Books by and about great Greek figures: primary sources
Explore primary source books by and about great Greek figures, featuring works from ancient philosophers, historians, and leaders. Discover authentic texts that shaped history.
Book
The Histories
by Herodotus
The story of the Greek city-states uniting to repel a superior Persian army is the main theme in this classical narrative, but Herodotus fleshes out his text with digressions, describing the wonders of Egypt and recounting stories and folk tales.
Book
Ten Plays by Euripides
by Euripides
The first playwright of democracy, Euripides wrote with enduring insight and biting satire about social and political problems of Athenian life. In contrast to his contemporaries, he brought an exciting--and, to the Greeks, a stunning--realism to the "pure and noble form" of tragedy. For the first time in history, heroes and heroines on the stage were not idealized: as Sophocles himself said, Euripides shows people not as they ought to be, but as they actually are.
Book
The Odyssey of Homer
by Homer
The most eloquent translation of Homer's Odyssey into modern English.
