1.5 What are the famous classical authors? D-M
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This article is from the Classical Studies FAQ, by Richard M. Alderson III alderson@netcom2.netcom.com with numerous contributions by others.
1.5 What are the famous classical authors? D-M
Demosthenes
dates: 384-322
language of composition: Greek
genre: political and legal oratory
style: varied, avoids hiatus and successions of short syllables
diff : 4
works: For Phormio, Olynthiacs, Philippics, On the Crown
fun fact: sued his guardians for mismanagement of his inheritance at age 21.
Euripides
dates: 485-406 BCE
language of composition: Greek
genre: drama
style: Classical Attic tragedy
diff : 7 dialogue 10 choruses
works: Medea, Hippolytus, Ion, Bacchae, Iphigenia in Tauris, Helen,
Alcestis, The Suppliant Women, Electra, Hecabe, Heracles, The Women of
Troy
fun fact: We have more of Euripides than of any other Attic tragedian because
we have not only ten plays representing "the best of Euripides" but
also nine plays which seem to be from the epsilon through kappa volume
of the complete works of Euripides.
Herodotus
dates: 484-420 BCE
language of composition: Greek
genre: prose history
style: uses Ionian dialect lots of ethnography and anecdotes
diff : 5
works: Histories
fun fact: first surviving prose history in Greek
Hesiod
dates: flourished 700 BCE
language of composition: Greek
genre: creation-myth in verse, didactic poetry
style: epic vocabulary
diff : 6
works: Theogony, Works and Days
fun fact: Works and Days is ostensibly addressed to his MEGA NHPIE (very
foolish) brother Perses and consists of advice on practical skills
(farming, sailing, etc).
Homer
dates: eighth-sixth centuries BCE
language of composition: Greek
genre: epic
style: brief, striking similes, about half each work is dialogue
diff : 5
works: Iliad, Odyssey
fun fact: "Homer" is usually considered scholarly shorthand for an oral-
formulaic tradition perhaps dating back to the fifteenth century BCE
that was written down during the above dates.
Horace
dates: 65-8 BCE
language of composition: Latin
genre:
style:
diff :
works: Odes, Carmen Saeculare, Satires, Ars Poetica
Livy
dates: 59 BCE - 17 CE
language of composition: Latin
genre: history
style: language is poetic and expressive, characters easily become heroes,
influenced by hellenistic historians
diff : 9
works: Ab Urbe Condita Libri
fun fact: Legend has it that a man came all the way from Cadiz just to look at
him.
Lucretius
dates: c.99-c55 BCE
language of composition: Latin
genre: Philosophy and biology
style: Deep psychological investigation, rich and carefully controlled language
diff : 8
works: De Rerum Natura
fun fact: Poisoned himself with a love potion, wrote the poem in lucid moments
(maybe lucid), committed suicide (slander of St. Jerome)
Lysias
dates: 459-380 BCE
language of composition: Greek
genre: political and legal oratory
style: smooth, moderate
diff : 6
works: Oration 1 (Against Eratosthenes), Oration 32 (Against Diogiton)
fun fact: Originally from Syracuse, Lysias and his brothers Polemarchus and
Euthydemus owned a shield-making workshop in the Piraeus.
Menander
dates: 342-289 BCE
language of composition: Greek
genre: drama
style: New Comedy
diff : 7
works: The Grouch, She Who Was Shorn, The Samian, Dis Exapaton (The Double
Deceiver)
fun fact: Menander was for the most part lost until this century, when
numerous papyrus fragments of Menander came to light.
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