Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature

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....

The Iliad. Join Achilles at the Gates of Troy as he slays Hector to Avenge the death of Patroclus. Here is a story of love and war, hope and...

The Ramcharitmanas is one of the greatest lyrical compositions in Hindi literature. Writing in the 16th century, Tulsidas chose to pen verses in Awadhi rather than Sanskrit, thus breaking with literary tradition and, importantly, making Lord Ram more relatable to the lay person....

The Lower Depths, also titled At the Bottom, is a 1902 play by the Russian author and playwright Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). This work portrays a group of wretched, impoverished outcasts living in a shelter near the Volga River....

The book is one of the most influential ethical treatises of all time. Written in 350 BC, it identifies happiness as life's goal....

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....

Infamously known as the cursed Scottish play, Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy....

If your best friend is named Huckleberry Finn, and there's a girl in your life named Becky Thatcher, a villain named Injun Joe, and you and your friends get into all kinds of mischief...

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

The Meditations are a series of private reflections written in Greek by a Roman emperor immersed in the administration of an empire beset by wars and natural disasters. It is the work of a great man seeking philosophical and spiritual solace in the midst of human chaos and uncertainty....

John Lithgow has compiled an outstanding collection of memorable poems and has gathered his famous friends to read them....

The Most Venerable Book is one of the five classics. For many centuries it was a central work for anyone wishing to work for the imperial administration, with its prestige stemming from the belief that it had been assembled by Confucius himself. The first emperor tried to have all copies destroyed because of its subversive implication that 'the Mandate of Heaven' could be withdrawn from rulers who failed their people. For similar reasons it was also banned by Mao. Extraordinarily, it has been revived by the Chinese government of the 2010s.

Un recital di poesia che dal Dolce stil novo si spinge fino ai primi del Novecento, attraversando quattro lingue (e due dialetti). Una sfida di recitabilità, tra momenti drammatici e inserti comici, ove la dizione del testo poetico supera la narrazione e si avvicina al fraseggio musicale. In questo modo la lettura di poesia diventa anche lettura critica: l’interpretazione illumina il senso del testo al di là del suo significato letterale, come in un’analisi svolta non con la teoria letteraria ma nella concreta pratica vocale, in un atto performativo.

In his dialogues, the Stoic philosopher Seneca outlines his thoughts on how to live in a troubled world. Tutor to the young emperor Nero, Seneca wrote practical philosophical exercises that draw upon contemporary Roman life and illuminate the intellectual concerns of the day. The dialogues also have much to say to the modern listener, as they range widely across subjects such as the shortness of life, tranquility of mind, anger, mercy, happiness, and grief at the loss of a loved one. 

"The Works and Days" is a didactic poem written by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. It is in dactylic hexameter and contains 828 lines. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts. Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of colonial expeditions in search of new land. In the poem Hesiod also offers his brother extensive moralizing advice on how he should live his life.