Internet Ancient History Sourcebook:
Greece
See Main Page for a guide to
all contents of all sections.
Contents
General
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Greece: Major
Historians: Complete Texts
- Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE)
- The Histories 440BCE [At
MIT][Full Text]
-
The Histories 440BCE
[At Parstimes][Full Text][Chapter length files]
- The Histories 440BCE [At this Site, formerly
ERIS][Full Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- 2ND 11th Brittanica: Herodotus [At this Site]
- Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE)
- History of the Peloponnesian
War, 431 BCE [At MIT][Full Text][Chapter length files]
- History of the Peloponnesian War [These are MSWord files, in Greek with
embedded fonts][At this Site]
- 2ND Study
Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- 2ND 11th Brittanica: Thucydides [At this Site]
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE)
- Anabasis, or March Up Country or Persia
Expedition, full text [At this Site]
- Aristotle (384-323 BCE)
- Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE)
- Pausanias (fl.c.160 CE)
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Crete
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Mycenae
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Archaic Greece
-
2NDJohn Porter: The Archaic Age and the
Rise of the Polis [At Saskatchewan][Modern Account]
- Homer (c.8th Cent. BCE)
- Homeric Fragments [At OMACL]
- Homeric Hymns [At
OMACL]
- The Iliad trans. Samuel Butler [At this Site, formerly
ERIS][Full Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- The Iliad trans. Samuel
Bulter [At MIT][Full Text]
-
The Odyssey trans.
Samuel Butler [At MIT][Full Text]
-
The Odyssey trans. S.H. Butcher and A. Lang [At Bartleby][Full Text]
- The Odyssey [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full
Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- The Odyssey [At this Site]
Complete text [in one 769k HTML file] of the translation by Samuel Henry Butcher
(1850-1910) and Andrew Lang (1844-1912) [Harvard Classics series]
- Hesiod (c.700 BCE)
- Later Historians
- Greek Colonization
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The Persian Wars (449-479 BCE)
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The Rise of the Polis
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The Age of Tyranny
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Athenian Democracy
- Reports of The Origins of Athens, c. 430 BCE - 110 CE
[At this Site]
from Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, and Aristotle.
- Pausanias (fl.c.160 CE): Description of Greece: Book I:
Attica (Athens and Megara) [At this Site]
-
Solon (c.640-after 561 BCE): Selected Fragments,
[At Saskatchewan]
- Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Life of
Solon (c.640-after 561 BCE) [At MIT]
- Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): The Persians Reject
Democracy/Darius' State [At this Site]
For the Greeks, the Persian's were the major "other" against whom they measured
their own institutions.
- Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): On Aristogeiton and Harmodius,
(Book 6) [At PWH]
-
Cleisthenes (c.525-after 507 BCE): Reform Texts [At Internet Archive, from Reed]
- Texts on Ostracism at Athens [At CSUN]
- Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Life
of Pericles (c.495-429 BCE) [At MIT]
- 2ND 11th Brittanica: Pericles [At this Site]
- Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): Pericles'
Funeral Oration (Book 2.34-46) [At this Site]
-
Bust of Pericles (c.495-429 BCE)[At Internet Archive, from WCSLC]
-
Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): The Mitylenian Debate (Book 3.36-50)[At Charleston]
-
Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): The Melian Dialogue (Book 5.84-116)[At Charleston]
- Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): Pericles'
Last Speech (Book 2:59-64) [At CSUN]
- 2ND 11th Brittanica: Delian League [At this Site]
- The Polity of the Athenians, c. 424 BCE [At this Site]
Sometimes known as the "Old Oligarch".
- Aristotle (384-323 BCE): The
Athenian Constitution [At MIT]
-
Aristotle (384-323 BCE): The
Politics, the beginnings of political society, [At Then Again]
- Aristotle (384-323 BCE): The Politics, on
the origin of the polis [At this Site]
- Aristotle (384-323 BCE): The Politics, excerpts
from Books I, III, VII and VIII, [At this Site]
-
2ND Thomas Martin: Democracy in the Politics of
Aristotle [At STOA]
Discussion, with texts, of Aristotle's views on democracy.
-
WEB The Ancient City of Athens [At
STOA]
A photographic archive of the archaeological and architectural remains of ancient Athens.
-
WEB The Acropolis [At Internet Archive, from vacation.net.gr]
Includes a model reconstruction.
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Sparta
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The Peloponnesian War (431-404
BCE) and After
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The Fourth
Century: Competing Hegemonies
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): The Battle of Leuctra, (371
BCE) from the Hellenica [At this Site]
Account of the defeat of Sparta by Theban forces and the ending of the Spartan supremacy..
- Cornelius Nepos (c.99-c.24 BCE): From Life of Epaminondas (d.362 BCE)(written c. 30 BCE) [This Site]
- Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Life
of Pelopidas (c.410- 362 BCE)[At MIT]
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Anabasis, or March
Up Country or Persia Expedition, full text [At this Site]
The story of a Greek army of mercenaries and their march into the Persian Empire.
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Philip II of Macedon (r. 339-336 BCE)
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Religion and Myth
- The Olympian Religion
- Accounts of Hellenic Religious Beliefs, c. 800 BCE - 110 CE
[At this Site]
From Homer, Lysias, Apollonius of Rhodes, and Plutarch.
- Accounts of Personal Religion, c. 430 BCE - 300 CE [At
this Site]
Festivals, temples and expectations.
- Hesiod (c.700 BCE): Theogony [Full Text][At OMACL]
- Hesiod (c.700 BCE): Cosmogony
and Theogony [At enteract.com]
- Homeric
Sacrifice for the Dead Odyssey XI:18-50 [At enteract.com]
- Sacrifice
to Rhea: the Phrygian Mother-Goddess Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica I:1078-1150 [At enteract.com]
- Oracle
of Trophinos at Lebadeia Pausanias, Description of Greece ix:39 [At
enteract.com]
- The Ancient Greek Gods [At Hellas on
Line]
-
The Homeric
Hymn to Dionysus [At Perseus]
- To
Pythian Apollo Homeric Hymn III:179 [At enteract.com]
- Callimachus (c.305-c.240 BCE): Hymn III: To Artemis [At
Montclair]
- The
First Delphic Hymn 138 BCE [At WSU]
- To
Earth, Mother of All Homeric Hymn xxx [At enteract.com]
- Apollodorus: Heracles:
Labors, Death, Apotheosis [At enteract.com]
- 2ND Summary of Apollodorus'
Library [At Perseus]
A handbook of Greek mythology.
- 2ND Guide to Greek Gods [At CSUN]
- WEB Classical Myth [Prentice Hall Website]
-
WEB Mythology Course [Princeton]
- WEB Guide to Images and Texts about the
Olympian Gods [At UVIC]
Links to Perseus Texts.
- Chthonic and Mystery Cults
- Hymn to Demeter 7th Cent BCE [At
Ecole]
The canonical text of the Mysteries.
- Hymn
to Demeter Homeric Hymns: To Demeter,11, 185-299, 7th Cent BCE [At
enteract.com]
- The
Eleusinian Mysteries: Various Texts [At enteract.com]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): On
Initiation Phaedo 69 [At enteract.com]
- Dionysius
and the Bacchae Euripides, The Bacchae, 677-775 [At enteract.com]
- Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Zalmoxis:
The God of the Gates Histories IV, 93-6 [At enteract.com]
A Thracian mystery God.
-
Orphic Hymn to Hekate 5th
Cent BCE [At Hermetic Fellowship]
- Initiates
in the Orphic-Pythagoran Brotherhood Taught the Road to the Lower World The Funerary
Gold Plates, Plate from Petelia, South Italy, 4th-3rd century BCE [At enteract.com]
- 2ND The Eleusinian Mysteries [At
ECOLE][Modern Text, Images]
- Greek Conceptions of Death and Immortality
- Homer: Even in
the house of Hades there is left something. . .' Iliad XXIII, 61-81,
99-108
- Homer: The mead
of asphodel, where the spirits dwell. . .' Odyssey XXIV, 1-18 [At
enteract.com]
- Empedocles (c.493-c.433 BCE): On the
Transmigration of the Soul, fragments 115, 117, 118 [At enteract.com]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): On
Transmigration: Myth of Er, Republic X, 614 b [At enteract.com]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): On the
Immortality of the Soul, Meno 81, b [At enteract.com]
Back to Index
Philosophy
- See WEB Internet Enclopedia of Philosophy [Website]
multiple articles and texts.
-
See WEB History of Ancient Philosophy [At U Washington] and
Ancient Greek Philosophy [At Rice]
Complete online courses with lecture notes on the major figures and issue.
- (Pseudo)-Plutarch: Des Opinions des philosophes [At this Site]
Full text of a French translation. This seems to have been the first collection of placita in terms of philosopher's opinions organized into themes.
- See Hellenistic Section for texts of Epicurean, Stoic,
Cynic, and Sceptic philosphers
- PreSocratics
- Pythagoreanism
- Eleatic School
- 2ND Parmenides, Empedocles [IEP Articles]
-
Parmenides (c.515-after 450 BCE)[At Hanover]
-
Parmenides (c.515-after 450 BCE): Fragments [At Internet Archive, from 4th Tetralagy]
-
Parmenides of Elea (c.515-after 450 BCE): On Nature (Peri Physis)
- Zeno of Elea (c.490-after
445 BCE)[At Hanover]
The puzzles still work!
- Zeno of Elea (c.490-after 445 BCE): Paradoxes [At this
Site]
-
Melissos (5th Cent
BCE)[At Hanover]
-
Empedocles (c.493-c.433 BCE): Fragments [At Internet Archive, from 4th Tetralogy]
A pluralistic answer to Parmenides.
- Empedocles (c.493-c.433 BCE): Going
Among Men as an Immmortal fragments 112, 146, 147 [At enteract.com]
- Sophists
-
Xenophanes (c.570-c.470 BCE)[At Hanover]
-
Xenophanes (c.570-c.470 BCE)[At Then Again]
Atheistic views.
- Heraklitos (c.540-c.480 BCE) [At
WSU]
- Atomists
- Socrates (469-399 BCE)
-
Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The
Clouds, extracts [At Then Again]
Pokes fun at Socrates.
- Plato (427-347 BCE): The
Apology, [At EAWC][Full Text]
See 2ND Study
Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): Last Days of Socrates [Website]
Texts from Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo.
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): On
Socrates [At CSUN]
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): The Symposium [Full
Text][This Site]
- Plato (427-347 BCE)
- 2ND Academy, Symposium [IEP Article]
-
2ND Plato and Platonism [Catholic Encyclopedia Article,
1913]
-
2ND Plato for
the Young Enquirer [At History for Kids]
Has a useful visual of the Cave.
- Full Texts
The links here are to the plain text version at various sites or here. [The old
Virgina Tech gopher site has disappeared, but these files are from there.] In addition
there are HTML versions of all text available at WEB MIT Classics Archive.
- Excerpts for teaching
- The Republic, excerpts [At this Site]
The Philosopher king
-
The Cave [At
Internet Archive, from CCNY]
-
The Timeaus [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
Origin of the Atlantis myth.
-
WEB Exploring
Plato's Dialogues [At Evansville]
A Virtual Learning Environment on the World-Wide Web
- Aristotle (384-323 BCE)
- 2ND Aristotle, Peripatetics, Theophrastus [IEP Articles]
- Full Texts
The links here are to the plain text version at various sites or here. [The old Virgina
Tech gopher site has disappeared, but these files are from there.] In addition there are
HTML versions of all texts available at WEB MIT Classics Archive.
- Nichomachean Ethics [At this Site, formerly
ERIS][Full Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- Politics [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full
Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- Metaphysics [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full
Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- Physics [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full
Text][Ascii Text in one file]
- Poetics [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full
Text][Ascii Text in one file]
-
Rhetoric [At Iowa State]
- Excerpts for Teaching
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Literature
-
Selections
from Greek Lyric Poets [At Saskatachewan]
Archilochus (1st half 7th Cent BCE), Alcaeus (Late 7th/early 6th Cent BCE), Mimnermus
(Late 7th/Early 6th Cent BCE), Ibycus (2nd half 6th Cent BCE), Anacreon (2nd half 6th Cent
BCE), and Xenophanes (c.570-c.478BCE)
-
Archilochus (1st half 7th Cent BCE): Selection [At Saskatchewan]
-
Sappho (c.580 BCE): Poems, at
[Sappho.com]
-
Theognis (6th Cent. BCE): Selections [At
Saskatchewan]
- Aesop (d. 564 BCE): Fables,
text, [At Eserver]
- Aesop (6th Century BCE): Fables, HTML, [At this Site]
-
2ND The Rediscovery of Writing in Greece [At Internet Archive, from Reed]
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Literature: Theatre
All the major Greek plays are online, as well as substantial amount of criticism and
theorising. The links here are to the plain text version at various sites or here. [The
old Virgina Tech gopher site has disappeared, but these files are from there.]
In addition there are HTML versions of all text available at
- Theatre Practice
- Drama Theory
- Documents on The Hellenic Drama, c. 560 - 330 BCE [At
this Site]
The historical origins, from Plutarch, Demosthenes, and Aristotle.
- Plato (427-347 BCE): Ion [At MIT]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): The Republic
- Aristotle (384-323 BCE): The Poetics, excerpts,
[At this Site]
-
Aristotle (384-323 BCE): Poetics [At
Mit][Full Text][Chapter length files]
See 2ND Study
Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- Aeschylus (525-456 BCE)
The earliest of the three great Greek tragic dramatists (the others are Sophocles
and Euripides). He introduced the second actor into the play. He is thought to have
written 80-90 plays, of which 7 survive.
- The Suppliants prob. 463 BCE
- Oresteia trilogy 458 BCE
- The Seven Against Thebes 467 BCE
- Prometheus Bound date unknown
- The Persians 472 BCE [annotated HTML] [At Calgary]
-
The Persians 472 BCE [At Saskatchewan]
-
Sophocles (496-405/6 BCE)
The second of the great tragic poets. He wrote over 100 plays, but only seven complete
ones survive. The dates here are likely but not certain.
- Ajax 440 BCE
- Antigone 442 BCE [At this Site, formerly ERIS]
See 2ND Study
Guide [At Brooklyn College]
-
Antigone 442
BCE [At Diotima]
A much more modern translation, with extensive annotation.
- Electra btw. 418-410 BCE
- Philoctetes 409 BCE
- Oedipus the King c.430 BC
See 2ND Study
Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- Oedipus at Colonna c.405/6 BCE [At MIT]
- The Trachiniae c.430 BCE
- Euripides: Helen, a
modern actable translation by Andrew Wilson [At Classics Pages]
- Euripides (c.485-406 BCE)
A younger contemporary of Sophocles, and third of the great tragic playwrights. He
introduced deus ex machina as a plot device. Of the 92 plays ascribed to him, 19
survive
- 2ND 11th Brittanica: Euripides [At this Site]
- Alcestis
- Andromache
- The Bacchae [At this Site, formerly ERIS] won
trilogy competition, posthumously, in c.405 BCE
See 2ND Study
Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- The Cyclops
- Electra
- Hecuba
- Helen, a modern actable
translation by Andrew Wilson [At Classics Pages]
- The Heracleidae
- Heracles
- Hippolytus [At this Site, formerly ERIS] won
trilogy competition in 428 BCE.
- Ion
- Iphigenia at Aulis won trilogy competition, posthumously, in c.405 BCE
- Iphigenia In Tauris
- Medea
See 2ND Study Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- Orestes a modern
actable translation by Andrew Wilson [At Classics Pages]
- The Phoenissae a
modern actable translation by Andrew Wilson [At Classics Pages]
- Rhesus
- The Suppliants
- The Trojan Women
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE)
The greatest comic playwrights, he wrote in the rough style later known as
"old comedy". He wrote 54(?) comedies, but only 11 survived.
See 2ND Old Comedy
Study Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- The Acharnians 425 BCE [At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- The Birds 414 BCE [At
Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- The Clouds 423 BCE
[At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
Pokes fun at Socrates.
See 2ND Study Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- The Ecclesiazusae (Women in Politics) [At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- The Frogs 405 BCE
[At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- The Knights 424BCE
[At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- Lysistrata 411 BCE
[At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
About a sex strike.
See 2ND Study
Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- Peace 421 BCE [At
Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- Plutus 382 BCE (his last
play) [At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- The
Thesmophorizusae 411BCE [At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- The Wasps 422 BCE
[At Eserver, formerly ERIS]
- Menander (342/1-293/89 BCE)
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Art
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Music
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Education
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Economic Life
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Slavery
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Greek Law
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Everyday Life
- Accounts of the Hellenic Games, c. 470 BCE-175 CE [At this
Site][added 8/4/98 to Greece page]
From Pindar: Olympian Odes, c. 470 BCE, Thucydides: The History of the
Peloponnesian War, c. 404 BCE, Xenophon: Hellenica, c. 370 BCE, Strabo: Geographia,
c. 20 CE, Pausanias: Description of Greece, c. 175 CE
- WEB The Ancient Greek World [Website-UPenn]
Concentrates on daily life. Multipe images.
-
WEB Greek Costume Through the Centuries [Website]
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Gender and Sexuality
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Modern Perspectives
on Ancient Greece
- Greece and Anthropology
- Slavery
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NOTES:
Dates of accession of material added since July 1998 can be seen in the New Additions page..
The date of inception was
4/8/1998.
Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site
name or location].
Locally available texts are marked by [At this Site].
WEB indicates a link to one of small
number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable
overview.
The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 26 January 2023 [CV]
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