Greek and Roman Classics: History, Literature, Religion, Philosophy
Compiled and Indexed by Richard Seltzer Seedy Press, (August 23, 2002)
B & R Samizdat Express
P. O. Box 161
West Roxbury, MA, 02132
ISBN: 0-931968-14-3
Genre: Literature - Classical
Reviewed by Rochelle Caviness - November 28, 2002
As any student of the classics, or history in general knows, it can easily cost you more to purchase the books you need for school each year than it does to feed and house your body. An inexpensive means of acquiring a large body of classical works is to purchase Seedy Press' new CD-ROM collection of Greek and Roman Classics. This collection, which was compiled by Richard Seltzer contains works dealing with the history, literature, religion, and philosophy of the ancient Western World.
The works in this collection are divided into five main sections, consisting of:
The history of Ancient Greece, Babylon, Phoenicia, and Rome.
The history and religion of Roman Israel, as well as Early Christianity.
Greek and Roman Philosophy
Greek and Roman Literature
Related Anthropology, Myth and Legend
There are many essential works included in this collection that should be on every classicists bookshelf - including:
Herodotus, translated into English by G. C. Macaulay
Various works by Xenophon, translated into English by H. G. Dakyns
History of Phoenicia by George Rawlinson
The Gallic War, in Latin, by Julius Caesar. Plus, Rice Holmes' commentary , in English, on The Gallic War.
Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon
Various essays and miscellaneous Writings, in English, by Plutarch. Plus Plutarch's Lives, containing over 50 biographies of prominent personalities of the classical world.
Antiquities of the Jews and Wars of the Jews by Flavius Josephus
The New Testament
Various works by Aristotle and Plato
Various translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
Poems, in Latin, by Catullus
And many, many more titles...
In short, the works on this CD would fill a library - for less than the cost of one book! Currently, this CD sells for a mere $19. To peruse a complete list of all the works contained in this collection, please refer to the following web page: www.samizdat.com/classicscd.html
This CD is designed for use with any Windows PC. To access the files all you need do is to insert the CD in your computer's CD-Rom player, and then click on the drive for your CD player. This will cause a list of all the folders on the disc to be displayed. To see a complete list of all the individual files, simply click on the icon entitled 'index'. This will automatically open, in your default web browser, a list of all files on the disc. To open any of these files, simply click on the desired title.
If you prefer to open the files into a word processing program, such a Word or WordPerfect, simply open your word processing program and open the files manually - as you would any normal document. Once opened you can modify the text, if desired, by adding notes, etc. However, be sure to save this modified file to your hard drive when exiting the program, if you want to save your alterations.
All the documents in this collection are offered in plain text format for easy reading on a variety of word processing and web browsing programs. This also allows you to easy alter the font style or size, and it makes the documents accessible via most screen reading programs.
In short, this collection offers readers of all ages access to a cornucopia of books from the Western, Classical period that will act as study aids and as a source for general reading.
Systems Requirements:
A Windows Based PC and, A Web Browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape) and/or A Windows Based Word-Processing program such as Microsoft Word, or Corel's Word Perfect.
The Greek and Roman Classics: History, Literature, Religion, Philosophy CD can be ordered directly from Seedy Press, their is located at: http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat/
The Greek Myths, Volumes I and II, by Robert Graves.
This is a massive book, and it is the standard reference book on Greek Mythology. It delves into the various creation myths, and births and lives of the various Greek gods, the role of the elemental forces in Greek mythology such as Chaos and Eros, as well as exploring the roles and stories of the Titans, the lesser gods, and other supernatural figures, such as witches. (Audio)
Herodotus: The Histories, translated by George Rawlinson.
In this narrative, Herodotus presents his first hand-accounts of life and culture in Ancient Greece and in surrounding countries. This book also chronicles the histories of both Greece and Persian, the events leading up to the Greek - Persian War, and the war itself. (Audio)
