Ancient Greece

c. 800-300 BCE· 37 works

The scene that started it all. Epic poetry, philosophy, tragedy, comedy, history, all invented here. Homer to Aristotle, then carried west through Rome to become the literature everything since has been responding to.

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Ancient Greece, Ranked

According to Groblé

  1. 10Oedipus Rex~429 BCSophoclesModerate·Quick·44 pagesInfluence93Popularity68Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  2. 16Phaedo~385 BCPlatoHard·Medium·105 pagesInfluence89Popularity41Ancient GreeceDialogueAncient Greek
  3. 22The Clouds423 BCAristophanesModerate·Short·50 pagesInfluence66Popularity4Ancient GreeceComedyAncient Greek
  4. 28Aesop’s Fables~560 BCAesopBreezy·Medium·152 pagesInfluence63Popularity66Ancient GreeceFable & ParableAncient Greek
  5. 33Poetics~335 BCAristotleHard·Quick·42 pagesInfluence91Popularity40Ancient GreeceTreatiseAncient Greek
  6. 36The Symposium~385 BCPlatoHard·Short·79 pagesInfluence88Popularity42Ancient GreeceDialogueAncient Greek
  7. 37The Nicomachean Ethics~330 BCAristotleHard·Long·358 pagesInfluence92Popularity41Ancient GreeceTreatiseAncient Greek
  8. 50The Oresteia458 BCAeschylusHard·Medium·160 pagesInfluence93Popularity50Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  9. 55Phaedrus~370 BCPlatoHard·Short·88 pagesInfluence33Popularity40Ancient GreeceDialogueAncient Greek
  10. 58The Iliad~750 BCHomerHard·Long·459 pagesInfluence99Popularity92Ancient GreeceEpicAncient Greek
  11. 63The Republic~375 BCPlatoHard·Long·472 pagesInfluence96Popularity72Ancient GreeceDialogueAncient Greek
  12. 70Antigone441 BCSophoclesModerate·Quick·42 pagesInfluence85Popularity68Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  13. 74The Odyssey~725 BCHomerHard·Long·485 pagesInfluence98Popularity94Ancient GreeceEpicAncient Greek
  14. 95Sappho's Poems~600 BCSapphoHard·Quick·28 pagesInfluence34Popularity12Ancient GreeceLyricAncient Greek
  15. 96Medea431 BCEuripidesModerate·Short·54 pagesInfluence68Popularity51Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  16. 113Apology~399 BCPlatoHard·Quick·44 pagesInfluence89Popularity42Ancient GreeceDialogueAncient Greek
  17. 117Wasps422 BCAristophanesModerate·Short·51 pagesInfluence26Popularity3Ancient GreeceComedyAncient Greek
  18. 122Lysistrata411 BCAristophanesModerate·Quick·44 pagesInfluence65Popularity52Ancient GreeceComedyAncient Greek
  19. 124Theogony/Works and Days~700 BCHesiodHard·Short·76 pagesInfluence34Popularity12Ancient GreeceDidactic VerseAncient Greek
  20. 132The Frogs405 BCAristophanesModerate·Short·64 pagesInfluence67Popularity4Ancient GreeceComedyAncient Greek
  21. 137Plutarch's Lives~110PlutarchEasy·Epic·2,976 pagesInfluence38Popularity29Ancient GreeceBiography & MemoirAncient Greek
  22. 139Prometheus Bound~460 BCAeschylusHard·Quick·36 pagesInfluence31Popularity8Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  23. 140Oedipus at Colonus401 BCSophoclesModerate·Short·74 pagesInfluence31Popularity7Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  24. 144Philoctetes409 BCSophoclesModerate·Short·53 pagesInfluence29Popularity6Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  25. 146Women of Trachis~450 BCSophoclesModerate·Quick·38 pagesInfluence29Popularity5Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  26. 148Ajax~440 BCSophoclesModerate·Quick·44 pagesInfluence30Popularity6Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  27. 149Alcestis438 BCEuripidesModerate·Quick·36 pagesInfluence28Popularity5Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  28. 152The Seven Against Thebes467 BCAeschylusHard·Quick·32 pagesInfluence27Popularity1Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  29. 164The Acharnians425 BCAristophanesModerate·Quick·42 pagesInfluence25Popularity2Ancient GreeceComedyAncient Greek
  30. 165The Bacchae405 BCEuripidesModerate·Short·48 pagesInfluence68Popularity49Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  31. 177The Histories~430 BCHerodotusEasy·Epic·980 pagesInfluence80Popularity30Ancient GreeceHistoryAncient Greek
  32. 180History of the Peloponnesian War~411 BCThucydidesHard·Epic·640 pagesInfluence80Popularity29Ancient GreeceHistoryAncient Greek
  33. 181Electra~410 BCSophoclesModerate·Short·47 pagesInfluence30Popularity7Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  34. 185The Persians472 BCAeschylusModerate·Quick·32 pagesInfluence28Popularity1Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  35. 189The Suppliants463 BCAeschylusModerate·Quick·32 pagesInfluence27Popularity1Ancient GreeceTragedyAncient Greek
  36. 192The Birds414 BCAristophanesModerate·Short·58 pagesInfluence26Popularity3Ancient GreeceComedyAncient Greek
  37. 194Peace421 BCAristophanesModerate·Short·45 pagesInfluence25Popularity2Ancient GreeceComedyAncient Greek

About Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is where Western literature gets loud. In a few hundred years a cluster of city-states invents the forms everyone after them argues with — the epic, tragedy and comedy on a stage, the philosophical dialogue, written history. Start with Homer and you are standing at the headwaters; almost everything downstream is, in some sense, a reply.

This is a placeholder. The real essay will trace the era's shape and point you at the handful of works that are the best way in — then hand you off to Rome, which spent centuries answering Greece back.

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