Ancient Classics

This is the audiobook version of the book. The print book has two versions. One version is marked with Pinyin and the other without Pinyin. Please select the version that best suits your need.

The Persians: A Translation from Aeschylus There is no drama where the total multiplicity of horror in defeat is more cogently presented than in the Persians by Aeschylus, who fought in the Athenian triumph at Salamis, where the Persian fleet was rammed and wrecked.

We begin with Book V, Odysseus weeping on Calyspo's Island, and follow his adventures through to his return to Ithaca and Penelope. This version of Homer's Odyssey was created over a 14-year period of performing the great epic. When it came time to record this version for audiobook, I realized there was no text: It lived in memory. So I had to write out a 38-page poem from memory. Then I used that text as a performance script and while reading it found myself constantly editing as my spoken word insisted on changes that sharpened the sound.

In The Trachinian Tragedy, better known as the Women of Trachis, the wife of Herakles, Deianeira, finds she has a rival in the house for her husband's affection. The consequences of her counteraction are incredible. In this faithful translation, F. L. Light attempts to write as good a play in English as the original in Greek. F. L. Light has also translated Antigone of Sophocles.

Escrita en 1931, Bodas de sangre es una obra de teatro que trata de dos jóvenes que se van a casar, pero el día de su boda, la novia vuelve a ver a Leonardo, su antiguo novio, de quien siempre ha estado enamorada. Por eso, después de la ceremonia, los dos huyen juntos llevados por su amor. Pero el marido sale a buscarlos lleno de dolor y de rabia…

Ancient Lights, written by Algernon Blackwood in 1912 and published two years later, is the tale of a man hired to remove a standing grove of trees so the owner's house can maintain the direct light and view that it has enjoyed for a number of years. Algernon Henry Blackwood (March 14, 1869-December 10, 1951) was an English writer of tales of the supernatural. Although Blackwood wrote a number of horror stories, his most typical work seeks less to frighten than to induce a sense of awe.

Caligula’s father was a beloved military leader, so the Romans were initially glad to see his son take the throne, but Suetonius recounts the less flattering aspects of Caligula’s life and rule that followed his ascension. The narcissistic Caligula believed he was a god, and often replaced the busts of deities with his own. A devoted fan of gladiator fights, he also often had people assassinated, covered up the deed, and then claimed the deceased had committed suicide. Suetonius concludes this biography by detailing the omens that foreshadowed Caligula’s eventual assassination.

In The Life of Cicero, Plutarch details the priceless contributions Cicero made to Roman society. He translated the works of Greek philosophers into Latin, gained acclaim as an orator and lawyer, and was elected to office. Politics ultimately got the better of him, however, and his life ended in assassination while in exile. Cicero’s ideas live on through his body of work, but to learn about the man himself, Plutarch’s biography is an excellent starting point.

Louis Esson is considered to be the first great Australian dramatist. The political comedy The Time is Not Yet Ripe was first produced in 1912 and is one of his best known works. Doris, daughter of the incumbent prime minister, Sir Joseph Quiverton, has news for her father - she has just become engaged. Much to Sir Joseph's dismay her fiancé is none other than an opposing candidate in the forthcoming general election - and a revolutionary socialist to boot. Is Sir Joseph in danger of losing both his reputation and his majority in parliament?

"L'Atlàntida" de Verdaguer s'estructura en deu cants en quartets de versos alexandrins amb rima consonàntica alternant, precedits d'una "Introducció" i seguits per una "Conclusió", ambdues en sextets de versos decasíl·labs. Aquesta estructura formal, que es correspon, com veurem, amb el contingut argumental, es trencada sovint amb la inclusió d'altres esquemes mètrics. Un jove mariner genovès anomenat Crostòfor Colom, únic supervivent d'un naufragi, arriba a la costa atlàntica d'Andalusia.

Sappho is widely recognized as one of the great poets of world literature, an author whose works have caused her readers to repeat in many different forms Strabo's amazed epithet when he wrote that she could only be called "a marvel." The reception of Sappho's poetry even through the twentieth century offers a case study of the conflicts induced by the sexual preferences she seemingly alludes to in her verse. Little is known with certainty about the life of Sappho, or Psappha in her native Aeolic dialect. She was born probably about 620 B.C. to an aristocratic family on the island of Lesbos during a great cultural flowering in the area.

朗読むすめの朗読Bookシリーズが『源氏物語』にチャレンジ！推定再生時間70時間。推定収録時間500時間チャレンジします。

朗読むすめの朗読Bookシリーズが『源氏物語』にチャレンジ！推定再生時間70時間,推定収録時間500時間チャレンジします。谷崎潤一郎訳の『潤一郎訳 源氏物語』を次々発売！

Mark Antony’s personal life was almost as storied as his immensely successful political career. In Plutarch’s biography, the most striking sections revolve around Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra. Plutarch’s characterization inspired Shakespeare, whose play "Antony and Cleopatra" would not be the same without its influence. With such close ties to Shakespeare, it’s no wonder that the The Life of Antony holds great literary merit all its own.

Apuleius ist nach Homer der wohl berühmteste Dichter der Antike. Seine humorvollen, erotischen Geschichten sind direkt und lebensnah und zeichnen ein überraschendes Bild seiner Zeit.

Remember the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper? The Fox and the Sour Grapes? The Boy Who Cried Wolf? These wonderful tales and hundreds more have been passed down to us over the centuries. The man credited with writing them, Aesop, was an Ancient Greek slave born about 620 BC. Aesop is known as a fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables shining glaringly true light on our human foibles now collectively known as Aesop's Fables.

Universally admired and quoted, Shakespeare’s Sonnets have love, beauty and the passing of time at their heart. Featuring some of the best-known and best-loved lines in the history of poetry (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’, ‘Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds’), these evocative sonnets explore passion, the fleeting nature of beauty and the essence of true and everlasting love.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s most well-known comedies and is arguably one of his most beloved plays. The play tells the tale of the misadventures of the people gathering to participate in their marriage of the duke of Athens and Hippolyta, former queen of the Amazons.

Esopo, il celebre favolista dell'antica Grecia, con molto acume, ironia e soprattutto talento, compose numerose favole dedicate soprattutto agli animali, con chiari riferimenti ai caratteri e alle abitudini degli esseri umani. Profondo osservatore degli uomini, catalogò sotto forma di favole, i vizi e le virtù dei suoi simili, con obiettività e sagacia. Impossibile non sorridere delle sue osservazioni sulle debolezze degli uomini, che nel suo immaginario, sono impersonati da scimmie, cavalli, muli, corvi, leoni e da tutti gli altri animali conosciuti a quel tempo, e non solo.

Algernon Henry Blackwood (March 14, 1869 - December 10, 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The following recording includes the short stories "The Olive" and "Ancient Lights."