Greek and Latin Reading Lists for the Ph.D. in Classics: Ancient History Option

The following lists represent minimal reading for the Doctor's degree. The choices allowed on the lists and any requests for substitutions should be given to the Graduate Director at least one semester before the qualifying examinations. Students are encouraged to enlarge the list according to their own interests.


(You may also view the old PhD reading list.)
<900> = number of lines [ / 30 = ] {30} = number of pages

Greek Authors



Aeschylus, Agamemnon; Persae <2776> = {93}
Andocides, On the Mysteries {61.5}
Antiphon, from R.C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators III {17p}
Apollonius, Argonautica 1.1-22; 3 <1429> = {18}
Aristophanes; Lysistrata; Frogs <2853> = {95}
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1; Politics 1; Poetics; Ath. Pol. 1-45 {137}
Arrian Anabasis 1.1-16 {37}
Callimachus: selections in Neil Hopkinson, A Hellenistic Anthology (Cambridge, 1988), including Epigrams, and Epigr. 28 Pfeiffer (= Anth. Pal.12.43) <401> = {13}
Bacchylides: as in Campbell (see under "Greek Lyric Poets") <547> = {18}
Demosthenes, Olynthiacs 1; 2; 3; On the Crown {125}
Euripides, Medea; Hippolytus; Bacchae <4277> = {143}
Greek Lyric Poets: as in D. A. Campbell, Greek Lyric Poets (St. Martin's Press, 1967); P. Colon. 7511 (the "Cologne Archilochus": text in Page, Supplementum Lyricis Graecis; text and commentary in Degani-Burzacchini, Lirici Greci, Florence, 1908 and in J.M. Bremer et al., Some Recently Found Greek Poems, Leiden, 1987); Simonides frag. 11 West. <1963> = {65}
Hellenica Oxyrhynchia VI(I)-VIII(III), XV(X)-XXII(XVII) {19}
Herodotus 1; 2.1-50, 69-73, 86-91, 99-134; 6.94-120; 7.1-19, 100-105, 201-39; 8.57-110 {300}
Hesiod, Theogony 1-210; Works and Days 1-316 <526> = {18}
Homer, Iliad 1; 2.1-493; 3; 6; 9; 16, 18, 22-24; Odyssey 1; 6; 9-11; 17; 21-23 <10,975> = {366}
Homeric Hymn: To Demeter <495> = {17}
Isaeus, R.C. Jebb, from Selections from the Attic Orators I-II {15}
Isocrates, Panegyricus {49}
Longus, Daphnis and Chloe 1 (all); 4 (all) {21}
Lucian, Menippus {10}
Lysias 12 (Against Eratosthenes); 13 (Against Agoratus); from R.C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators Lysias I-IV {35}
Menander, Dyskolos <969> = {53}
Papyri: G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri (Cambridge 1912)
1, 4, 5, 10, 12, 19, 24, 30, 38, 45, 47, 51, 53 <299> = {10}
Pindar, Olympians 1; Nemeans 5, 7; Pythians 1, 8; Isthmians 1 <771> = {26}
Plato, Apology {34}; Symposium {69}; Crito {17}; Republic 1; 10 {34, 39} {194}
Plutarch, Solon; Themistocles; Sulla {124}
Polybius, Histories 6 {72}
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus; Antigone; <2883> = {96}
Theocritus, Idylls 1, 7, 11, 15 <539> = {18}
Thucydides 1-2.65; 3.1-50, 70-85; 4.1-41; 5.1-20, 84-116; 6.8-32; 7.65-87 {252}
Xenophon, Memorabilia 1; Hellenica 1-2.2; "Old Oligarch" {85} -30


Inscriptions:

Meiggs-Lewis, A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions 2 (Oxford 1988) 1, 5, 8, 10-11, 14-15, 23-24, 26, 31, 33, 41, 45-46, 52, 54, 58, 65, 69-70, 73, 86, 94 <773> = {26}

M.N. Tod, A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions, Vol. II (Oxford 1948): 118, 123, 142, 162, 177, 189, 202, 204, 205 <495> = {17}

Hesperia Supp. 29, pp. 4-5 <61> = {2}

Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 26.72; 28.60 <164> = {5}

Staatsverträge des Altertums 3.428; 446; 476 <197> = {7}

F. Sokolowski, Lois Sacrées des cités grecques (Paris 1969): 18A-B; 65.1; 116 <236> = {8}

H.W Pleket, Epigraphica I: 2, 9, 10, 14, 22, 41; Epigraphica II: 1, 3, 6 <328> = {11}

R. Sherk, Roman Documents from the Greek East (Baltimore 1969) 2, 15, 23, 31, 33 <284> = {9}

Latin Authors


Apuleius, Metamorphoses 1 (all); 2.7-10, 21-30; 4.27-35; 5.21-24; 6.20-24; 9.5-13; 11.23-30 {52}
Caesar, Gallic Wars 1 {32}; Civil War 1 {48} = {80}
Catullus: all poems <2,311> = {77}
Cicero, Pro Caelio {40}; Second Philippic {48}; In Catilinam 1, 4 {27}; De Imperio Cn. Pompei {30}; Epistulae (as in Shackleton

Bailey, Select Letters, Cambridge, 1980) 1-7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 18-20, 23-24, 27, 32-35, 38, 41, 48, 52, 54, 62, 63, 67-69, 74-75 {ca. 50}; Brutus {102}; De Re Publica 1, 6 (selections, as in James Zetzel, Cambridge, 1995) {34}; Verrines I {25} = {356}


Ennius: longer fragments of the Annales, ed. Skutsch <approx. 120 lines> = {4}
Historia Augusta, Life of Hadrian {20}
Horace, Epodes 1, 2, 7, 9, 16 <228>; Odes 1-4 <3,014>; Satires 1 (all) <1,030); 2.1, 6, 7 <321>; Epistles 2.1 (Letter to Augustus),

2.3 (Ars Poetica) <746> TOTAL <5,339> = {178}


Juvenal, Satires 1, 3, 6.1-285, 10 <1,144 > = {38}
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita Praef., 1 (all), 6 (all), 21 (all) {227}
Lucan, Civil War 1, 7 <1,567> = {52}
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 1.1-502; 3 <1094>; 4.962-1287; 5.772-1457 <2,606> = {86}
Martial, Liber de Spect. 1-2, 9(7), 15 (13), 20 (17); Epigrammata: Book 1: Praef., 1-4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 29, 32; Book 2:

Epist.; Book 8: 55, 73; Book 9: Epist.; Book 10: 1, 2; Book 12: Epist., 57, 94; Book 13: 3; Book 14: 2 <ca. 650> = {20}


Ovid, Metamorphoses 1 <779> {24}; Amores 1 <774> {29}; Fasti 4 <940> {34}; Tristia 4.10 <132> {4} = <2,625> {91}
Persius, Prol.; 1 <148> = {5}
Petronius, Satyrica 1-90 {90}
Plautus, Pseudolus; Amphitruo <2,481> = {83}
Pliny, Epistulae 1.1, 5, 6; 2.1; 3.5, 7, 16, 21; 4.14; 5.8; 6.16, 20; 7.17, 27, 33; 8.20; 9.6, 7, 10, 33; 10.96-97 {37}; Panegyricus 1-37

{31} = {68}


Propertius, ed. Goold (Loeb): 1 (all); 2.1, 7, 34; 3.1, 3, 4, 5, 9; 4 (all) <2,172> = {72}
Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 10.1 {50}
Sallust, Bellum Catilinae; Bellum Jugurthinum 1-8 {61}; Histories FF 1.55, 1.77, 2.47, 2.98, 3.48, 4.69 M {19} = {80}
Seneca, Epistulae Morales 7, 12, 47, 51, 56, 86, 114, 122 {36}; Medea <1,027> {34} = {70}
Suetonius, Claudius {31}
Tacitus, Agricola {30}; Dialogus de oratoribus {40}; Histories 1 {55}; Annales 1.1-2.26; 4.1-12, 32-67; 6.18-30, 50-51; 11.23-38;

12.58-13.25; 14.1-65 (all); 15.38-65; 16.18-35 {183} = {308}


Terence, Adelphoe <997> = {33}
Tertullian, de spectaculis {30}
Tibullus, 1 (all); 2.1, 2.5 <1,022> = {34}
Vergil, Eclogues <829>; Georgics 1 (all); 4 (all) <1,080>; Aeneid 1-8, 12 <9,164>. Total <11,073> = {310}
Late Latin (after 300 C.E.): 25 pages of selections (total) from at least two of the following: Augustine, Confessions 1, 8, 10 or

Civitas Dei 3; Ammianus Marcellinus 14, 15; Ausonius; Carmina Burana, Claudian; Lactantius, Macrobius; Sidonius Apollinaris; Symmachus.



Inscriptions:

SC de bacchanalibus (ILLRP 511) <30 lines>
Lex Repetundarum and Lex Agraria (Crawford, RS I 1 and 2) <90 + 105 lines>
Laudatio 'Turiae'(ILS 8393) <69 lines>
Res Gestae divi Augusti <35 chapters = ca. 225 lines>
Tabula Siarensis and Hebana (Lex Valeria Aurelia) (Crawford, RS I 24)
Tabula Heraclensis (Crawford, RS I 24) <162 lines>
Lex Colonia Genetivae Iuliae (Crawford, RS I 25) <514 lines>
Senatus consultum de Pisone patre <176 lines>
Lex de imperio Vespasiani (ILS 244 = Crawford, Roman Statutes I 39) <39 lines>
"Mactar Harvester" (ILS 7457)
Allia Potestas (epitaph) (CIL 6.37965 = CLE 1988)