Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is of immense importance to the culture of the Indian subcontinent and is a major text of Hinduism....

One of the most significant books ever written by a head of state, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius....

Kurukshetra is a Hindi classic. It gives an extraordinary account of the Kurukshetra war mentioned in the Mahabharata. It describes in vivid details the armed confrontation that took place between the Pandavas and the Kauravas....

Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s most compelling Roman plays. The plot against Caesar and the infamous assassination scene make for unforgettable listening....

Written by Thiruvalluvar in Tamil 10,000 years ago, Thirukkural and its Pearls of Wisdom is as relevant today as it was when written....

In this play by the author of The Forsyte Saga, a theft at a house party causes turmoil, resulting in an exposure of prejudices and a straining of loyalties....

Throughout these lectures, you'll meet the poet in many guises; the divine, the alchemical, the common, the playful and the prisoner....

This beautiful collection of 196 of his poems, previously unavailable in English and now translated by native Persian speakers Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin, will appeal to Rumi lovers everywhere who want a guidebook for their inner journey....

A lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s “nimble gallop” and brings an ancient epic to new life....

Enjoy the most notable plays of William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello....

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature....

In Paradise Lost, Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time....

Four classic comedies from one of the wittiest playwrights in Western literature....

Wilson has returned with an equally revelatory translation of Homer’s other great epic―the most revered war poem of all time....

Eight of George Bernard Shaw's most memorable plays in one splendid collection....

The Oresteia is a tragedy in three parts written by Aeschylus in the fifth century BCE. After a decade of warfare, Troy had fallen and Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, returned home....

In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce....

The Tirukkural (honoured Kural) is one of the world's greatest literary and philosophical masterpieces. Composed in Tamil by Tiruvalluvar sometime between 2 BCE and 5 CE....

Seeking to depose his brother Artaxerxes and take his place upon the Persian throne, Cyrus the Younger leads the 10,000 mercenaries on a dangerous campaign deep into the heart of Persia....

Socrates, at 70+ years of age, defends himself against charges of corrupting the youth of Athens, atheism, and other false claims before accepting his fate....

Experience the stunning Greek poetry of Homer in this collection of his two major works: The Iliad and The Odyssey. These epic poems are beloved for their presentation of Greek history and belief systems, their lessons on Greek virtues, and their continued influence....

The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods....

A collection of four of Chekhov's most popular dramas together with his unusual one-act comedy, The Boor, presented by members of The Online Stage....

The Iliad and The Odyssey are epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer, of which the written versions are dated to the 8th century BCE. Chronicling events in the Greek Bronze Age, this magnificent pair of poems forms the cornerstone of Western literature....

How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines....

Agamemnon, Heerführer der Griechen, hat seine Tochter Iphigenie getötet, um günstige Winde für die Fahrt nach Troja zu erhalten. Nun, nach langen Jahren im Krieg kehrt er zurück, als Kriegsbeute Kassandra im Gefolge. Seine Frau Klytämnestra bietet ihm scheinbar ehrvollen Empfang - doch kaum in den Palast eingezogen, ermordet sie sowohl ihn als auch Kassandra - aus Rache für den Tochtermord. Auch Ägisth, Agamemnons Neffe und ihr Liebhaber, ist Teil des Komplotts - hat denn auch er gegenüber seinem Onkel grausame Rachegelüste.

В книгу вошли басни Эзопа – легендарного древнегреческого раба – в переводах Льва Николаевича Толстого. Эзоп прославился тем, что слагал короткие истории про животных, в которых обличал человеческие пороки. Причём делал это так мастерски, что в народе с лёгкостью узнавали прототип героя. Басни Эзопа облетели весь мир и были переведены на разные языки, а строки из них стали крылатыми. Л.Н. Толстой сделал свой перевод эзоповских историй – максимально приближенный к оригиналу, но понятный деревенским детям, которых обучал писатель.

The Völsunga saga is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century poetic rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and the destruction of the Burgundians). It is one of the most famous legendary sagas and an example of a "heroic saga" that deals with Germanic heroic legend. The saga covers topics including the quarrel between Sigi and Skaði, a huge family tree of great kings and powerful conquerors and the quest led by Sigmund and Sinfjǫtli to save princess Signý from the evil king Siggeir. 

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.

「殺人があったのは二十二年前の今日――」。ディケンズ『バーナビー・ラッジ』とポーによるその書評、英国最初の長篇推理小説と言える「ノッティング・ヒルの謎」を含む、古典的傑作八篇を収録(本邦初訳を含む)。