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Below are several possible works you may read independently of class. I have recommended particular translations, but feel free to use other translations. The translations I’ve recommended I can vouch for as accurate and literarily sensitive.

Aeschylus, Oresteia (translations by Robert Fagles, Richmond Lattimore, Ted Hughes, Hugh Lloyd-Jones] – the only surviving Greek dramatic trilogy (three plays written for to be performed together), it deals with the murder of Agamemnon and the avenging of that deed by his son Orestes. It is considered one of the great dramatic works of antiquity, but the language is very dense and allusive.

Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica (translated by E.V. Rieu, Richard Hunter). The story of Jason and his quest to get the Golden Fleece. Rieu’s translation is good, but is a prose rendition. Hunter’s is the only readily available verse translation.

Beowulf (translation by Seamus Heaney, Burton Raffel). Hey! This isn’t classical mythology. I know, but it’s nice to see what other traditions have to offer. It tells the story of a young adventure of Beowulf against Grendel and his mother, swamp monsters and the aged Beowulf’s battle against a dragon. Heaney, the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, does a great job in his translation. It won the National Book Award for translation a year or so ago. Raffel’s translation is o.k., and had long been the standard.

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is not a classical work, but is Campbell’s first major work, and a good introduction to the idea of "hero" in mythology.

Elder Edda, Elder Edda: a Selection (translated by W. H. Auden) a collection of Norse tales. Again this is not classical mythology, but serves as a nice introduction to a different mythology. Auden is one of the great poets of the 20^th century.

Euripides, any three of the following plays [Hippolytus, Bacchae, Electra, Medea, Heracles] [David Grene does a good job on some of these plays, and Philip Vellacott does a commendable job as well]. Euripides is the most critical of the Greek playwrights and seems to view mythology through the eyes of one disillusioned by war (most of his career took place during the time of the disastrous Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta).

Gilgamesh, The Epic of (translated by Andrew George, N.K. Sanders, David Ferry]. Again, this is not classical, but comes from the ancient Mediterranean. A good comparison with Greek mythology, which this predates.

Hesiod, The Theogony and The Works and Days (translated by Apostolos Athenassakis, M.L. West, Stanley Lombardo [Lombardo has translated only The Theogony]). West’s prose translation is the standard, but Athenassakis does a good job and Lombardo, a Classics professor and Zen priest, is a great translator. The Theogony has the feeling of the Old Testament about it; The Works and Days is something like an ancient Farmer’s Almanac, but does have some mythological stories. These works and Homer are the oldest Greek works.

Homer, The Iliad [translated by Stanley Lombardo, Robert Fagles, Robert FitzGerald, Richmond Lattimore). Lombardo’s and Fagles’ translations are both very vigorous, muscular translations. FitzGerald’s is very literary and Lattimore’s was, for the longest time, the standard. It’s very accurate and captures some of the majesty of Homer, but lacks the vigor of the others. The Iliad treats the anger of Achilles, the greatest of the Greek heroes at Troy, who sits out the war for a few months when the leader of the Greek Expeditionary Force at Troy, Agamemnon, shows him disrespect. If I had to name the greatest work of Greek literature, this would be my choice.

Homer, The Odyssey (translated by Lombardo, Fagles, FitzGerald, Lattimore, Allen Mandelbaum). The story of the Greek hero, Odysseus, and his travels home from Troy. Mandelbaum’s translation, like FitzGerald’s is literary. The same things as said above about translations of the Iliad apply here.

Ovid, Metamorphoses (translated by Rolfe Humphries, Allen Mandelbaum, Horace Gregory, Ted Hughes [his rendition is called Tales from Ovid]). All translations are very good handling of Ovid, who reads like he wrote for The New Yorker – very witty and urbane; he doesn’t take the mythology too seriously. Hughes’ translation of some of the stories in Ovid, called Tales from Ovid, won the Bollinger Prize for poetry a few years ago.

Christopher Phillips, Socrates Cafe. This is not a mythological work at all, but a philosophic one. It addresses the importance of examining one’s life, and always asking questions. After reading this, one might come up with all sorts of questions regarding mythology.

Plato, The Symposium (translated by Benjamin Jowett, Robin Waterfield, Chris Gill). This Platonic dialog addresses the question "What is Love?" It’s a good example of how a philosopher might use stories or myths to expound his position. Jowett’s translation is considered a classic and is very readable. The others are more modern.

Seneca, any three of the following (Phaedra, Oedipus, Medea, Thyestes) (translated by David Slavitt, E. F. Watling). Seneca was something like a cabinet official under the Emperor Nero, and was also a philosopher. He also wrote tragedies on classical themes, which are unlike the Greek versions – often they are much more gruesome.

Sophocles, The Theban Plays (translated by David Grene, Robert Fagles, Bernard Knox [only Oedipus the King]). When Aristotle tried to define what tragedy was in his Poetics, he used as his example Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. The Oedipus at Colonus may prove difficult going, but is worth it. The Antigone is a masterpiece dealing with the question of "justice."

Vergil, Aeneid (translated by Allen Mandelbaum, C. Day Lewis, Robert FitzGerald, L. R. Lind). Lind’s is a rather stodgy translation, but accurate; the other three are very literary. Vergil was pretty much hired by the government to compose an epic glorifying the Augustan regime. Instead, he wrote a work about the glory of Rome, taking as his subject a Trojan hero after the fall of Troy who founds a settlement that will eventually establish Rome. It uses the trials and tribulations of Aeneas to display Roman greatness as viewed through the eye of eternity. This was the only Latin work that was considered on the level of Homer’s work.

I shall be reading Statius' Thebaid, an epic poem about the expedition of the Seven against Thebes. You can check out my reflections as I read, and my final paper (on the due date) by clicking here.