Ancient & Classical in Literary Theory & Criticism & Fiction & Literature eBooks

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea

Journeys Through Ancient Literature

by Emily Wilson ...

**"An enthralling and profoundly relevant book." —Salman Rushdie"I adored reading these joyful, illuminating, and engrossing journeys through ancient literature." —Madeline MillerMost Anticipated Books of Fall: Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus ReviewsFrom the most celebrated translator of our time comes a visionary exploration of how translation reshapes and enriches our understanding of the ... Read more

$13.69 USD

**"An enthralling and profoundly relevant book." —Salman Rushdie"I adored reading these joyful, illuminating, and engrossing journeys through ancient literature." —Madeline MillerMost Anticipated Books of Fall: Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus ReviewsFrom the most celebrated translator of our time comes a visionary exploration of how translation reshapes and enriches our understanding of the
... Read more
Poetics

by Aristotle ...

One of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in Western literary historyIn his near-contemporary account of classical Greek tragedy, Aristotle examines the dramatic elements of plot, character, language and spectacle that combine to produce pity and fear in the audience, and asks why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. Taking examples from the plays ... Read more

$10.69 USD

One of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in Western literary historyIn his near-contemporary account of classical Greek tragedy, Aristotle examines the dramatic elements of plot, character, language and spectacle that combine to produce pity and fear in the audience, and asks why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. Taking examples from the plays
... Read more
Beneath the Moon

Fairy Tales, Myths, and Divine Stories from Around the World

by Yoshi Yoshitani ...

Powerful and universal retellings of seventy-eight divine stories, legends, and myths from around the world, each accompanied by a gorgeous illustration from acclaimed artist Yoshi Yoshitani.Many of the lessons we learn are shared stories passed among cultures and generations. In this riveting collection of fables and folktales from cultures across the globe, characters from beloved fairytales, ... Read more

$5.99 USD

Powerful and universal retellings of seventy-eight divine stories, legends, and myths from around the world, each accompanied by a gorgeous illustration from acclaimed artist Yoshi Yoshitani.Many of the lessons we learn are shared stories passed among cultures and generations. In this riveting collection of fables and folktales from cultures across the globe, characters from beloved fairytales,
... Read more
The Power of Myth

by Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers ...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An extraordinary book that reveals how the themes and symbols of ancient narratives continue to bring meaning to birth, death, love, and war.“Campbell has become the rarest of intellectuals in American life: a serious thinker who has been embraced by the popular culture.”—NewsweekThe Power of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his ... Read more

$9.99 USD

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An extraordinary book that reveals how the themes and symbols of ancient narratives continue to bring meaning to birth, death, love, and war.“Campbell has become the rarest of intellectuals in American life: a serious thinker who has been embraced by the popular culture.”—NewsweekThe Power of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his
... Read more
Hearing Homer's Song

The Brief Life and Big Idea of Milman Parry

by Robert Kanigel ...

ROBERT KANIGEL is the author of eight previous books, most recently Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs. He has received many awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship and an NEH "Public Scholar" grant. His book The Man Who Knew Infinity was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; it has been translated into more than a dozen languages, ... Read more

$7.99 USD

ROBERT KANIGEL is the author of eight previous books, most recently Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs. He has received many awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship and an NEH "Public Scholar" grant. His book The Man Who Knew Infinity was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; it has been translated into more than a dozen languages,
... Read more
Talking Classics

The Shock of the Old

by Mary Beard ...

The incomparable Mary Beard is back, and she’s talking all things classics.Why the ongoing fascination with the ancient world? This witty, approachable book asks why—for better or (sometimes) worse—antiquity continues to exert such a powerful hold on the contemporary imagination. Recalling a formative childhood encounter with a four-thousand-year-old piece of bread in a museum, Beard introduces ... Read more

$10.79 USD

The incomparable Mary Beard is back, and she’s talking all things classics.Why the ongoing fascination with the ancient world? This witty, approachable book asks why—for better or (sometimes) worse—antiquity continues to exert such a powerful hold on the contemporary imagination. Recalling a formative childhood encounter with a four-thousand-year-old piece of bread in a museum, Beard introduces
... Read more
Dionysos

Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life (Archetypal Images in Greek Religion, Volume 2)

by Carl Kerényi ...

Translated by Ralph Manheim ...

Series series Bollingen Recollections
A landmark account of the Dionysos myth as an archetypal expression of indestructible lifeNo other god of the Greeks is as widely present in the monuments and ritual practices of antiquity as Dionysos. In this book, acclaimed mythologist and historian of religion Carl Kerényi presents an engaging history of the religion of Dionysos from its beginnings in the Minoan culture to its transition to a ... Read more

$28.79 USD

A landmark account of the Dionysos myth as an archetypal expression of indestructible lifeNo other god of the Greeks is as widely present in the monuments and ritual practices of antiquity as Dionysos. In this book, acclaimed mythologist and historian of religion Carl Kerényi presents an engaging history of the religion of Dionysos from its beginnings in the Minoan culture to its transition to a
... Read more
Courting the Wild Twin

by Martin Shaw ...

"Fabulous."—Dan Richards, author of Holloway"Terrifically strange and thrilling."—Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley"A modern-day bard."—Madeline Miller, author of CirceThis is a book of literary activism – an antidote to the shallow thinking that typifies our age.In Courting the Wild Twin, acclaimed scholar,... ... Read more

$14.99 USD

"Fabulous."—Dan Richards, author of Holloway"Terrifically strange and thrilling."—Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley"A modern-day bard."—Madeline Miller, author of CirceThis is a book of literary activism – an antidote to the shallow thinking that typifies our age.In Courting the Wild Twin, acclaimed scholar,...
... Read more
The Oresteia

Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides

by Aeschylus, Robert Fagles, W. B. Stanford ...

Translated by Robert Fagles ...

One of the founding documents of Western culture and the only surviving ancient Greek trilogy, the Oresteia of Aeschylus is one of the great tragedies of all time.In the Oresteia, Aeschylus addressed the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit ... Read more

Was $12.99 USD Now $8.99 USD

One of the founding documents of Western culture and the only surviving ancient Greek trilogy, the Oresteia of Aeschylus is one of the great tragedies of all time.In the Oresteia, Aeschylus addressed the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit
... Read more
The White Goddess

A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth

by Robert Graves ...

Series series FSG Classics
The White Goddess is perhaps the finest of Robert Graves's works on the psychological and mythological sources of poetry. In this tapestry of poetic and religious scholarship, Graves explores the stories behind the earliest of European deities—the White Goddess of Birth, Love, and Death—who was worshipped under countless titles. He also uncovers the obscure and mysterious power of "pure poetry" ... Read more

$12.99 USD

The White Goddess is perhaps the finest of Robert Graves's works on the psychological and mythological sources of poetry. In this tapestry of poetic and religious scholarship, Graves explores the stories behind the earliest of European deities—the White Goddess of Birth, Love, and Death—who was worshipped under countless titles. He also uncovers the obscure and mysterious power of "pure poetry"
... Read more
Mythology

by Edith Hamilton, Aphrodite Trust, Apollo Trust ...

Discover timeless tales of gods and heroes in this bestselling book detailing classic Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends—featuring beautiful illustrations throughout.Edith Hamilton’s Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the myths that are the keystone of Western culture—the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from ... Read more

$9.99 USD

Discover timeless tales of gods and heroes in this bestselling book detailing classic Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends—featuring beautiful illustrations throughout.Edith Hamilton’s Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the myths that are the keystone of Western culture—the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from
... Read more
Old Norse Mythology

by John Lindow ...

Series series World Mythology in Theory and Everyday Life
An innovative and accessible overview of how ancient Scandinavians understood and made use of their mythological stories. Old Norse Mythology provides a unique survey of the mythology of Scandinavia: the gods Þórr (Thor) with his hammer, the wily and duplicitous Óðinn (Odin), the sly Loki, and other fascinating figures. They create the world, battle their enemies, and die at the end of the world, ... Read more

$18.09 USD

An innovative and accessible overview of how ancient Scandinavians understood and made use of their mythological stories. Old Norse Mythology provides a unique survey of the mythology of Scandinavia: the gods Þórr (Thor) with his hammer, the wily and duplicitous Óðinn (Odin), the sly Loki, and other fascinating figures. They create the world, battle their enemies, and die at the end of the world,
... Read more
The Penguin Classics Book

by Henry Eliot ...

****Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year**The Penguin Classics Book is a reader's companion to the largest library of classic literature in the world.**Spanning 4,000 years from the legends of Ancient Mesopotamia to the poetry of the First World War, with Greek tragedies, Icelandic sagas, Japanese epics and much more in between, it encompasses 500 authors and 1,200 books, bringing these to ... Read more

$33.99 USD

****Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year**The Penguin Classics Book is a reader's companion to the largest library of classic literature in the world.**Spanning 4,000 years from the legends of Ancient Mesopotamia to the poetry of the First World War, with Greek tragedies, Icelandic sagas, Japanese epics and much more in between, it encompasses 500 authors and 1,200 books, bringing these to
... Read more
Penelope’s Bones

A New History of Homer’s World through the Women Written Out of It

by Emily Hauser ...

Weaving together literary and archaeological evidence, Emily Hauser illuminates the rich, intriguing lives of the real women behind Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.Achilles. Agamemnon. Odysseus. Hector. The lives of these and many other men in the greatest epics of ancient Greece have been pored over endlessly in the past three millennia. But these are not just tales about heroic men. There are scores ... Read more

$14.99 USD

Weaving together literary and archaeological evidence, Emily Hauser illuminates the rich, intriguing lives of the real women behind Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.Achilles. Agamemnon. Odysseus. Hector. The lives of these and many other men in the greatest epics of ancient Greece have been pored over endlessly in the past three millennia. But these are not just tales about heroic men. There are scores
... Read more
The Book of Memory

A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture

by Mary Carruthers ...

Series Book 70 - Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
Mary Carruthers's classic study of the training and uses of memory for a variety of purposes in European cultures during the Middle Ages has fundamentally changed the way scholars understand medieval culture. This fully revised and updated second edition considers afresh all the material and conclusions of the first. While responding to new directions in research inspired by the original, this new ... Read more

$36.99 USD

Mary Carruthers's classic study of the training and uses of memory for a variety of purposes in European cultures during the Middle Ages has fundamentally changed the way scholars understand medieval culture. This fully revised and updated second edition considers afresh all the material and conclusions of the first. While responding to new directions in research inspired by the original, this new
... Read more
Turning Away

The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture

by Benjamin A. Saltzman ...

Series series Thinking Literature
A sweeping account of how we are at our most human when we turn away from the pains of the world.Why do we look away from the suffering of others? Why do we cover our faces in shame? Why do we lower our heads in grief? Few gestures are as universal as the averted gaze. Fewer still are as ambivalent and inscrutable. In this incisive study, Benjamin A. Saltzman reveals how the kaleidoscopic ... Read more

$21.99 USD

A sweeping account of how we are at our most human when we turn away from the pains of the world.Why do we look away from the suffering of others? Why do we cover our faces in shame? Why do we lower our heads in grief? Few gestures are as universal as the averted gaze. Fewer still are as ambivalent and inscrutable. In this incisive study, Benjamin A. Saltzman reveals how the kaleidoscopic
... Read more
The Golden Ass

by Apuleius ...

Written towards the end of the second century AD, The Golden Ass tells the story of the many adventures of a young man whose fascination with witchcraft leads him to be transformed into a donkey. The bewitched Lucius passes from owner to owner - encountering a desperate gang of robbers and being forced to perform lewd 'human' tricks on stage - until the Goddess Isis finally breaks the spell and ... Read more

$12.59 USD

Written towards the end of the second century AD, The Golden Ass tells the story of the many adventures of a young man whose fascination with witchcraft leads him to be transformed into a donkey. The bewitched Lucius passes from owner to owner - encountering a desperate gang of robbers and being forced to perform lewd 'human' tricks on stage - until the Goddess Isis finally breaks the spell and
... Read more
The Pregnant Male as Myth and Metaphor in Classical Greek Literature

by David D. Leitao ...

This book traces the image of the pregnant male in Greek literature as it evolved over the course of the classical period. The image - as deployed in myth and in metaphor - originated as a representation of paternity and, by extension, 'authorship' of ideas, works of art, legislation, and the like. Only later, with its reception in philosophy in the early fourth century, did it also become a way ... Read more

$51.99 USD

This book traces the image of the pregnant male in Greek literature as it evolved over the course of the classical period. The image - as deployed in myth and in metaphor - originated as a representation of paternity and, by extension, 'authorship' of ideas, works of art, legislation, and the like. Only later, with its reception in philosophy in the early fourth century, did it also become a way
... Read more
The Mabinogion

Series series Oxford World's Classics
Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history - these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as the Mabinogion. They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of ... Read more

$8.99 USD

Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history - these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as the Mabinogion. They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of
... Read more
Early Greek Alphabetic Writing

A Linguistic Approach

by Natalia Elvira Astoreca ...

Series Book 5 - Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems (CREWS)
Despite the flourishing of epichoric studies on the Archaic Greek scripts in the 1960s, embodied by archaeologists Lilian Hamilton Jeffery and Margherita Guarducci, most scholarship on early alphabetic writing in Greece has focused on questions around the origin of ‘the Greek alphabet’ instead of acknowledging the diversity of alphabetic systems that emerged in Geometric and Archaic times. The ... Read more

$23.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

Despite the flourishing of epichoric studies on the Archaic Greek scripts in the 1960s, embodied by archaeologists Lilian Hamilton Jeffery and Margherita Guarducci, most scholarship on early alphabetic writing in Greece has focused on questions around the origin of ‘the Greek alphabet’ instead of acknowledging the diversity of alphabetic systems that emerged in Geometric and Archaic times. The
... Read more
Homer-Haunted

The Many Afterlives of an Ancient Poet

by Henry Power ...

'It's rich and beautiful and strange' Rory Stewart, The Rest Is Politics'This is such a brilliantly told story of Homer-obsessives through the ages that, by the end, you're as hooked on Homer as they were' Frank Skinner'Every page is an illuminating joy' A. N. Wilson'An endlessly generous book' Daisy HayThis is the story of how two ancient epics captured the wo... ... Read more

$18.39 USD

'It's rich and beautiful and strange' Rory Stewart, The Rest Is Politics'This is such a brilliantly told story of Homer-obsessives through the ages that, by the end, you're as hooked on Homer as they were' Frank Skinner'Every page is an illuminating joy' A. N. Wilson'An endlessly generous book' Daisy HayThis is the story of how two ancient epics captured the wo...
... Read more
Ireland's Immortals

A History of the Gods of Irish Myth

by Mark Williams ...

A sweeping history of Ireland's native gods, from Iron Age cult and medieval saga to the Celtic Revival and contemporary fictionIreland's Immortals tells the story of one of the world’s great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation’s languages, the book describes how Ireland’s pagan divinities were transformed into ... Read more

$21.99 USD

A sweeping history of Ireland's native gods, from Iron Age cult and medieval saga to the Celtic Revival and contemporary fictionIreland's Immortals tells the story of one of the world’s great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation’s languages, the book describes how Ireland’s pagan divinities were transformed into
... Read more
Etymology and the Invention of English in Early Modern Literature

by Hannah Crawforth ...

How did authors such as Jonson, Spenser, Donne and Milton think about the past lives of the words they used? Hannah Crawforth shows how early modern writers were acutely attuned to the religious and political implications of the etymology of English words. She argues that these lexically astute writers actively engaged with the lexicographers, Anglo-Saxonists and etymologists who were carrying out ... Read more

$38.99 USD

How did authors such as Jonson, Spenser, Donne and Milton think about the past lives of the words they used? Hannah Crawforth shows how early modern writers were acutely attuned to the religious and political implications of the etymology of English words. She argues that these lexically astute writers actively engaged with the lexicographers, Anglo-Saxonists and etymologists who were carrying out
... Read more
Greek Lives

by Plutarch ...

Translated by Robin Waterfield ...

Series series Oxford World's Classics
The nine lives in this selection include those of Lycurgus, Pericles, Solon, Nicias, Themistocles, Alcibiades, Cimon, Agesilaus, and Alexander. Portraying virtues to be emulated and vices to be avoided, Plutarch explores with great insight the interplay of character and political action. This new translation is accompanied by a lucid introduction, explanatory notes, bibliographies, maps and ... Read more

$8.99 USD

The nine lives in this selection include those of Lycurgus, Pericles, Solon, Nicias, Themistocles, Alcibiades, Cimon, Agesilaus, and Alexander. Portraying virtues to be emulated and vices to be avoided, Plutarch explores with great insight the interplay of character and political action. This new translation is accompanied by a lucid introduction, explanatory notes, bibliographies, maps and
... Read more

eReaders

Apps

Accessories

Shopping Cart

You're getting the VIP treatment!

Your Shopping Cart is empty

Available:

1 audiobook monthly

+ FREE 30-day trial

Available:

1 audiobook monthly

+ FREE 30-day trial

Recommended For You

Ancient & Classical eBooks

Show: