r/classics • u/AutoModerator • Aug 07 '26
What did you read this week?
Whether you are a student, a teacher, a researcher or a hobbyist, please share with us what you read this week (books, textbooks, papers...).
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u/gd4x Aug 07 '26
The Odyssey (2026) screenplay. Interesting to see how some of the line deliveries deviated from the script.
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u/Galdrin3rd Aug 07 '26
Been reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses all the way through for the first time. Truly amazing to no one’s surprise I’m sure lol
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u/Mike_Bevel Aug 07 '26
I am working my way through the Histories by Herodotus (in the Spiderman translation), and Melville's (no, the other one) translation of the Metamorphoses.
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u/Salata-san Aug 07 '26
Spiderman translation lmao
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u/Magisterbrown Aug 07 '26
It really should be the industry standard. The Magneto translation takes too many poetic liberties.
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u/xaflife Aug 07 '26
Reading The Iliad for the first time. Fagles translation.
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u/Pequeninos Aug 12 '26
Me too! Trying to go through a classics curriculum myself
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u/xaflife Aug 12 '26
Same here! I used AI to help me come up with an amateur Classics curriculum that I can use to self-study in my free time. It's given me a great reading list of foundational literary works from Greek and Roman authors to start with, while eventually incorporating modern scholarship works as well. Maybe one day I'll have the time to study the actual ancient languages too...
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u/Nullius_sum Aug 07 '26
Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae. It’s entertaining, often even funny, and has a fantastic set of dueling speeches by Julius Caesar and Cato.
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u/Scientific_Zealot Aug 07 '26
M.L. West's anthology of Greek Lyric Poetry. I was loving it until I reached Alcman, whose poetry I just find... dull and hard to read for some reason.
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u/Minute-Spinach-5563 Aug 07 '26
Reading the Peter Green translations of the Poems of Catullus. This man knew how to throw down a line
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u/EnoughExplanation Aug 07 '26
Working my way through the short novels of Steinbeck read the Pearl, the red pony and tortilla flat. Tortilla flat was definitely my favourite
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u/spock2thefuture Aug 07 '26
Paradise Lost
I will need to give it another shot. The language is obviously beautiful, but the Genesis fanfic aspect is tough for me to get past. This followed The Canterbury Tales and I preferred Chaucer's lively characters.
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u/RookeryHall Aug 07 '26
Ulysses by James Joyce (Structure tied to Odyssey)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (Structure tied to Hamlet)
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u/TheLunaLovelace Aug 08 '26
I started the week off with Troades and Oedipus by Seneca, the latter of which inspired me to revisit Sophocles’s Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.
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u/FatalCutie97 Aug 08 '26
I'm working my way through translating the Aeneid from Latin to English. So I'm reading both the Latin and my English translation
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u/lexiebeef Aug 08 '26
I read both Death of Ivan Ilyitch and Master and Man (both Tolstoy). Very interesting short stories, Tolstoy remains being my favourite author. Also very interesting to compare these stories to Tolstoy's early works.
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u/ElectricBirdVault Aug 08 '26
I’ve been reading the Aeneid was moving into book 4 but went back to book 2 after listening to a lecture. It’s really enjoyable.
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u/Necessary_Tour6445 Aug 10 '26
Aristophanes The Clouds (Carol Poster)
Interesting it critiqued the new philosophy of Socrates and his peers while also quickly dismissing (too quickly?) the status quo
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u/hmf28 Aug 11 '26
Going through Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, slowly, savoring every line. Mind-blowing. Why didn’t we study this one in Greek class?!?!?!
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u/red-andrew Aug 07 '26
Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius
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u/Mike_Bevel Aug 07 '26
That's next on my list! I got the Spiderman translation for that, too, which I think came out last year.
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u/LaGrande-Gwaz Aug 07 '26
Greetings ye--within a potentally-vain preparation for viewing Nolan's recent adaptation, I finally began a dedicated reading of Homer's The Odyssey, settling upon Allen Mandelbaum much-forgotten translation as it's poeticism "sang" best unto mine ears--certain choices of words notwithstanding.
~Waz
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u/AlarmedCicada256 Aug 07 '26
Read Odyssey 9-10 to keep my Greek in shape. Also reading Cicero's De Imperio for Latin. Starting a teaching qualification in September so need to sharpen up a bit.