Books by Jane Wilson Joyce (translator)
“It’s an epic poem. In fact, quite apart from the topic that we’re talking about today, how to be a better person, Pharsalia is one of the best epic poems in the Western tradition. If somebody is interested in Roman/Latin literature, it’s definitely something to read, also because of the history. It’s a historically fairly accurate poem, not like Virgil’s Aeneid, or Homer’s Odyssey…It refers to the civil war between Pompey and Julius Caesar, which happened about a century and a half before Lucan. The title, Pharsalia, refers to a place called Pharsalus which is where, in 48 BCE, the final battle between the two sides took place and Julius Caesar vanquished Pompey, thereby ending the Roman Republic and setting the stage for the onset of the Roman Empire a few years later.” Read more...
The best books on How to Be Good
Massimo Pigliucci, Philosopher
Interviews where books by Jane Wilson Joyce (translator) were recommended
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1
The Odyssey
by Homer and translated by Emily Wilson -
2
The Mahabharata
by Anonymous & translated and abridged by John D. Smith -
3
The Epic of Gilgamesh
by Anonymous & Sophus Helle (translator) -
4
Paradise Lost
by John Milton -
5
The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
by Dante Alighieri -
6
Pharsalia
by Jane Wilson Joyce (translator) & Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
Epic Poems
Epic Poems
Epic poems are amongst the first works of literature that survive, the earliest poems—like the Epic of Gilgamesh—likely part of oral traditions that were written down only after writing developed from the third millennium BCE. Later writers often took inspiration from earlier works and poems like Homer’s Iliad have had a huge impact on Western literature into the 21st century.
The best books on How to Be Good, recommended by Massimo Pigliucci
Many of us aspire to do the right thing when faced with ethical choices, but for ancient philosophers being a good person involved a much broader look at our behaviour and life choices. Here, Massimo Pigliucci, a practising Stoic and philosophy professor at City College of New York, recommends books on being good, from the ancient sages to modern thinkers.
