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Comment by mooneater | Hacker News Reader

I want a minimal list of what I should read from the ancient Greeks to get a reasonable understanding of the most important things. Any greek geeks care to comment on what the absolute must-not-be-missed works are? Im trying to learn too many things at once to be comprehensive.

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Start with A Brief History of Ancient Greece to get a sense of the social-political-historical context. If you have time, Hamilton's Mythology.

Then Homer. Opinions vary on which translation of the Iliad is best (and it makes a huge difference). I'd stay away from Pope which is more of a remake than a translation. Lombardo is very modern. Lattimore is typically used for academic purposes. I would recommend Fagles.

After that, it depends on what you're into.

Philosophy? Pre-Socratics -> Plato -> Aristotle. What you choose here again depends on what you're into. There's politics, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, etc.

History? Herodotus -> Thucydides -> Xenophon (The Landmark series for all 3)

Theater? Oresteia, Medea, the Theban Cycle.

Mythology? Hesiod.

To grok their sense of life, the absolute best book is "The Greek Experience" by Cecil M. Bowra [1]. No other modern book will give you as much (I've read dozens; this one I first read 14 years ago). It's about 200 pages long.

It covers the unity of the Greeks, their heroic outlook, the gods, the city and the individual, the good man and the good life, myth and symbol, imagination and reality, the plastic vision, and the place of reason.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/dp/1857991222

On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura) by Lucretius is a fascinating glimpse at the foundation of scientific thought from the 1st century BC. I just finished reading it; it's an interesting mix of combining logic with observation to try to understand physical phenomenon. He gets many things wrong from a modern understanding of physics; but there are many prescient ideas including the idea of indivisible particles of matter and that much of what we interpret as "solid" is primarily composed of empty space.

I think it's important to note that Lucretius was a poet not a philosopher or scientist. He didn't invent the ideas he related he was trying to preserve them for posterity.

Alexander Stepanov (co-author of the C++ standard template library) has been teaching a class at A9 on important works of civilization. The focus is on the most influential works---that is, the works that were read and influenced the development of western civilization. The lectures are online at YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHxtyCq_WDLXzT_CgYPtj...

Unfortunately, it would be easier to consume as audio files as the video adds little. The lectures to date have been on the Greeks but the course is ongoing and will come up to more modern times, ending with Martin Luther King.

A really brief introduction to almost all of western philosophy (a big section on the major greek philosophers) (and its not a slog at all) http://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Philosophy-Bertrand-Ru...

I would recommend it to anyone who wants to trace the thoughts of the Greeks forward to WW2 era-ish, thoroughly enjoyable read.

If you have an audible subscription (which I highly recommend), you can get a course on the Greek classics, and then you can read along if you wish: http://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Masterpieces-of-Ancient-G...

If you're attracted to philosophy and its history, consider Wilhelm Windelband's history of ancient philosphy [1]. One of the best histories, focused on essentials.

[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=bSsrlxw7l2YC

I do not believe there is a shortcut, but the Greatest Books of the Western World (Philosophy section) should do.

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