Classical Reference Library

Ancient Greece

Explore the history, geography, culture, and political life of the ancient Greek world, from the Bronze Age and the rise of the city-states to Classical Athens, Sparta, and the age of Alexander.

Ancient Philosophy

Explore the ideas and arguments of the ancient world’s most influential thinkers, from questions of ethics and human nature to knowledge, happiness, society, and our place in the natural world.

Enlightenment Philosophy

Explore the thinkers and ideas of the Enlightenment, from reason, freedom, and human nature to questions of knowledge, morality, society, and political authority.

Greek Comedy

Explore the plays, characters, humor, satire, and social criticism of ancient Greek comedy, from Aristophanes and his contemporaries to the political and cultural world their works reflect.

Greek Tragedy

Explore the plays, characters, ideas, and enduring questions of ancient Greek tragedy, from Sophocles and Aeschylus to the dramatic traditions they helped shape.

History & Culture

Explore the historical settings, societies, institutions, and cultural traditions that shaped the ancient world, from political life and warfare to religion, education, daily life, and the development of classical civilization.

History of Science

Explore the development of scientific thought and the changing ways human beings have sought to understand nature, from ancient philosophy and medieval cosmology to the emergence of modern experimental science.

Political Philosophy

Explore enduring questions about political authority, justice, liberty, rights, equality, and the obligations of citizens, from early modern theories of sovereignty and social contract to later critiques of the state and economic power.

Teaching the Classics

Resources about teaching, studying, and sustaining the classical tradition.

Homer & the Epic Tradition

Resources for exploring, reading, and teaching Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and the epic tradition.

The Trojan War

Background and reference materials about Troy and the Trojan War.

Lectures

Teacher Guides

Quotation Collections

Character Guides

Reference Guide

Articles/Essays

Videos

Curated Resources

Aeschylus

Aristophanes

Georges Cuvier

Denis Diderot

Euripides

Homer

Franz Kafka

Immanuel Kant

Lucretius

Niccolò Machiavelli

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Sophocles

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe