Showing titles in Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature

Agamemnon is the first of the three linked tragedies which make up The Oresteia trilogy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus. Trilogy as a whole, originally performed at the annual Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BCE, where it won first prize, is considered to be Aeschylus' last authenticated, and also his greatest, work. Agamemnon describes the homecoming of Agamemnon, king of Argos, from the Trojan War, and his return to his wife, Clytemnestra, who had been planning his murder (in concert with her lover, Aegisthus) as revenge for Agamemnon's earlier sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia.

Anacreon (582 BCE–485 BCE) was a Greek lyric poet born in Teos, an Ionian city on the coast of Asia Minor. He likely moved to Thrace in 545 BCE with others from his city when it was attacked by Persians. He then moved to Samos, to Athens, and possibly again to Thessaly, seeking a safe place to write his poems as his patrons (including Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, and Hipparchus, brother of Athenian tyrant Hippias) kept being murdered. It is unknown where Anacreon died, though he lived to the unusually advanced age of 85.

Produced in 458 BC, Aeschylus' Choephori is the second play in the Oresteian trilogy. The bloodshed begun in the first play with the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra is here continued when Agamemnon's son Orestes avenges his father's death by killing Clytemnestra. It is not until the third and final play, Eumenides, that peace is restored to the family of the Atreidae. The introduction discusses the pre-Aeschylean 'Orestes' tradition in literature and art, as well as the place of Choephori within the Oresteia.

Antigone by Sophocles, is a classic Greek tragedy that unfolds against the backdrop of Thebes. The play delves into the profound ethical and moral dilemmas faced by its characters, with Antigone at the center of a conflict between personal convictions and civic duty. The narrative begins with the aftermath of a brutal war, where two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, have fallen on opposing sides. Antigone, their sister, defies the king's decree and buries Polynices, setting the stage for a clash between divine law and human authority.

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.

The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, are the two epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two epics, along with the Homeric Hymns and the two poems of Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, comprised the major foundations of the Greek literary tradition that would continue into the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. This carefully selected collection contains: The Odyssey ; The Works and Days ; Theogony ; The Complete Poems of Sappho ; Medea ; Antigone ; Agamemnon ; The Choephori ; Eumenides.

Ödipus ist eine antike Tragödie. Das Orakel von Delphi sagt Laios, dem König von Theben voraus, dass sein Sohn ihn töten und mit seiner Mutter Iokaste Kinder zeugen werde. Um dies zu vermeiden, gibt er seinen neugeborenen Sohn an einen Hirten, um ihn auszusetzen. Dieser gibt ihn aber stattdessen einem befreundeten Hirten in Korinth. Schließlich wird er aber von dem König und der Königin von Korinth aufgenommen und erhält den Namen Ödipus. Als er jedoch erfährt, dass das Orakel vorausgesagt hat, dass er seinen Vater tötet, verlässt er Korinth.

Prometheus gehört dem Göttergeschlecht der Titanen und ist er der Herrschaft des Göttervaters Zeus unterworfen. Bei einem Tieropfer greift er zu einer List, um Zeus zu täuschen: er überlässt ihm nur die wertlosen Teile des Opfertiers und behält das genießbare Fleisch für die Menschen, da sie seine Schützlinge sind. Zur Strafe dafür verweigert der erzürnte Zeus den Sterblichen den Besitz des Feuers. Darauf entwendet Prometheus den Göttern das Feuer und bringt es den Menschen. Deswegen wird er auf Befehl des Göttervaters gefesselt und im Kaukasusgebirge festgeschmiedet.

Lucretius' poem On the Nature of Things combines a scientific and philosophical treatise with some of the greatest poetry ever written. With intense moral fervour he demonstrates to humanity that in death there is nothing to fear since the soul is mortal, and the world and everything in it is governed by the mechanical laws of nature and not by gods; and that by believing this men can live in peace of mind and happiness. He bases this on the atomic theory expounded by the Greek philosopher Epicurus, and continues with an examination of sensation, sex, cosmology, meteorology, and geology.

The story of Medea is only one part of a myth about the Argonauts' campaign. It portrays Jason joining a battle with fire-breathing bulls and a dragon guarding the Golden Fleece; Medea is helping him tame the beasts. She then follows him to Greece, because she falls in love. It is also a story of how a once young, beautiful and joyful woman transforms into a monster, hungry for revenge; she kills even her own children. A long trail of horrible deaths, tied to her life path, is hard to imagine.

One of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Greece, Sophocles wrote over 120 plays during his 60-year career, though only seven survive today. The most famous of these are the Theban Plays, all three of which are included in this collection alongside adaptations of Electra and Philoctetes, brought to life by celebrated writers, poets, and playwrights.

Was will er denn nur, der Rabe, der sich auf dem Kaminsims des einsamen Mannes niederlässt? Warum sagt er nur das eine Wort: "Nimmermehr?" Eines der bekanntesten Gedichte der Schauerromantik.

The poet Apollonius is best remembered for the epic myth of Jason and the Argonaut’s quest for the Golden Fleece. The Argonautica is considered one of the finest epics of antiquity, and consists of four books.

This enigmatic poem is attributed to Seng-t'san, the third Chinese patriarch of Zen, who died in 606 CE. The tone of the work is revealed in the opening stanza in which the patriarch recommends dynamic introspection as the ideal attitude in solving the apparent problems of life. He urges the seeker neither to become trapped in the "outer entanglements of life" nor to isolate himself in solitude, but to remain calm in the procession of personal vicissitudes, seeing the essential oneness of all things.

La Vida de Agrícola es un texto breve con el que Cayo Cornelio Tácito (98 D.C) rinde tributo y homenaje a su suegro escribiendo su biografía. Relata la vida de Cneo Julio Agrícola, un importante senador y militar de la época. El historiador escribe acerca de la libertad de los nativos britones y realiza una desfavorable comparación con la corrupción y la tiranía que reinaban sobre el Imperio. Cneo Julio Agrícola, cónsul y general romano. Nació en Frejuis (Galia, en lo que hoy es el sur de Francia) el 12 de junio del año 37 y murió en Roma el 25 de agosto del 93.

Still, the Sky is a speculative mythology rendered through poetry that combines the tales of Icarus and the Minotaur and creates for them a shared coming of age through a correspondence of written fragments, artifacts, ecofacts, and ephemera. Fragmented memories, relics, and confessions combine in a labyrinth of fever dreams and meditations that contemplate innocence and experience, war and peace, exile and homecoming, flight and failure, love and loss.

Hafiz's Little Book of Life is a lush collection of more than 250 selections from his lifework (his divan). Alongside a Quran, a copy of his divan can be found in average homes in Iran—where stars can be heard singing his poetry on the radio, and lines from his poems are quoted on the street. His poetry is sure to strike a chord in the hearts of readers everywhere. This vital collection of mystical poetry focuses on the issues we encounter in everyday life. Each brief poem may be savored as an oasis of clarity in the hurried literacy of our time, or the entire book enjoyed in one sitting.

Vuelve la mitología griega narrada como un buen salseo: ahora le toca a Hércules contar su historia. La nueva novela mitológica de Pol Gise, creador de contenido con más de 3 millones de seguidores en redes, después del éxito conseguido con su primera novela Hades, el dios menos malo.

Aeneas ist eine Person sowohl der griechischen als auch der römischen Mythologie. Er entstammt einer Nebenlinie des trojanischen Herrschergeschlechts und ist Sohn des Anchises und der Göttin Aphrodite (röm. Venus). Aeneas gilt als Stammvater der Römer. Seine Geschichte wird erzählt vom römischen Dichter Vergil. Sie ist in lateinischen Versen abgefasst und schlägt eine Brücke zwischen der trojanischen der römischen Sagenwelt.

Dieses Ringelnatzische Lyrikaversum hat nicht nur den unerschrockenen Seemann „Kuttel Daddeldu“, der als Europapa viele Enkel von diversen europäischen Frauen hat, der Landratten kritisch sieht, der bei seinen seltenen, aber doch regelmäßigen Landgängen eine Schneise des totalen Vergnügens ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste zurücklässt, zum Thema. Im geistesblitzartigen Dauerzustand werden hier die wildesten, verrrrrücktesten und gegensätzlichsten Gedanken elegant miteinander verknüpft, so dass man mit einmaligem Anhören noch lange nicht genug hat.