Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature

Meditations is former U.S. President Bill Clinton's favorite book. This audio consists of a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161-180 AD, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy....

Since it was first published more than 25 years ago, Robert Fitzgerald's prizewinning translation of Homer's battle epic has become a classic in its own right....

"The Theogony" (“Birth of the Gods”) is a poem by Hesiod which describes the origin, position and relationships of the gods of the Greek pantheon. Hesiod created a synthesis of the diverse Greek traditions concerning the gods, in the form of a hymn invoking Zeus and the Muses....

Charged with treason under Theodoric the Great in sixth-century Rome, Boethius served one year's imprisonment, awaiting trial and eventual execution. During this time, he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, which would go on to be one of the most popular philosophical works....

The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods....

Educated in Lebanon, United States, and France, Gibran was influenced by the European modernists of the late 19th century, but even more by Francis Marrash, who introduced poetic prose and prose poetry in the Arab world....

Milton tells the story of man's creation, fall and redemption, "to justify the ways of God to men"....

Christopher Marlowe's play about a man who sells his soul to the devil is not only one of the first of many works to explore this theme but also one of the most startling....

Brilliantly manipulative and entirely amoral, the hero-villain Richard is one of Shakespeare's greatest roles....

The Theogony (composed c. 700 BC) is a poem by Hesiod (8th-7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods. A theogony is a part of Greek mythology which attempts to articulate reality as a whole....