Ancient Classics

Explore the captivating history of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful forces the world has ever seen. But this isn’t just the story of conquest or the incredible system of institutions that made it possible. This is the story of the fascinating men and women who gave the empire its characteristic charm. This is also the story of the most important people and events between two crucial events: the rise of Augustus in the first century BC and the final sack of Rome in the late fifth century AD.

Blood, gore, thrills, chills, and romance abound in these plays by three of the great Greek authors. Included are "Medea" by Euripides; "Antigone" by Sophocles; and "Agamemnon" by Aeschylus.

Here is the multi award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. This is a full-cast, unabridged performance, with comprehensive commentary and analysis, enabling students to fully understand and appreciate the play. Judge for yourself whether Lear is "a man more sinned against than sinning" in this moral tale that pits wisdom and age against ambition and youth. Experience and examine the power of Shakespeare's most cruel and violent tragedy.

En un reino lejano, una pareja de reyes se preparaba para festejar el nacimiento de hija, invitando a todas las figuras importantes de su reino, excepto a un hada que era famosa por ser colérica. Enojada por no haber sido invitada a la fiesta, el hada puso una maldición sobre la bebé, profetizando que, al cumplir los dieciocho años, se sumiría en un sueño eterno.

When Zet's father left home to fight the Hyksos, his only option was to leave siblings Zet and Kat in charge. It turns out keeping food on the table is easier said than done. They need a solution and they need it now. One day, Zet spots a thief running through their market square. When the thief gets away, the medjay announce a reward for the man's capture. Zet jumps at the chance. The medjay, however, laugh at him. Zet cares little what they think. The siblings soon set off on a dangerous investigation.

In search of an ideal civilization, Socrates leads Glaucon, Polemarchus, Thrasymachus, and others in debates about various subjects, including justice, truth, class, and art. For without righteousness, tyranny and injustice give rise to oligarchy. The influential dialogues of The Republic helped shape all of Western literature and philosophical thought. It is as much a doctrine of ethics and politics now as it was for the ancient Greeks, and its dilemma remains: how to create a perfect society populated by very imperfect human beings.

Matthew Arnold praised the Iliad for its "nobility", as has everyone ever since - but ancient critics praised it for its enargeia, its "bright unbearable reality" (the word used when gods come to earth, not in disguise but as themselves). To retrieve the poem's energy, Alice Oswald has stripped away its story, and her account focuses by turns on Homer's extended similes and on the brief 'biographies' of the minor war-dead, most of whom are little more than names, but each of whom lives and dies unforgettably - and unforgotten - in the copiousness of Homer's glance.

The Allegory of the Cave appears in Plato’s Republic and compares the effect of education and the lack of it on human nature. It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother and Socrates, who tells of people that have been chained to the wall of a cave their whole lives. They see shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them. Socrates explains that the philosopher is like a prisoner who has escaped the cave and realizes that the shadows on the wall are not the true reality at all.

The story of Cyrano, his famous nose, and his undying love for the beautiful Roxanne evokes the spirit and panache of 17th century France.

Aeschylus’ historical tragedy Persians, with its dire warnings against the hubris of imperialist overreach, is as relevant today as it was when first presented to an Athenian audience in 472 BC. This new edition of the classic drama features a literal translation by Mark Will (translator of Fernando Pessoa’s Message) which reconstructs in contemporary English verse the epic cadences of the original Greek.

Can a druidess with the power of visions be blind to love? Weapons Master Kanyth Skaraven has always found favor with the ladies, until he meets Perrin Thomas. Though the fairy-like druid descendant seemed fated for him, he finds himself torn in two directions. His unique power with the forge is something he must keep under tight control - a control that slips when Perrin is near. But as the deadly attacks of the mad druids and their giants escalate to a fever pitch, Perrin and Kanyth must master their deepest fears as well as their desires.

Oedipus Rex is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed about 429 BC (noted classicist Gilbert Murray, translator of this version of the play, rendered the title as Oedipus, King of Thebes). It tells the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes, whilst in the process unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. The play is an example of classic tragedy, notably containing an emphasis upon how Oedipus's own faults contribute to his downfall.

In Oedipus at Colonus, the banished king, after years of wandering, accompanied by his faithful daughter Antigone, finds himself in Athens. Receiving a warm if guarded welcome from Theseus, King of Athens, he prepares to settle himself to spend his last days in peace. However, unwelcome visitors from his tortured past continue to haunt him until the very end.

Un invierno terrible, Cenicienta pierde a su madre por una enfermedad. Antes de morir, su madre le promete siempre estar con ella y le pide bondad y valor para los años por venir. Su padre toma una nueva esposa después de unos años, una mujer cruel y vana que desprecia a Cenicienta, obligándola a trabajar en labores del hogar desde el alba hasta el anochecer.

Miss Julie is probably the most famous play by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg, one of the founding fathers of naturalistic theater. In this claustrophobic drama, the interplay between social order and individual identity is explored in great detail. At the end the aristocratic Julie, goaded by her manipulative manservant, John, is faced with the ultimate decision: independence or annihilation.

The fifty daughters of Danaos have with their father fled by ship from Egypt, escaping compulsatory marriage with their fifty cousins, the sons of Aegyptos. They arrive in Argos, where, by supplication to the king and people, they seek refuge from their cousins, who sailed in pursuit. Their devout abhorrence of the marriage is the weightiest theme of the play.

The book is one of the most influential ethical treatises of all time. Written in 350 BC, it identifies happiness as life's goal. How do we achieve this goal? Not through the satisfactions that come from pleasure, wealth, or fame. According to Aristotle, the true path to happiness lies in contemplation of philosophic truth. This is the only action through which humans can exercise their distinctively unique trait: the ability to reason.

There is no finer way to welcome young people (or adults!) to the pleasures of Shakespeare than with these four masterful retellings of the Bard's most beloved plays. Ranging from the pure magic of A Midsummer Night's Dream to the heartbreak of young love in Romeo and Juliet, featuring the spine-tingling tragedy of Macbeth (complete with ghost and witches) and culminating in the laugh-out-loud hijinks of Twelfth Night.

Long considered the world's greatest adventure story, The Odyssey is celebration of life in all its infinite variety. The poem has deeply ingrained in us the sense of life as a journey, introducing a gallery of characters and events that have profoundly influenced western literature. Scylla and Charybdis, Circe, the Lotus Eaters, a visit with the dead, and, through it all, Odysseus's determined search for home, are all here in a classic translation.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born on December 8, 65 BC in the southeastern region of Hellenized Italy. He died on November 27, 8 BC. Horace was the son of a freedman of modest means. In the civil war between Antony and Octavian, he threw in his lot with Antony and fled along with the rest upon their defeat at Phillipi in 42 BC. His subsequent discovery by Maecenas and eventual rehabilitation with the Augustan regime was one of history's most fortunate reconciliations.