Every page in this book contains some fundamental precursor of the ways in which we think about heroism, destiny, love, politics, tragedy, science, virtue, and thought itself. Included are excerpts from the mythologies of Hesiod; the martial epics of Homer; the drama of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclitus; Aesop's fables; poems by Pindar and Sapphol; the scientific writings of Euclid, Galen, and Hippocrates; and the history of Thucydides. Presented in their most elegant and auhtoratative translations, and accompanied by Auden's brilliant introduction, these selections recreate the Greek world in all its splendor, strangness, and sophistication.
