5 Ways to Read Ancient Literature (and Actually Enjoy it)

Hi everyone, I wanted to do a bit more of a casual video today, so this one isn't as scripted, but I think it's something that you should enjoy if you're interested in learning more about the classical world, because I feel that there's really no substitute for going to the surviving sources themselves. The modern historians and academic resources are great, but the more familiar you get with these, the more you will notice that at the popular level, they repeat familiar anecdotes and events. It's the same quotes over and over again from the direct sources. They just cherry-pick the most dramatic episodes from ancient works to underscore their points. That's fine, they're not lying, but you'll notice that you just kind of get a limited view of the classical world, I think. So reading the sources allows you to discover certain passages that may resonate with you in a personal way, things that would have been impossible to discover if you were to rely only on modern authors. As great as the quote Vini Vidi Vici is, Caesar said a lot more than that. There might be other stuff that you find more compelling from the man himself. But more critically, something is lost in translation when modern writers mediate the ancients to us. Even when they're trying to be objective, agendas and modern suppositions always creep in. If you truly want to understand the ancient mind, then you need to encounter it for yourself, unmediated by anyone else. In my view, nothing makes Greek and Roman history more intelligible than the realization that their thought processes, values, and beliefs were radically different from our own. They have certainly influenced us, but the gulf between our cultures is so vast as to make certain aspects of their world utterly alien to us. This comes through very clearly if you engage with the sources themselves, instead of letting someone else mediate them to you. But it is this very difference of the ancient mind that can make reading classical sources so difficult. They thought about everything differently, and literature is no exception. So how can a budding student of ancient history read sources for more than education, but for actual enjoyment as well? First, follow the generic tips one would for serious reading on any topic. For starters, get your phone as far away from you as possible. In addition, for difficult passages, it can be helpful to follow along the text while an audiobook is playing. I find that this is particularly true for some ancient works, and the good news is that there are always free audio versions of any ancient classic. Finally, be sure you are reading for the right reason, because it's something you want for yourself. I have news. No one in 2023 is going to be impressed that you read Plutarch. So if you're trying to flex by showing off your encyclopedic knowledge of ancient literature, then each work will simply become an item on a checklist, and you won't get any joy from the experience. So that's the generic tips out of the way, but here are a few that I think relate specifically to ancient literature that I think you might find helpful. Number one, don't read alone. Much ancient literature was not written for solitary contemplation, but to foster discussion and dialogue. Some of the most famous works were even written specifically to be performed publicly. The ancients didn't encounter these works alone, and so neither can you. It's easier than ever to find supplementary writing and lectures that can provide reading guides for the masterworks of Greek and Roman literature. Use these resources, and on your initial read-through, be sure to spend just as much time with them as you do with the actual sources you are reading. But this can, and should, be taken a step further. So if you have any friends that are also drawn to the classical world, try reading the same work together, so that you can discuss what you are learning. Not only does this help the information stick in your mind, it offers you the chance to see a work from different perspectives while also encountering it in the way the ancient author meant. In addition, reading as part of a group can encourage highlighting passages, dog-earing pages, note-taking in the margins, and other methods of retention, so that you can quickly reference episodes that stick out to you. I believe that this is essential to reading a classical work, and I find that doing so helps familiarize the reader with the book at a deeper level, while also increasing retention. Number two, read critically. I've emphasized just how different the classical world is from our own. This is obvious, and becomes more so when you engage with the classical sources themselves. This difference presents the opportunity to read in a way that can be very illuminating, acknowledging that you don't need to agree with the author on everything. In fact, you probably shouldn't. Ancients didn't march in lockstep, so treating all of these books with reverence that puts them above criticism is both at odds with our more evolved modern morality and a betrayal of the classical world itself. Looking for areas of divergence between the classical world and our own will increase your ability to read between the lines and follow arguments to their logical conclusion, even if they aren't fully stated in the text. It's also a great way to identify which elements of classical thought have proven the most influential, both for good and for ill. In addition, I also find that it's instrumental for understanding our own moral frameworks and their origins. This can lead us to interrogate our own ideas and even reform them where necessary so that they are on more sound philosophical footing. A great way to find out what you really believe, and why you believe it, is to engage earnestly with someone who believes something differently. These works were often written to foster discussion, so you aren't betraying them by critiquing them, even if you hold them to standards with which the authors themselves would have been unfamiliar. Number three, read in context. The mirror image of my last point is to read in context. Understand the unique context in which the author was writing, as well as his goals for this particular piece of literature. Surviving literature is the greatest tool we have for peering into the ancient mind, but we need to understand the ancient mind before we can understand the literature. This can be a bit like the problem of the chicken and the egg. So repeat readings are often exponentially more rewarding than initial encounters with classical literature. This is especially true if your books have been highlighted already from a previous read. Also, remember to be mindful of genre in the work you are reading. Some classical plays and poems are still laugh out loud funny even today, and the jokes come through all the better if you read someone like Marshall fully expecting to laugh. Ancient literature was as diverse as our own. Don't read it like a repressed stoic in a dark study all by yourself. Much of it was meant to evoke the joy of life, and letting that come through will improve your reading experience. Approaching classical sources with the knowledge that the book was written to accomplish specific goals is helpful in putting us in touch with the author and the ideas that they were hoping to convey. But it's also important to remember that 99% of classical literature is lost because copying and transmission of literature was incredibly difficult and time-consuming prior to the advent of the printing press. Literature was only copied if it was regarded as important and useful within its society. This means we typically only have the most popular literature, but it also means that we are missing works which were intentionally suppressed. For example, Augustus had poetry and plays written by Caesar destroyed as he felt they reflected negatively on his adopted father, and now no trace of these works remain. If even Caesar could be subject to this eternal censorship, it's worth reflecting on how other magnificent works could be lost. All this to say, the surviving texts typically echo the dominant values of the society in which they were written, so knowledge of the prevailing norms and customs is important to understanding why the work was popular and why it was preserved. Number four, pace yourself. Doing all this reading and thinking is obviously a lot of work, and some of us actually do have jobs, so I believe that's the best way to get the most out of classical literature, but I understand that it isn't for the faint of heart. So be sure to set realistic targets for yourself or your reading group that take into account all the extra material you need to engage in. I'm a fast reader, so it can be demoralizing to find myself moving slowly through a book. However, classical literature can be a marathon and not a sprint, so don't get discouraged. Moving with intention through a great work of literature can also help break the attachment to speed reading and surface level comprehension that is incredibly common in the age of smartphones and social media. Number five, read what you want to read. It sounds obvious, but it is often the most obvious things that need to be repeated. Choosing to engage with classical sources is completely voluntary, so there is no need to read a work of literature simply because you feel it's something that you have to do. I believe that certain works are more foundational and can help unlock aspects of other texts, but if you aren't enjoying a book and it feels like work to power through it, then simply put it down. Don't feel obliged to push yourself through any literature just to cross it off an arbitrary list or to subtly brag to others that you've just read a masterwork. Personally, I feel that The Iliad is perhaps the single most important Greek work that one can read to understand how the Hellenic worldview was formed. As an epic poem that shaped culture and was quoted for centuries, it is the closest thing they had to a bible and as such unveils much about their values and convictions. However, it was very, very difficult for me to read The Iliad in its entirety. I've never been a huge fan of poetry and the archaic style and allusions of The Iliad make it difficult to read even for those with proper context, so I must have picked it up and put it down a dozen times before I was finally able to complete it. But I was only able to do this after reading extensively from Herodotus, Sophocles, Thucydides, Plato, Aristophanes, and other Greek sources. Though there would have been enormous value in fully grasping The Iliad first, I simply couldn't bring myself to do it. Had I committed myself to powering through The Iliad so that I could knock it off a checklist, I might have lost some of my enthusiasm for ancient literature and then been unwilling to engage with other sources. It's your choice, it's your free time, have fun, that's the most important thing. So I won't tell you where to start, maybe that's a later video, but one of the first classical works I was able to read and enjoy on its own merits was the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, the only Roman novel to survive to the present day. Not only is the narrative quite humorous and compelling, it is a profoundly human tale of religious introspection with illuminating digressions that paint a comprehensive portrait of the Roman worldview during the late 2nd century. For me, it is in these little anecdotes and episodes that one can find the real value of classical literature. There is something beautiful about the author casually mentioning something that he assumes his reader will be intimately familiar with, but for us, it is the only record we have of that specific practice or historical episode. Another reason to go for the Metamorphoses is that the work is quite short, and unlike, say, Herodotus, there are no repetitive passages that the reader is forced to slog through. That's just my two cents though, so pick up whatever you want and read it. There's no right or wrong book to read first. As long as you are on this journey, then you're headed in the right direction. Best of luck and happy reading. Hi, this is Titus from Tribunite. If you enjoyed the video you just saw by Gaius, and if you're interested in thoughtful content that explores the complex culture of the ancient Romans, don't forget to hit like and subscribe.