Classical Authors Directory

Genres and Literary Terminology: Philosophy | Epic | Epigrams | Old Comedy | Roman Drama | Satire | Epistle | Terminology for Tragedy | Tragedy | Meter in Greek and Latin Poetry

Sooner or later in our prehistory folks began telling tales to at least one one other. Later, tales have been composed in kinds that others might repeat. Story-telling is simple to check because the origin of some types of literature, particularly bardic ballads, novels, and performs. Even philosophy is an try to elucidate a narrative or fact in regards to the world. Here’s a fast have a look at how the genres of Greek and Latin literature developed and most of the main contributors to the genres — a minimum of these whose works survive.
After a fast evaluation of the genres you will discover an alphabetical checklist of the Greek after which the Roman writers.

Philosophy

Historical thinkers wrote verse about what they noticed in nature. Did that make them scientists? poets? Sure, however they’re usually known as Presocratic Philosophers.

Many elements of tradition have been nonetheless with out distinct type right now, which was through the Archaic Age of Ancient Greece.

Drama / Performs

The origin of drama is mired in legend, however to the perfect of our data, drama appears to have arisen as a part of spiritual worship. At present we divide performs into the classes of comedy and tragedy.

• Tragedy
  The phrase tragedy seems to return from the phrases for ‘goat’ and ‘track’ or ‘ode’.
• Refrain
  The primary aspect in Greek tragedy was the refrain, which danced and sang poetry created by the dramatist on the spiritual festivals.
• Actors
  Actors got here later, with the good tragedians.
• Comedy
  Comedy appears to have come from phallic processions adopted by sacrifices, however we do not know. Its etymology seems to return from komos (linked with revels), plus the phrase for ‘track’.

Poetry

• Epic Poetry
  The person​ who’s credited with creating the epics we all know of because the Iliad and Odyssey, (whom we seek advice from as Homer) was a rhapsode, an individual who accompanied his improvised performances with a musical instrument. Epic poetry got here to be distinguished by its distinct (epic) meter.
• Lyric Poetry
  Lyric poetry, developed in accordance with legend, by Terpander, was poetry accompanied by a lyre.
• Epigrams
  Epigrams have been composed for funerals. It was an epigrammatist, Mimnermus of Smyrna, who’s credited with growing the elegiac meter that was used for love poetry (elegies).

Prose

• Historical past
  Historical past, as developed by Herodotus, was a (prose) story about no matter Herodotus set his inquiring thoughts to.
  Ancient Historians Timeline
• Satire
  In historical Rome, satire was a acknowledged and considerably outlined literary verse style. It was the one style the Romans claimed as their very own invention. Some early novels fell inside the style of (Menippean) satire.
• Epistle (most important Roman writers)
  Epistles are linked with Satire, as within the work of Horace, however some epistle writers used the letter for for precise correspondence, so the type is sort of diverse.

Right here you can find some sources on this website associated to Classical writers and the genres of Classical literature, particularly, timelines of the foremost Greek and Roman authors, articles in regards to the writers and their genres which might be on this website, and hyperlinks to a few of their writing, largely in English.

Timelines

Girls Writers

Enheduanna (An Akkadian) | Korinna | Moero | Nossis | Sappho | Sulpicia

Greek and Roman Writers of Drama – Comedy and Tragedy

Aristophanes | Aeschylus | Euripides | Plautus | Seneca | Sophocles | Terence

Verse Satire: Ennius | Horace | Juvenal | Persius | Petronius

Satire Timeline | Atellan Farce | Fescennine Verse | Menippean Satire

Classical Greek and Roman Writers …and a few of their works largely translated into English

Greek Classical Writers

A

Aeschylus | Aeschylus Performs in English | Aeschylus Sources
Aesop Biography | Fables of Aesop
Alcaeus
Anacreon
Anyte
Archilochus
Aristophanes | About the Individual Plays of Aristophanes | Aristophanes Performs in English
Aristotle | Aristotle Texts in English

B

Bacchylides

D

Demosthenes | Demosthenes in English
Dio (Cassius Dio)

E

Euripides | Euripides in English

H

Hecataeus
Herodotus | Herodotus in English
Hesiod | Hesiod in English
Hippocrates | Hippocrates in English
Homer | Homer in English

I

Isocrates in English

Okay

Korinna

L

Lysias | Lysias in English

M

Moero

N

Nossis

P

Pindar
Plato | Plato in English
Presocratic Philosophers
Plutarch | Plutarch in English

S

Sappho
Semonides of Amorgas
Sophocles | Tragedies of Sophocles in English
Strabo in English

T

Terpander
Thales
Theognis
Theophrastus
Thucydides | Thucydides in English translation

Xenophon | Xenophon in English

Z

Roman Classical Writers (Latin)

Additionally see: A Historical past of Roman Literature: From the Earliest Interval to the Loss of life of Marcus Aurelius, by Charles Thomas Cruttwell (1877)

A

Abelard – Textual content in Latin
Alcuin Texts in Latin
Ammianus Marcellinus Texts in Latin
Apuleius | Apuleius in English
Aurelius, Marcus | Texts in English
Aurelius Victor Texts in Latin

B

Bede English translation of Latin
Boethius – Textual content in Latin and Translation into English

C

Caesar Civil and Gallic Wars in English
Cassiodorus – Textual content in English
Cato | Cato in English
Catullus​
Cicero | Cicero texts in Latin
Claudian in Latin

D

Donatus

E

Ennius | Ennius in Latin
Epictetus | Epictetus in English

H

Horace | Horace in English

J

Julian | Julian in English
Juvenal

L

Livius Andronicus | Livy
Lucan | Lucan in English

M

Martial

N

Naevius

O

Ovid

P

Pacuvius | Persius
Petronius | Petronius in English
Plautus
Pliny the Elder | Pliny in English
Pliny the Youthful | Pliny in English
Propertius

Q

Quintilian

S

Sallust
Seneca
Statius
Sulpicia

T

Tacitus | Tacitus in English
Tertullian
Tibullus

V

Varro
Velleius Paterculus
Vergil (Virgil) | Vergil in English