Classical Writers Directory

Ancient Greek and Roman Writers Developed the Genres We Know as Literature

Homer's "The Iliad" open to the title page.

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Classical Literature in English Translation | Index of Classical Authors

Genres and Literary Terminology: Philosophy | Epic | Epigrams | Old Comedy | Roman Drama | Satire | Epistle | Terminology for Tragedy | Tragedy | Meter in Greek and Latin Poetry
At some point in our prehistory people started telling stories to one another. Later, stories were composed in forms that others could repeat. Story-telling is easy to envision as the origin of some forms of literature, especially bardic ballads, novels, and plays. Even philosophy is an attempt to explain a story or truth about the world. Here is a quick look at how the genres of Greek and Latin literature evolved and many of the major contributors to the genres -- at least those whose works survive.
After a quick review of the genres you'll find an alphabetical list of the Greek and then the Roman writers.

Philosophy

Ancient thinkers wrote verse about what they observed in nature. Did that make them scientists? poets? Yes, but they are generally referred to as Presocratic Philosophers.

Many aspects of culture were still without distinct form at this time, which was during the Archaic Age of Ancient Greece.

Drama / Plays

The origin of drama is mired in legend, but to the best of our information, drama seems to have arisen as part of religious worship. Today we divide plays into the categories of comedy and tragedy.

  • Tragedy
    The word tragedy appears to come from the words for 'goat' and 'song' or 'ode'.
  • Chorus
    The first element in Greek tragedy was the chorus, which danced and sang poetry created by the dramatist at the religious festivals.
  • Actors
    Actors came later, with the great tragedians.
  • Comedy
    Comedy seems to have come from phallic processions followed by sacrifices, but we don't know. Its etymology appears to come from komos (connected with revels), plus the word for 'song'.

Poetry

  • Epic Poetry
    The man​ who is credited with creating the epics we know of as the Iliad and Odyssey, (whom we refer to as Homer) was a rhapsode, a person who accompanied his improvised performances with a musical instrument. Epic poetry came to be distinguished by its distinct (epic) meter.
  • Lyric Poetry
    Lyric poetry, developed according to legend, by Terpander, was poetry accompanied by a lyre.
  • Epigrams
    Epigrams were composed for funerals. It was an epigrammatist, Mimnermus of Smyrna, who is credited with developing the elegiac meter that was used for love poetry (elegies).

Prose

  • History
    History, as developed by Herodotus, was a (prose) story about whatever Herodotus set his inquiring mind to.
    Ancient Historians Timeline
  • Satire
    In ancient Rome, satire was a recognized and somewhat defined literary verse genre. It was the only genre the Romans claimed as their own invention. Some early novels fell within the genre of (Menippean) satire.
  • Epistle (main Roman writers)
    Epistles are linked with Satire, as in the work of Horace, but some epistle writers used the letter for for actual correspondence, so the style is quite varied.

Here you will find some resources on this site related to Classical writers and the genres of Classical literature, specifically, timelines of the major Greek and Roman authors, articles about the writers and their genres that are on this site, and links to some of their writing, mostly in English.

Timelines

Women Writers

Enheduanna (An Akkadian) | Korinna | Moero | Nossis | Sappho | Sulpicia

Greek and Roman Writers of Drama - Comedy and Tragedy

Aristophanes | Aeschylus | Euripides | Plautus | Seneca | Sophocles | Terence

Roman Satire

Verse Satire: Ennius | Horace | Juvenal | Persius | Petronius
Satire Timeline | Atellan Farce | Fescennine Verse | Menippean Satire

Classical Greek and Roman Writers ...and some of their works mostly translated into English

Greek Classical Writers

A

Aeschylus | Aeschylus Plays in English | Aeschylus Resources
Aesop Biography | Fables of Aesop
Alcaeus
Anacreon
Anyte
Archilochus
Aristophanes | About the Individual Plays of Aristophanes | Aristophanes Plays in English
Aristotle | Aristotle Texts in English

B

Bacchylides

D

Demosthenes | Demosthenes in English
Dio (Cassius Dio)

E

Euripides | Euripides in English

H

Hecataeus
Herodotus | Herodotus in English
Hesiod | Hesiod in English
Hippocrates | Hippocrates in English
Homer | Homer in English

I

Isocrates in English

K

Korinna

L

Lysias | Lysias in English

M

Moero

N

Nossis

P

Pindar
Plato | Plato in English
Presocratic Philosophers
Plutarch | Plutarch in English

S

Sappho
Semonides of Amorgas
Sophocles | Tragedies of Sophocles in English
Strabo in English

T

Terpander
Thales
Theognis
Theophrastus
Thucydides | Thucydides in English translation

Xenophon | Xenophon in English

Z

Roman Classical Writers (Latin)

Also see: A History of Roman Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius, by Charles Thomas Cruttwell (1877)

A

Abelard - Text in Latin
Alcuin Texts in Latin
Ammianus Marcellinus Texts in Latin
Apuleius | Apuleius in English
Aurelius, Marcus | Texts in English
Aurelius Victor Texts in Latin

B

Bede English translation of Latin
Boethius - Text in Latin and Translation into English

C

Caesar Civil and Gallic Wars in English
Cassiodorus - Text in English
Cato | Cato in English
Catullus​
Cicero | Cicero texts in Latin
Claudian in Latin

D

Donatus

E

Ennius | Ennius in Latin
Epictetus | Epictetus in English

H

Horace | Horace in English

J

Julian | Julian in English
Juvenal

L

Livius Andronicus | Livy
Lucan | Lucan in English

M

Martial

N

Naevius

O

Ovid

P

Pacuvius | Persius
Petronius | Petronius in English
Plautus
Pliny the Elder | Pliny in English
Pliny the Younger | Pliny in English
Propertius

Q

Quintilian

S

Sallust
Seneca
Statius
Sulpicia

T

Tacitus | Tacitus in English
Tertullian
Tibullus

V

Varro
Velleius Paterculus
Vergil (Virgil) | Vergil in English

See: Online Texts in English Translation(Index of Authors and Translated E-texts)

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Gill, N.S. "Classical Writers Directory." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/classical-writers-directory-119648. Gill, N.S. (2020, August 28). Classical Writers Directory. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/classical-writers-directory-119648 Gill, N.S. "Classical Writers Directory." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/classical-writers-directory-119648 (accessed March 19, 2024).