Tom's Learning Notes

The Georgics (Latin: Georgica) is a didactic poem by Virgil (70-19 BC) on agriculture and rural life, after the manner of Hesiod's Works and Days. Completed in 29 BC, it was his second major poem after the Eclogues.

Book 1 focuses on arable farming and the disruption caused by the murder of Caesar, underlining that Virgil's portrait of rural peace had political undertones. The same could be said of his praise of rural Italy in book 2, which concentrates on the cultivation of trees such as the olive and the vine, while Book 3 covers cattle farming. Book 4 deals with bee-keeping, introducing an influential metaphor for human society.

English translators of the Georgics include John Dryden, who famously accounted it 'the best poem of the best poet.'

The Georgics at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy

Free online texts

Gutenberg: The Georgics. English translation. Multiple formats.

Internet Archive: The Georgics of Virgil, translated by William Sotheby (1808). Multiple formats.

Internet Classics Archive: The Georgics. HTML and TXT formats.

Liberty Fund: Georgics, translated by Arthur S. Way. Multiple formats.

Loebulus. L063N - Virgil -- Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid, Books 1-6. PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English.

Perseus: Latin text and English translation by J.B. Greenough. HTML and XML formats.

Poetry in Translation: The Georgics, translated by A.S. Kline (2001). Multiple formats.

Sacred Texts: Georgics. Latin text and prose translation by J.W. MacKail. HTML format.

Theoi: Georgics, translated by H.R. Fairclough. HTML format.

Times Literary Supplement: The Bees (Virgil’s Georgics: Book IV), translated by Peter McDonald. 6 September 2016.

University of Adelaide: The Georgics, translated by J.B. Greenough. Multiple formats.

University of Michigan: Virgil's Georgics, translated by John Dryden. HTML format.

Wikisource: Latin text and multiple English translations. HTML and other formats.

The Metamorphoses is a a Latin narrative poem in fifteen books by Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC-17/18 CE), better known in English as Ovid. The theme of transformation unites a disparate collection of legendary stories which progress from the beginning of the universe to the deification of Julius Caesar. In some tales, however, the metamorphosis is a minor element in the story, leading many scholars to look for other interpretations of the poem.

Notable English translations in the public domain include the 1567 edition of Arthur Golding, the version known to Shakespeare, who mentions no classical poet in his works except for Ovid; an edition by George Sandys in the 1620s, and the 1717 edition of Sir Samuel Garth, whose translators included John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope and William Congreve as well as Garth himself.

The Metamorphoses at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy

Free online texts

Elizabethan Authors: The Fifteen Books of Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Arthur Golding. HTML format.

Gutenberg: The Metamorphoses of Ovid, translated by Henry T. Riley (1893). Multiple formats.

Internet Archive: Shakespeare's Ovid, translated by Arthur Golding, edited by W.H.D. Rouse. Multiple formats.

Internet Classics Archive: Metamorphoses, translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al. HTML and TXT formats.

Latin Library: Metamorphoses. Latin text. HTML format.

Loebulus: L042 - Ovid -- Metamorphoses I: Books 1-8. L043 - Ovid -- Metamorphoses II: Books 9-15. Public domain Loeb edition. PDF format.

Open Book Publishers: Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.511-733. Latin Text with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary of Terms, Vocabulary Aid and Study Questions. HTML and PDF formats free, others paid.

Perseus: Latin text with Golding and Brookes More translations. HTML and XML format.

Poetry in Translation: The Metamorphoses, translated by A.S. Kline (2000). Multiple formats.

Sacred Texts: Metamorphoses, translated by Garth et al. HTML format.

Theoi: Metamorphoses, translated by Brookes More (1922). HTML format.

University of Adelaide: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Garth et al. Multiple formats.

University of Virginia Library: The Metamorphoses. Multiple texts and other resources.

Wikisource: Latin text and English translations. HTML and other formats.

Medea by Seneca is a Latin adaptation of Euripides' play of the same name. Seneca alters some details of the plot and makes Medea a more calculating figure than in Euripides' portrayal.

Medea at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy

Free online texts
Gutenberg: Two Tragedies of Seneca - Medea and The Daughters of Troy by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, verse translation by Ella Isabel Harris. Multiple formats. 

How To Be a Stoic: Seneca on anger: the Medea, by Massimo Pigliucci.

Internet Archive: Two tragedies of Seneca, Medea and The daughters of Troy, edited by Ella Isabel Harris (1899). Multiple formats.

Latin Library: Medea. Latin text, HTML format.

Loebulus. L062N -  Tragedies I: Hercules Furens. Troades. Medea. Hippolytus. Oedipus. PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English.

Theoi: Medea, translated by Frank Justus Miller. HTML format.

Wikisource: Multiple English translations. HTML format.

The Trojan Women (Latin: Troades) by Seneca is a Latin adaptation of Euripides' play of the same name, along with elements of the latter's Hecuba.

The Trojan Women at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy

Free online texts

Gutenberg: Two Tragedies of Seneca - Medea and The Daughters of Troy by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, verse translation by Ella Isabel Harris. Multiple formats. 

Internet Archive: The Ten Tragedies of Seneca. Latin text with English translation by Watson Bradshaw (1902). Multiple formats.

Loebulus. L062N - Tragedies I: Hercules Furens. Troades. Medea. Hippolytus. Oedipus. PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English.

Theoi: Troades, translated by Frank Justus Miller. HTML format.

Wikisource: The Trojan Women, English translation by Miller. HTML and other formats.

The Madness of Hercules (Latin: Hercules Furens) by Seneca the Younger is a Latin adaptation of Euripides' play of the same name. There are some differences in the plot. For example, instead of threatening to kill Hercules' children, the Theban usurper Lycus seeks to marry his wife Megara.

The Madness of Hercules at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy

Free online texts

Internet Archive:  Three tragedies of Seneca: Hercules furens, Troades, Medea, edited by H.M. Kingery (1908). Latin text, multiple formats.

Internet Archive: The Ten Tragedies of Seneca. Latin text with English translation by Watson Bradshaw (1902). Multiple formats.

Loebulus. L062N -  Tragedies I: Hercules Furens. Troades. Medea. Hippolytus. Oedipus. PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English.

Perseus: Hercules Furens. Latin text. HTML and XML formats.

Theo.com: Herculens Furens, translated by Frank Justus Miller (1917). HTML format.

Wikisource: English translations. HTML and other formats.

Iphigenia in Aulis or at Aulis (Greek: Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Αὐλίδι) is a tragedy by Euripides, probably first produced at Athens after his death in 405 BC. It dramatises the story of the sacrifice of Iphigenia by her father Agamemnon, in order to ensure the success of the Trojan Expedition.

The play is notable for the emphasis on the characters at the expense of the chorus.

Free online texts

Gutenberg: Ιφιγένεια εν Αυλίδι, Greek text. Multiple formats.

Gutenberg: The Tragedies of Euripides, Vol I, translated by Theodore Alois Buckley (1892). Multiple formats. 

Internet Archive: The Iphigenia at Aulis of Euripides. Greek text with English notes by Edwin Bourdieu England (1891). Multiple formats.

Internet Archive: Iphigenia at Aulis. Edition of earliest English translation by Jane Fitzalan Lumley (1577). Multiple formats.

Internet Classics Archive: Iphigenia at Aulis. HTML and TXT formats.

Loebulus: L009 - Euripides -- Euripides I: Iphigenia at Aulis. Rhesus. Hecuba. The Daughters of Troy. Helen. Greek and English parallel text. Loeb edition, PDF format.

Perseus: Greek text and English translation by E.P. Coleridge. HTML and XML formats.

Poetry in Translation: Iphigenia at Aulis, translated by George Theodoridis. Multiple formats.

University of Adelaide: Iphigenia at Aulis, translated by E.P. Coleridge. Multiple formats.

Wikisource: Iphigenia at Aulis, English translation by T.A. Buckley. HTML and other formats.

Other Resources

Gutenberg: Euripides and His Age, by Gilbert Murray.

History of Ancient Greece: Euripides at War, podcast by Ryan Stitt.

Librivox: Iphigenia in Aulis. Public domain audiobooks.

Wikipedia: Iphigenia in Aulis.

The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes

Euripides: Iphigenia in Tauris.

Euripides: The Bacchae.

A.E. Haigh: The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).

 Ancient Greek resources: Learn to read Greek classics in the original.

Bloom's Western Canon: Iphigenia at Aulis is listed.

The Bacchae (Greek: Βάκχαι) is a tragedy by Euripides, found at his death in 406 BC, and produced in 406 BC. The play dramatises the introduction into Greece of the worship of the god Dionysus. Visiting Thebes, he is rejected by king Pentheus, and takes his revenge by driving the women of the city into a frenzy of madness. Among them, is Pentheus' mother Agave, who tears her son to pieces before recovering her senses and realizing what she has done. The play ends with their family being banished from the city.

Free online texts

Gutenberg: The Bacchae, translated by Gilbert Murray (1906). Multiple formats.

Gutenberg: The Tragedies of Euripides, Vol I, translated by Theodore Alois Buckley (1892). Multiple formats. 

Internet Archive: The Bacchae. Verse translation by Gilbert Murray. Multiple formats.

Internet Classics Archive: The Bacchantes. HTML and TXT formats.

Loebulus: L011N - Euripides -- Euripides III: Bacchanals. Madness of Hercules. Children of Hercules. Phoenician Maidens. Suppliants. Greek and English parallel text. Loeb edition, PDF format.

Perseus: Greek text and English translation by T.A. Buckley. HTML and XML formats.

Poetry in Translation: Bacchae, translated by George Theodoridis. Multiple formats.

University of Adelaide: The Bacchantes, translated by E.P. Coleridge. Multiple formats.

Wikisource: Greek text and English translation by Arthur Way. HTML and other formats.

Ion (Greek: Ἴων) is a play by Euripides, probably composed around 412BC. The title character is the son of Apollo, by Creusa daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens. Abandoned at birth, his recognition by his mother in adulthood provided a theme that would influence the later New Comedy.

Free online texts

Gutenberg: Ίων, Greek text. Multiple formats.

Internet Archive: The Ion of Euripides. Greek text with English translation. by A.W. Verrall (1890). Multiple formats.

Internet Classics Archive: Ion, translated by Robert Potter. HTML and TXT formats.

Loebulus: L012 - Euripides -- Euripides IV: Ion. Hippolytus. Medea. Alcestis. Greek and English parallel text. Loeb edition, PDF format.

Perseus: Greek text and English translation by Robert Potter (1938). HTML and XML formats.

Poetry in Translation: Ion, translated by George Theodoridis. Multiple formats.

University of Adelaide: Ion, translated by Robert Potter. Multiple formats.

Wikisource: Greek text and multiple English translations. HTML and other formats.

Other Resources

Gutenberg: Euripides and His Age, by Gilbert Murray.

History of Ancient Greece: Euripides at War, podcast by Ryan Stitt.

Wikipedia: Ion (play)

The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes

A.E. Haigh: The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).

 Ancient Greek resources: Learn to read Greek classics in the original.

Bloom's Western Canon: Ion is listed.

Iphigenia in Tauris (Greek: Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις) is a tragedy by Euripides probably first performed in Athens some time around 412 BC. The play's usual English title is, strictly speaking, the Latin name meaning 'Iphigenia among the Taurians'.

Euripides follows the version of the Iphigenia story in the Cypria, which relates that when her father Agamemnon was about to sacrifice her to secure the success of the Trojan expedition, she was spirited away by the goddess Artemis to be a priestess in the land of the Taurians in Crimea.

The play deals with the arrival of a group of Greeks among whom Iphigenia recognises her brother Orestes. She saves him from being sacrificed and they escape together with the image of the goddess. The theme of escape has led some commentators to conclude that like Euripides' similar Helen, it was composed after the defeat of the Sicilian Expedition in 413 BC.

Iphigenia in Tauris at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy

Free online texts

Gutenberg, Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Gilbert Murray. Multiple formats.

Gutenberg: The Tragedies of Euripides, Vol I, translated by Theodore Alois Buckley (1892). Multiple formats. 

Internet Archive: Iphigenia in Tauris, verse translation by Witter Bynner. (1915). Multiple formats.

Internet Classics Archive: Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Robert Potter. HTML and TXT formats.

Loebulus: L010N - Euripides -- Euripides II: Electra. Orestes. Iphigeneia in Taurica. Andromache. Cyclops. Greek and English parallel text. Loeb edition, PDF format.

Perseus: Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Robert Potter. HTML and XML formats.

Poetry in Translation: Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by George Theodoris. Multiple formats.

University of Adelaide: Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Robert Potter. Multiple formats.

Wikisource: Greek text and multiple English translations. HTML and other formats.

Other Resources

Gutenberg: Euripides and His Age, by Gilbert Murray.

History of Ancient Greece: Euripides at War, podcast by Ryan Stitt.

Librivox: Iphigenia in Tauris, public domain audiobooks.

Wikipedia: Iphigenia in Tauris

The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes

Homer: The Iliad

Epic Cycle: The Cypria.

Euripides: Iphigenia at Aulis

Euripides: Helen

Goethe: Iphigenia in Tauris.

A.E. Haigh: The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).

 Ancient Greek resources: Learn to read Greek classics in the original.

The Trojan Women is a tragedy by Euripides, originally produced in Athens in 415 BC, the same year in which the Athenians captured the island of Melos, an event of often thought to have influenced the play's theme.

It centres on the fate of a series of captive women during the sack of Troy. Hecuba, the widow of Priam is to become a slave of Odysseus. Her daughter, the prophetess Cassandra, foresees her own death along with Agamemnon, who will take her as his concubine. Andromache, the widow of Hector, whose son is taken from her by the Greeks, is allotted to Neoptolemus. Helen, the mistress of Paris persuades her husband Menelaus to spare her and take her back.  In the finals scenes, the body of Andromache's son Astyanax is returned to Hecuba for burial, and the women are taken away as the city burns.

Euripides' The Trojan Women at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy
Free online texts

Gutenberg: The Trojan Women, translated by Gilbert Murray (1915). Multiple formats. 

Internet Archive: The Trojan Women of Euripides, translated by Gilbert Murray. Multiple formats.

Internet Classics Archive: The Trojan Women. HTML and TXT formats.

Loebulus: L009 - Euripides -- Euripides I: Iphigenia at Aulis. Rhesus. Hecuba. The Daughters of Troy. Helen. Greek and English parallel text. Loeb edition, PDF format.

Poetry in Translation: Trojan Women, translated by George Theodoridis. Multiple formats.

ToposText: English text indexed to accompanying map.

University of Adelaide: The Trojan Women, translated by E. P. Coleridge. Multiple formats.

Wikisource: Greek text and multiple English translations. HTML and XML formats.

Performances and Reviews

YaleNews: ‘The Trojan Women’ at Yale Summer Cabaret laments Syrian war, by Mike Cummings, 23 June 2017.

Gate Threatre, London

Guardian: Trojan Women Review, by Mchael Billington, 13 November 2012.

Amman

Financial Times: Syrian refugees stage Euripides’ ‘The Trojan Women’, by Charlotte Eagar, 3 January 2014.

Flea Theatre, New York

New York Times: ‘The Trojan Women’ Laments War and Bloodshed, From a Distance, by Laura Collins-Hughes, 1 September 2016.

Other Resources

Binghamton University: Ancient Tragedy Study Guide - Euripides' Trojan Women, by Andrew Scholtz.

Gutenberg: Euripides and His Age, by Gilbert Murray.

History of Ancient Greece: Euripides at War, podcast by Ryan Stitt.

Internet Archive: Greek and Roman Plays - For the Intermediate Grades, by Dr Albert Cullum. Multiple formats.

Librivox: The Trojan Women. Public domain audiobooks, Coleridge and Murray translations.

University College London: Euripides' Trojan Women Study Guide, by Dr Rosa Andújar.

University College London:  Euripides, Trojan Women, by Professor Chris Carey.

University of Warwick: Summary - The Trojan Women by Euripides, by Mike Conley.

Wikipedia: The Trojan Women.

The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes

Homer: The Iliad.

Euripides: Hecuba.

Euripides: Andromache.

Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War. Recounts the sack of Melos which occurred around the time the play was first staged and may have influenced its theme.

Seneca: The Trojan Women - A Latin adaptation of the story.

A.E. Haigh: The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).

Ancient Greek resources: Learn to read Greek classics in the original.