Reading List
The Majors' Reading List consists of a group of central Greek and Latin texts selected by the faculty, to be read in English (if not in the original) by the beginning of the senior year. Many of these texts will have been assigned in different classes, while others will complement class readings. By reading, considering, and discussing the texts on the list, bi-college Classics students—whatever the focus of their particular major—will emerge with a stronger common basis for discussion and with a better sense of the range and depth of the classical heritage.
All the texts may be read in English; many will be read in connection with a class. Students may read the texts on their own, or in informal reading groups with their classmates, or in groups sponsored by the John B. Hurford '60 Center for the Arts and Humanities
For most works we will recommend a particular translation or translations, but if students would like to read a different version, they can consult with any faculty member if the translation is a reasonable alternative.
Greek Texts
Latin Texts
Professorial Favorites And Suggestions
These lists of recommendations reflect texts that are important to individual faculty. The texts might be personal favorites, works that are central to our scholarship, or that we wish everyone could read.
Professor Baertschi Recommends
Bryn Mawr College
- Cicero, Somnium Scipionis; De oratore 1.1-159, 3.120-230
- Horace, Complete Works
- Ovid, Heroides
- Seneca, Moral Epistles
- Tacitus, Annals 1, 4, 14
Professor Conybeare Recommends
Bryn Mawr College
- Lucretius, De Rerum Natura
- Cicero, De Amicitia
- Virgil, Georgics
- Augustine, Confessions
- Prudentius, Psychomachia
Professor Edmonds Recommends
Bryn Mawr College
- Homeric Hymns to Demeter, Hermes, Apollo, and Aphrodite (2-5)
- Gorgias, Defense of Helen
- Plato, Republic (especially books II-III and X)
- Plato, Timaeus 17-27 (Atlantis story)
- Plutarch, On the Daimon of Socrates
Professor Farmer Recommends
- Petronius, Satyricon
- Menander, Dyscolus
- Lucian, True History
- Tacitus, Annals 1.1-15 and 15.33.74
- Demosthenes, On the Crown
Professor Mulligan Recommends
- Martial, Book 10
- Passion of Perpetua
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy
- Heliodorus, Aethiopian Tale
Professor Shirazi Recommends
- Xenophon, Symposium
- Aristotle, Politics (esp. Books 1-3 and 6-8)
- Pliny the Younger, Letters (2.17; 4.30; 5.6, 5.18; 6.16, 6.31; 8.8, 8.20)
- Virgil, Eclogues
- Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon
Recommended Synoptic Text
- Beard and Henderson, Classics: A Very Short Introduction
Recommended Historical Surveys
- Pomeroy, A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture
- Potter, Ancient Rome: A New History