Showing titles in Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature

By the time Shakespeare came to write Macbeth - almost certainly in 1605/1606 - he had already completed three of the great tragedies with which modern audiences are so familiar: Hamlet (1601), Othello (1603), and King Lear (1605). Each of those plays gives us an eponymous hero who is in some significant way flawed, but for whom we also inevitably feel deep sympathy, whatever his errors or crimes. But in MacBeth, Shakespeare has chosen for his tragic hero a man guilty of the most terrible crime imaginable to a Jacobean audience, that of regicide - the murder of a king.

Antigone stood defiant in the face of tyranny. Best-selling and award winning author Colm Tóibín wrote this new dramatisation of the Greek tragedy especially to be performed by Irish actor Lisa Dwan. Pale Sister gives voice to Antigone’s sister, Ismene, who recounts her sister’s defiance of the king as pressures mount on her to act to vindicate her sister, or even follow her example. Pale Sister tells Antigone’s story through Ismene: the quiet person in the corner, bearing witness to everything.

Plutarch’s series of biographies was the first of its kind, as much ground breaking in conception as Herodotus was with his Histories. Plutarch looked at the great men of the Ancient World and told their stories, in many cases drawing on sources no longer available to us. They offer a unique insight into the characters as well as the achievements of men who influenced their age and the empires that their culture dominated. They are as accessible now as they were when they were first written.is the companion volume to Roman Lives.

Inspired by the mythic house of Thebes, Sophocles’s defining Greek tragedies follow the fates that befall three doomed generations.

Star of stage, film, and television Alan Cumming delivers a virtuoso performance playing every role in the National Theatre of Scotland's bold presentation of Shakespeare's chilling tale of desire, ambition, and the supernatural. This radical reimagining of one of Shakespeare's most deeply psychological plays is set in a psychiatric unit in which Cumming is the lone patient. Channeling the story of Macbeth, he is inhabited in turn by each of the characters of the drama, including some of Shakespeare's most complex and troubled creations.

Have you ever heard the sounds of Hell? Felt the darkness and the ice? Tasted the burnt air on your tongue? Dante’s Inferno will give you a flavor of the wretchedness of sin that you will never forget. The images and action that bring you down into the very center of judgment and consequence, into that eternal realm of woe, will stick to the ribcages of your mind, and change the way you see the world, the devil, and your own flesh.

When a jealous Zeus discovers that the compassionate Titan, Prometheus, has introduced the gift of fire to liberate mere mortals from oppression and servitude, he has Prometheus bound to a rocky prison in the Scythian desert, where the god discloses the reason for his punishment.

Written by Thiruvalluvar in Tamil 10,000 years ago, Thirukkural and its Pearls of Wisdom is as relevant today as it was when written. Hence, it is known as a book for all ages. The Thirukkural is a classic Tamil sangam literature consisting of 1,330 couplets or Kurals. The Tirukku is one of the most important works in the Tamil language. This is reflected in some of the other names by which the text known, such as Tami Marai (Tamil Veda), Poyyamozhi (words that never fail) and Deiva Nool (divine text).

Lucretius was born in 99 BC, and On the Nature of Things is his only surviving work. His aim was to free the Roman world from its two great terrors - the gods and death. Lucretius argues that the gods are not actively involved in life, so need not be appeased; and that death is the end of everything human - body and soul - and therefore should not be feared. But On the Nature of Things is also a poem of striking imagery, intimate natural observation and touching pathos.

The multi award-winning SmartPass study guide, with and without commentary options. This is a full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. Soak up the atmosphere of ancient Rome. Decide for yourself whether Caesar's power and ambition was a threat to the Republic, and whether assassination can ever be justified.

Chekhov's masterful last play, The Cherry Orchard, is a work of timeless, bittersweet beauty about the fading fortunes of an aristocratic Russian family and their struggle to maintain their status in a changing world. Alternately touching and farcical, this subtle, intelligent play stars the incomparable Marsha Mason.

Humphries has rendered (Ovid's) love poetry with conspicuous success into English which is neither obtrusively colloquial nor awkwardly antique.

Virgil's Aeneid, one of the greatest classical poems, tells the story of Aeneas, son of Priam, after the fall of Troy. His quest is to find the site "in the west" where he will found a new town prophesied to be the seat of a world empire: Rome.

The secret of their identities has fueled debate for hundreds of years: Who are the nameless nobleman and the dark-haired mistress? And what did they do to inspire the creation of more than 150 deeply intimate poems? Whether William Shakespeare's sonnets are pure fiction or the lingering echo of an autobiographical account, this exquisitely written collection defied traditional love poem conventions to explore the many layers of romance, the dangers of lust, and the nuances of beauty.

Piers Plowman, William Langland's visionary medieval work about one man's quest for the true Christian life, is an allegorical journey through dream visions and visions within dreams. During the course of his journey, the narrator (William Langland) meets Piers Plowman, who gradually reveals himself to be the son of God. Through Piers, William learns of the virtues in poverty, the temptations of wealth, and of the perfect society that is to come under the rule of Piers Plowman.

A comedy of manners in five acts, The Rivals was Sheridan's second commercially produced play. The play is set in Bath in the 18th century, a town legendary for conspicuous consumption and fashion at the time. Wealthy, fashionable people went there to "take the waters", which were believed to have healing properties. Bath was much less exclusive than London, and provides an ideal setting for the characters.

Experience one of Poe’s classics with crisp, clear audio. Orange Island Book Shop is proud to present Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tales like you’ve never heard them before.

Peer Gynt, the five-act romantic play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Based on a Norwegian folk hero, the title character is a rogue who will be destroyed unless the love of a woman saves him. At a wedding he meets Solveig, who falls in love with him, but Peer ruins the wedding by abducting, then abandoning the bride. Then Peer goes global, misbehaving in a trail of adventures around the world. When he finally returns to Norway, old and embittered, Solveig welcomes him home, and he's redeemed by her love.

Though best known now for his collection of lively and vivid Parallel Lives from ancient Greece and Rome, Plutarch (c46 CD-120 CE) was, for centuries, more respected for his Moralia, a remarkable and wide-ranging collection of essays and speeches. No fewer than 78 in total, they range over a broad list of topics in which Plutarch observes, dispenses wisdom, admonishes, entertains and informs: covering social issues and politics, manners and religion - in short, life in general.

Shakespeare combined his love of theater with Greek mythology and the supernatural to create what is arguably his most playfully imaginative work. From love potions to bizarre transformations to the unforgettable play-within-a-play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a non-stop delight, and remains one of the milestones of the Bard’s canon.