"Henderson has a real gift for capturing Aristophanes' voice, and does not hesitate to leap totally over the top, just like his author."
—New England Classical Journal
"In her new translation of Antigone, Ruby Blondell demonstrates an unswerving sense of what the general reader needs to know in order not only to understand Sophocles, but to relish him as well… My own students have found that this edition not only makes the Antigone accessible, but also helps them understand why it continues to fascinate, to disturb, and to grip its readers century by century." —John T. Kirby, Comparative Literature, Purdue University
Learn MoreEnglish translation, with introductory material, notes, glossary and essay by Stephen Esposito, of Euripides' tragedy based on the mythological story of King Pentheus of Thebes.
Learn MoreJeffrey Henderson, noted Greek scholar, has translated into English one of Aristophanes' greatest comedies. Offered with detailed notes and an enlightening introduction, this modern translation brings to life the wit and elegance of the language while putting the text in historical and cultural context.
Learn MoreThis is an English translation of Sophocles' tragedy of Electra, and the vengeance that she and her brother Orestes take on their mother and step father for the murder of their father. This edition also includes an "afterlife" essay that discusses adaptations of the play, as well as touches on other ways Electra has had influence (Jung's identification of the Electra Complex, O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra). Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays to provide access to understanding Greek culture.
Learn More"Overall . . . I find this translation of the Frogs to be entertaining and very readable. Furthermore, Henderson's comprehensive introduction makes this translation quite useful for general readers or students at any level." —Erin K. Moodie, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Learn MoreGolden Prose in the Age of Augustus is an anthology containing fresh, accurate and readable translations of the seven great prose writers from the Augustan period and covers a broad range of prose writing with introduction, maps, chronology, glossary, bibliography and notes.
Learn MoreEuripides Hecuba is one of the few tragedies that evoke a sense of utter desolation and destruction in the audience. The drama focuses on the status of women, those who are out of power and at the margins of society, by enacting the sufferings of Hecuba. With the city of Troy fallen, Hecuba and Polyxena, her daughter, are enslaved to Agamemnon. Hecuba is despondent with the news that Polyxena is chosen to be sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles. After the sacrifice, the body of her son Polydorus, already a ghost at the start of the drama, is discovered. Polymestor, a king in Thrace who Hecuba sent Polydorus to for safety reasons, murdered Polydorus for his gold. With the tacit complicity of Agamemnon, Hecuba plots her revenge against Polymestor. What transpires next has lasting implications for all involved, including a dramatic trial scene and Hecubas ultimate metamorphosis.
Learn MoreEuripides' Heracles is an extraordinary play, innovative in its treatment of the myth, bold in its dramatic structure, and filled with affective human pathos. The play tells a tale of horror: Heracles, the greatest hero of the Greeks, is maddened by the gods to murder his wife and children. But this suffering and divine malevolence are leavened by the friendship between Heracles and Theseus, which allows the hero to survive this final and most painful labor. The Heracles raises profound questions about the gods and mortal values in a capricious and harsh world.
Learn MoreNo play of Euripides is more admired than Hippolytus. The tale of a married woman stirred to passion for a younger man was traditional, but Euripides modified this story and blended it with one of divine vengeance to create a masterpiece of tension, pathos, and dramatic power. In this play, Phaedra fights nobly but unsuccessfully against her desire for her stepson Hippolytus, while the young man risks his life to keep her passion secret. Both of them, constrained by the overwhelming force of divine power and human ignorance, choose to die in order to maintain their virtue and their good names.
Learn MoreThis is a collection of the standard texts of ancient Greek which are important components of what we know about Greek myth, religion, language and culture. All of the works collectively known as the Homeric Hymns are collected and translated here in their entirety, and the work includes ample notes and an introduction to provide information on the works' historic importance, a chronological table, genealogical chart, maps of Greece and the Aegean Islands, and illustrations of vase paintings with mythological themes.
Learn MoreThis is an English translation of Sophocles' famous tragedy of Oedipus and the fate he so much tries to avoid. Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays to provide access to understanding Greek culture.
Learn MoreHenderson's English translation of Lysistrata, the most popular of Aristophanes' plays, appeals to the modern reader because of its lively and imaginative plot, strong and memorable heroine, good jokes, and appeal for peace and tolerance between nations and between the sexes. Jeffery Henderson, noted Greek scholar, puts the work in historical and cultural context in his comprehensive introduction. Suggestions for further reading, notes, and map are also included.
Learn MoreEnglish translation. Includes essays on the play's mythical background and the work of Euripides, an introduction to Greek drama and the dramatic tradition, plot summaries and suggestions for further reading. For both students and the general reader.
Learn MoreDrawn from four titles in the Focus Classical Library, this anthology includes four outstanding translations of plays by Euripides as well as a general introduction, extensive footnotes, and two interpretive essays. Included are Anthony J. Podecki’s translation of Medea, Michael R. Halleran's translation of Hippolytus and Heracles and Stephen Esposito’s translation of Bacchae.
Learn MoreThis complete verse translation of Ovid's classical work is illustrated with extensive notes, an index, and glossary. To help the reader contend with Ovid's frequent leaps both ahead and back in time, the principle episodes are listed at the beginning of each book and the subsections and digressions marked with indentations. Some footnotes also refer to mythological material Ovid has derived from Greek epic or drama or, occasionally, from later sources. Specific authors referred to in these notes are briefly identified in the index and glossary.
Learn MoreOdysseus at Troy is centered on the mythological Greek warrior, Odysseus, hero of the Trojan War. This book contains three plays: Sophocles' Ajax, Euripides' Hecuba, and Euripides' Trojan Women. The plays are complete, with notes and introductions for each. An additional introduction to the volume gives background on this popular theme, and on Ajax, one of the most written-about hero in Greek literature.
Learn MoreThis is an English translation of Sophocles' tragedy of Oedipus who is banished from Thebes and confronts an array of obstacles that stand between him and the death he craves. Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays to provide access to understanding Greek culture. Includes maps, essays and suggestions for further reading.
Learn More"Seth Schein's new translation of the Philoctetes will serve as a useful text for upper-year classical literature courses in translation. As is typical of the Focus Classical Library series, Schein's translation aims to give a faithful rendering of the Greek that is at the same time readable, if not poetic. It also situates the work in its historical context and generally provides the supplementary material required for readers new to Attic tragedy. . . . Given that it provides more contextual information and interpretive detail than the average translation, and that the translation itself strives for greater fidelity to the original, Schein's work will be most welcome in upper-year translation courses, where it will encourage students to develop a more detailed and subtle understanding of the play."
—Brad Levett, Carleton University
"Christenson has offered readers a useful and informative edition of four Plautine plays in neutral, accessible English that, unlike some recent Plautus translations, reaches out to a wide modern audience, both classicist and general, both in Anglophone countries and elsewhere in the world. Within the range of Plautus translations as currently available, this is certainly a most welcome contribution. Christenson's thematical focus on some of Plautus' more serious plays, in which he seems almost like a social critic, is interesting and provides food for thought."
—Vincent Hunink, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review
This is an English translation of Terence's Roman comedy that deals with questions of perennial interest: "How best to raise children?" and "How to give self-disinterested moral advice?"
Learn MoreEnglish translation, with introduction, notes and appendices. The Trojan Women is a play on the consequences of war and the fate of those defeated in war and their victors.
Learn MoreThis anthology includes English translations of three plays of Sophocles' Oidipous Cycle: Antigone, King Oidipous, and Oidipous at Colonus. The trilogy includes an introductory essay on Sophocles life, ancient theatre, and the mythic and religious background of the plays. Each of these plays is available from Focus in a single play edition. Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays to provide access to understanding Greek culture.
Learn MoreThis edition includes an annotated translation, by Richard Caldwell, of Hesiod’s Theogony together with annotated translation, by Stephanie Nelson, of Hesiod’s Works & Days. Introductions by the translators are also included, as is an essay by Caldwell entitled “The Psychology of the Succession Myth."
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This translation contains an introduction, commentary and interpretive essay and well as numerous notes and annotations to provide the history and background of the epic, and the mythological context in which it is placed. Hesiod's straightforward account of family conflict among the gods is the best and earliest evidence of what the ancient Greeks believed about the beginning of the world. Includes Hesiod's Works and Days, lines 1-201 and the Library of Apollodorus.
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