Description

A rigorously and imaginatively researched anthology of classical literature, bringing together one hundred stories from the rich diversity of the literary canon of ancient Greece and Rome.

Striking a balance between the ‘classic classic’ (such as Dryden’s translation of the Aeneid) and the less familiar or expected, Of Gods and Men ranges from the epic poetry of Homer to the histories of Arrian and Diodorus Siculus and the sprawling Theogony of Hesiod; from the tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides to the biographies of Suetonius and Plutarch and the pen portraits of Theophrastus; and from the comedies of Plautus to the fictions of Petronius and Apuleius.

Of Gods and Men is embellished by translations from writers as diverse as Queen Elizabeth I (Boethius), Percy Bysshe Shelley (Plato), Walter Pater (Apuleius’s Golden Ass), Lawrence of Arabia (Homer’s Odyssey), Louis MacNeice (Aeschylus’s Agamemnon) and Ted Hughes (Ovid’s Pygmalion), as well as a number of accomplished translations by Daisy Dunn herself.

Publisher Review

'This book is a big and wonderful read for anyone who loves classical literature... Each story is a truly fascinating tale of wars, endless fighting, heroes, deaths, beautiful women - Helen features, of course - gods and goddesses, cruelty, pain and love' * Pennant Magazine * 'This is an excellent collection. Everyone needs to know the Classics, and this volume is a good place not just to start but also to continue and depend one's love for the Ancients' * Catholic Herald * 'The book is perfect gift material but really, you should treat yourself to it first' * Minerva * 'This anthology is hard to beat for big names' * BBC History Magazine *