/lit/ - Literature

>>21268081
Jimmy the Greek's autobiography

>>21268081
>where do I start

>>21268081
Hellas: A Short History of Ancient Greece, Robinson

Start with the book that you have at hand.

>>21268081
Works and Days you absolute troglodyte

I started with Plato's Alcibiades I and read Politeia after that. Those are relatively easy and a good introduction in my opinion

>>21268143
Thanks anon , I'll go with that

1. Some book about the history and mythology of ancient Greece up until Alexander
2. Homer (The Iliad, The Odyssey) and Hesiod
3. Thucydides (The Peloponnesian War)
4. Xenophon (the sequel to The Peloponnesian War, Anabasis)
5. Some book about ancient philosophy to get a broad idea of the history and different philosophers.
6. Plays (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes)
7. Plato's dialogues
8. Selected things from Aristotle (at this point you would know what interests you the most)

This should keep you busy for half an year and while reading all this shit you'll also discover other things that fill the gaps.

>>21268175
just read homer lmao
>5000 pages of schizobabble
no thanks

>>21268186
It's more like 1000 pages in total. But yeah, talking about schizobabble, you should also read the Bible and the Koran at some point if you want to be an educated man.

start with the Mycenaean palace scribes

>>21268081
Literature student here. In my 1st year we read the Illiad, the Odyssey, Oedipus the King, the Frogs and the Symposium

>>21268208
And Daphnis & Chloe. Almost forgot that one

>>21268081
thales

>>21268081
For the lazy man, Socrates (i.e Plato, because Socrates didn't write) is where most would start since the "big three" are Socrates->Plato->Aristotle.
You'd be missing out on quite a bit though

>>21268081
No, you start with the real greeks! The Pre-Socratics! You also read the trilogy: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon's Hellenica & Anabasis & Agesilaus. Then you go to ancient China, only pseuds obsess about plato and aristotle.

Do a little research, you fucking shitfuck.

>>21268081
Heraclotus's fragments. Then Plato. Then Aristotle.

Just pick and choose what seems cool to you.

Just got back from Athens, and the largest bookshops in the city had basically zero books on the ancient greeks in English. Felt sad man

>>21269216
Why would they?

>>21269216
I couldn't even find a Septuagint

>>21268081

the apology

it gives some idea as to who socrates is before you read other dialogues

>>21268200
kek

>>21268081
>but where do I start with them ?
Start with the Spartans.

>>21268081
>Yes , but where do I start with them ?
>1
read a generic book abt mithology
>2
Illiad then Odissey
>3
get a general book abt the pre-socratics
no need to read each one of the pre-socratics
>4
Plato then Aristotle
>5
have some gay sex

DONE! Anything more is useless unless you want to be a academic specialist in the subject

Pre-socratic philosophers from Penguin

>>21270937
if you know NOTHING abt ancient greece, read the wikipedia page abt it or get a generic book ("ancient greece something history" idk)
good versions of homer's writtings will give you good context and history on the footnotes

then that would be before #1

but you can easily get the idea reading the mythology and homer

>>21268081
>he didn't start with the Mesopotamians

>>21270954
epic of gilgamesh is so good tho
top10 readings to understand religions/mythologies

>>21268081
>reading greek philosophy
read greek theater.

>>21268081
>epic
iliad
odyssey
>tragedy (skip comedy)
oedipus tyrranus
antigone
medea
>plato
apology
symposium
phaedo
>history
herodotus
thucydides
>aristotle
only if you like everything else, otherwise just read poetics
>>21268186
>homer is schizobabble
unironically kys

>>21268657
>reading xenophon
hellenica is ok, rest is garbage

>>21270981
>read greek theater
yeah, it's great. but would reading greek theater help with greek philosophy? i don't think so, not for the average philosophy lover at least, for the average greek/lit lover, then yes

it really depends on the path:
reading the greeks bc:
>i love literature
>i love theatre
>i love philosophy
>i love history
that would change the recs

>>21270987
>plato
>no politeia
?

>>21271013
>>plato
>>no politeia
>?
pic related, insert the republic

>>21271013
Ask yourself why on earth would you want to read the mistranslated hot opinions of a bunch of men who lived 2500 years ago

If you don't have an honest interest in history or anthropology you are wasting your time.

>>21268081
Just pick one and shut the fuck up

>>21268081
Thucydides
Plato
Herodotus
Aristotle
Euripides
Sophocles
Aeschylus
Homer
Pindar
Archilochus

These are the big guns that you need to read

>>21270949
based

if mankind had focused on the pre-socratics, we would have already colonised the galaxy and I would be posting this from a space station orbiting mars. instead we turned to athenoid rubbish and "aristotelean"/"neoplatonist" medieval theology. how did humanity screw up this badly.

>>21269216
The modern “Greeks” have nothing in common with the ancient Greeks.

>>21268081
start with fucking little boys

>>21268081
Start with the water (Thales)

>>21269216
Just got back from New York, and the largest bookshops in the city had basically zero books on the american founders in Greek. Felt sad man

>>21270937
>DONE! Anything more is useless unless you want to be a academic specialist in the subject
You missed Herodotus and Thucydides and Xenophon, all of whom are worth reading even for generalists.

>>21270987
>hellenica is ok, rest is garbage
You're probably the only person I know who would call Hellenica OK and Anabasis garbage.

>>21271069
Solid. Would consider dropping Pindar and Archilochus and adding Xenophon but honestly that's just personal preference. Your top 8 are good and basically comprehensive.

>>21268997
I'm just reading Plato in the order Loeb puts him in.

I like that they put all of the essential "story" dialogues of Socrates right in the first volume.

>>21271195
I was joking about Archilochus. Xenophon is great and Anabais is bad ass but I think he’s a clear step down from the giants. If Xenophon is there, then Aristophanes and all should be too. Pindar’s ode’s are too important to Ancient Greek culture to skip

As an aside, Anabais cracked me up a few times unexpectedly. Once when he was giving a speech and said we shouldn’t be fighting each other as if we were fighting over a beautiful young boy. The other time when they meet a people who reverse how one should act in private and in public. They would talk to themselves when alone and try and have sex with each when in the street

>>21271192
ive read them in greek
anabasis is boring as hell, one satrap after the other
hellenica is at least interesting in regards to the pelopennesian war

>>21271226
Anabasis is based and a little shocking. Another moment that stands out is when they're lost and capture two people, so they execute one to make the other talk.

>>21268081
See, if you started with the Bumps you wouldn't have this problem because they are numbered begining with 1.