleius

"The Persian Book of Kings" Shahnamek

Epic of Gilgamesh

"The Aeneid"

"Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass)" Apuleius (c. 155 A.D.)

"Poetics" Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

"Aesop's Fables" Aesop (c. 550 B.C.)

"On Old Age" Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

"Metamorphoses" Ovid (43 B.C.- 18 A.D.)

Sally has added:

Euripides Plays: Alcestis, The Medea, The Heracleidae, Hippoytus, The Cyclops and Heracles, Iphigenia in Tauris, and Helen

Do we need to add any more candidates or winnow the list down? Or vote?

I am so glad to see this important addition to our schedule take on a life of it's own and continue, congratters to you all!

JoanK · « **Reply #35 on:** August 07, 2011, 09:27:25 PM »

Our Athena is back! How are your siolver sandels holding up?

Sally: do you want to pick a play of Euripides? Or several?

After that, I suggest that anyone who wants to describe their selection should do so: it's been a long time since we made some of these suggestions. I'm completely unfamiliar with some of them.

Then we could start the voting by voting for three. And have a run-off among the top vote-getters.

JoanK · « **Reply #36 on:** August 07, 2011, 09:41:52 PM »

First on the list: Plutarch. Ginny suggests The Death of Pompaeii and Anthony and Cleopatra. Anyone have any comment, or want a different selection?

"Antigone" by Sophocles is next on the list. I might have suggested it. it's a play: we know the story: she's Aggamemnon's daughter. I just remember that I read it 30 years ago, and it blew me away. But if we're reading Sophocles, maybe we should read more than one play. Whaty do you all think?

kidsal · « **Reply #37 on:** August 08, 2011, 03:33:12 AM »

Euripides plays: Iphigenia in Tauris (romantic comedy) and Alcestis (a tragicomedy)

Babi · « **Reply #38 on:** August 08, 2011, 08:37:12 AM »

I think I'm in the mood for plays. A couple by both Sophocles and Euripides
would be fun. And I'd feel so intellectual. I would like to get to Plutarch at some
point, though my copy is quite old. This edition just names the individual; ie, Pompey, Anthony. (No Cleopatra in the title though doubtless she must appear
in the account.) Actually, I'm sort of interested in the first, Themistocles, and
the last, Artaxerxes. After all, we do know quite a bit about Anthony and Pompey.

JoanR · « **Reply #39 on:** August 08, 2011, 10:35:13 AM »

As I recall, Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus so probably doomed from birth. Her great conflict is between the law of the king and the law of religious convention about the burial of the dead - in this case, her brother. Huge tragedy ensues. The play does raise interesting questions. It's an awful heartbreaker though!
I did nominate it but I would be happy with Plutarch too since I haven't read him and understand that it's a "good read"!

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Author Topic: Nominations for our next Classics books discussion (Read 92831 times)