--- title: Classical Literature description: Classical literature refers to the foundational texts of ancient Greece and Rome. Learners will understand the epic poetry, drama, and philosophical writings that shaped Western literary traditions and cultural history. category: literature-writing subcategory: literature-analysis difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/classical-literature --- # Classical Literature Classical literature refers to the foundational texts of ancient Greece and Rome. Learners will understand the epic poetry, drama, and philosophical writings that shaped Western literary traditions and cultural history. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 2 Courses • 4 Websites ## Websites ### 1. LacusCurtius Extensive collection of Roman texts and classical resources with English translations. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/home.html **Tags:** roman-history, latin-texts, primary-sources, classical-literature, translations ### 2. Dickinson College Commentaries An open digital library of annotated Latin and Greek texts edited by classicists, pairing passages from Caesar, Virgil, Ovid and others with grammatical notes, core vocabulary lists and introductory essays. Readers bridge from textbook Latin to reading real classical authors with scholarly support. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://dcc.dickinson.edu/ **Tags:** latin, ancient-greek, classical-texts, reading-commentary, vocabulary ### 3. Perseus Digital Library Tufts University's Perseus Digital Library, a long-running collection of Greek and Latin texts with translations, plus catalogued images of ancient art, coins, sculpture, and archaeological sites. Learners can study classical artworks alongside the primary sources describing them. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ **Tags:** classical-art, ancient-greece, ancient-rome, archaeology, primary-sources ### 4. theoi.com Theoi is a comprehensive online resource on Greek mythology, featuring detailed profiles of gods and mythic figures, extensive art and iconography, and primary-source excerpts from classical texts (with translations) for study. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://theoi.com **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, classics ## Podcasts ### 1. Lit Century **Author:** Sandra Newman and Catherine Nichols Host Catherine Nichols and guests choose one book for each year of the twentieth century (Nella Larsen's Passing, 1936, Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, 1966; Mohandas Gandhi's Indian Home Rule, 1909) and talk about it in its historical and literary context. Tune in to find out what the 20th century was all about. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.lithub.com **Tags:** 20th-century-literature, book-discussion, literary-history, author-interviews ### 2. Poetry Off the Shelf **Author:** Poetry Foundation Producer Helena de Groot talks to poets about language, dreams, love and loss, identity, connection, anger, discomfort, the creative process, the state of the world and the world of the soul. Hard conversations are welcomed—laughter is, too. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en-us | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ **Tags:** poetry, poet-interviews, creative-process, contemporary-poetry ## Courses ### 1. Ancient Greece Wesleyan University survey of Greek history from the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age to the trial of Socrates in 399 BCE. Learners trace the rise of the polis, Sparta and Athens, Athenian democracy, the Persian Wars, and the Peloponnesian War. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/ancient-greeks **Tags:** courses, humanities-social-sciences, humanities ### 2. Greek History: The Ancient World Discover the literature and heroes of ancient Greece through the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey , the tragedies of Sophocles, the dialogues of Plato, and more. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.edx.org/learn/greek-heroes/harvard-university-the-ancient-greek-hero **Tags:** courses, humanities-social-sciences, classics ## Books ### 1. Reading Greek: Text and Vocabulary **Author:** Joint Association of Classical Teachers Text volume of the JACT introductory Ancient Greek course, presenting graded readings adapted from Herodotus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Demosthenes and other authors with running vocabulary. Used with its companion grammar volume, it takes learners from the alphabet to reading substantial passages of Classical Attic Greek. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521698510?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** ancient-greek, attic-greek, greek-reading, classical-languages, greek-vocabulary ### 2. The Greeks **Author:** H. D. F. Kitto A classic short study of ancient Greek civilization covering the polis, Homer, geography, religion, character, and the classical and fourth-century periods. It explains how Greek social and political life shaped the literature and thought that later classical works draw upon. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140135219?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, literrature-analysis ### 3. Classical Literature: A Very Short Introduction **Author:** William Allan A compact survey of Greek and Latin literature organized by genre, including epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy, historiography, and oratory. It explains each genre's conventions and major authors, and shows how these works influenced later Western literature and remain worth reading. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199665451?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, classics --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/classical-literature