Graduate Reading List for the Ph.D. in Classics, AoC Ancient Philosophy, and/or Ancient Science
The following list of Ancient Greek and Roman authors is intended to help students prepare for the Preliminary Doctoral Examination and the following Comprehensive Ph.D. Examinations:
- Greek and Latin Literature
- Greek and Roman History
- Special Topic: Classical Philosophy or Ancient Science
Some of the authors listed will also be read in the required course ‘Ancient Greek and Latin Seminar’. Given that students enter the Ph.D. program with a Master’s degree in hand, it is likely that they will already have read several of the authors listed upon entering the program. Each student, in consultation with their advisor, will choose from the authors listed below and design an individual reading list that is tailored to their plan of study, taking into account exam preparation and previous reading experience.
Latin Authors
Students should read at least 500 OCT pages, selected from the works listed below, in consultation with their advisor.
| Author | Title |
|---|---|
| Apuleius | Metamorphoses (Cupid and Psyche) |
| Augustine | Confessions 1.6-20; 8.6-12 |
| Boethius | De Consolatione Philosophiae |
| Caesar | Gallic War 1-4, Civil War 1 |
| Catullus | 1-51, 64, 76, 101 |
| Cicero | In Catilinam 1, Phillipic 2, De Re Publica (fragments as in Zetzel), De Officiis 1, De Oratore 1, Laelius, Tusculans 1, Select Letters (Shackleton Bailey’s Select Letters), De Finibus 1-3 & 5, Academica 1 |
| Horace | Odes 1, 3; Epodes 1, 6; Satires 1.1, 6, 9; 2.2, 6; Letters 1.4, 6; 2.1 |
| Juvenal | 1, 3, 6, 10 |
| Livy | 1, 21 |
| Lucan | 1 |
| Lucretius | 1-3 |
| Martial | 1 |
| Ovid | Metamorphoses 1, 4; Fasti 1 |
| Petronius | Cena Trimalchionis 26-72 |
| Plautus | Amphitruo, Miles |
| Pliny the Younger | Select Letters |
| Propertius | 1 |
| Seneca | De Ira; De Beneficiis I-II; De Tranquillitate Animi; Letters 51, 56, 79, 84, 86, 88, 114, 122 |
| Tacitus | Annales 1-4; Historiae 1, 5 |
| Vergil | Aeneid, Bucolics, Georgics 4 |
Ancient Greek Authors
Students should read at least 500 OCT pages, selected from the works listed below, in consultation with their advisor.
| Author | Title |
|---|---|
| Aeschylus | Oresteia (Agamemnon, Eumenides) |
| Apollonius | Conic Sections |
| Archimedes | The Method of Mechanical Theorems, On the Sphere and Cylinder |
| Aristophanes | Clouds, Frogs |
| Aristotle | Categories 1-5, De Interpretatione, Topics 1, Posterior Analytics (select passages), Metaphysics (select passages), Physics (select passages), De Anima, Generation of Animals 1, 2; Generation and Corruption 2, Meteorology 1, 4; De Caelo 1, 2; Nicomachean Ethics (select passages) |
| Demosthenes | Philippics 1 |
| Diogenes Laertius | 7, 10 |
| Epicurus | Letters to Herodotus & Menoeceus |
| Euclid | Elements 1, 4; Optics, Phaenomena |
| Euripides | Medea, Hippolytus, Bacchae |
| Galen | On the Natural Faculties 1, On the Uses of the Parts 1, On the Sects for Beginners |
| Herodotus | 1, 6, 7, 8 |
| Hesiod | Theogony 1-239 |
| Homer | Iliad, Odyssey |
| Lyric Poetry | Most texts in D. Campell (Greek Lyric Poetry, 2nd ed.; skip Callinus, Phocylides, Demodocus, Pratinas, Timocreon, Praxilla, Carmina Popularia, Scolia), newly found poems of Archilochus, Sappho, Simonides |
| Lysias | Against Eratosthenes |
| Menander | Dyskolos |
| Plato | Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, Meno, Protagoras (select passages), Parmenides, Republic (select passages), Gorgias, Timaeus (select passages), Phaedo, Theaetetus (select passages), Laches, Sophist (select passages), Philebus, Laws 10 |
| Plotinus | Enneads 1.4, 4.8, 5.1 |
| Plutarch | Lives (Pericles and Cicero) |
| Presocratics | B fragments Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno, Empedocles, Democritus, Anaxagoras |
| Ptolemy | Syntaxis 1, 10; Optics 5; Harmonics 1 |
| Sextus Empiricus | Outlines of Pyrrhonism 1 |
| Sophocles | Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus Rex |
| Theophrastus | De Causis Plantarum 1 |
| Thucydides | 1-2.70, 5.84-7 |
| Xenophon | Memorabilia 1, Hellenica 1 |