What is Classical Literature?: Classical vs. Classic Books

What is classical literature? How is it different from classic literature? This post explains everything (with lots of examples) and gives you some awesome titles to add to your reading list.

As a classicist and an avid reader, I feel especially qualified to answer this question. After all, it’s my job to research and teach classical literature, and I spend a lot of my free time reading classic literature from all time periods.

That was the short and sweet definition of classical literature. Now I will walk you through all the ins and outs of the issue . . . and give you some reading recommendations!

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What is Classical Literature?

The adjective “classical” has many possible meanings, which is why it can be a frustrating word (more about this below). But, most accurately, classical literature encompasses the writings of all authors from ancient Greece and Rome.

The Oxford English Dictionary‘s entry for “classical” begins with the following definition:

Of or relating to the ancient Greek or Latin writers whose works form a canon of acknowledged excellence; of or relating to the works themselves. Hence: of or relating to ancient Greek or Latin literature in general.

OED s.v. classical (definition 1a)

Merriam-Webster has a similar take on “classical”:

Of or relating to the ancient Greek and Roman world and especially to its literature, art, architecture, or ideals.

Merriam-Webster s.v. classical (definition 2a)

Now that you know the basic definition, let’s talk a bit more about Greece and Rome.

In the modern world we tend to lump ancient Greece and Rome together, but that is a mistake. It is important to remember that these were two separate cultures, each of which endured and evolved for centuries.

In fact, classical literature covers a period of over 1200 years. Yes, that’s right – it spans from the 8th century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E.

Furthermore, neither Greece nor Rome was monolithic. The long time span isn’t the only diversifying factor: geography made a big difference, too.

Greek authors hailed from a variety of city-states and colonies outside of mainland Greece, while Roman authors came from all over the ever-expanding Roman territories. Asia Minor, North Africa, and Spain are all well-represented in the classical corpus.

There are hundreds of classical authors, each of whom had their own identity, perspective, and goals. Only a fraction of their writings have survived to the present day, but even so, there is more than you could read in a lifetime.

(Seriously, I’m a professor of Classical Studies. Ancient literature is my job, but there’s still no way I can finish everything.)

Greek Literature

Classical literature began with Greek oral poetry. Some of the earliest surviving works were the Iliad and the Odyssey (epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer) as well as the Homeric Hymns.

These poems were not written down until the 8th century B.C.E. (at the earliest). But they had been circulating and developing orally for hundreds of years.

Over the next thousand years, individual Greek authors wrote poetry and prose in a variety of genres. Surviving texts include

• Epics such as the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Apollonius’ Argonautica
• Lyric poems by Alcman, Sappho, and Pindar
• Herodotus’ and Thucydides’ historical narratives
• Heartbreaking tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
• Comedies by Aristophanes and Menander
• Plato’s philosophical treatises
• Demosthenes’ resounding public speeches
• Novels by Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus.

And all this is only scratching the surface.

That’s Greek literature, but what about the other half of the classical duo?

Roman Literature

The literature of ancient Rome was primarily written in Latin, and the first Latin plays were produced in the 3rd century B.C.E.

Most of the “big hits” of Latin literature date to the 1st century B.C.E. and the 1st century C.E., the so-called “Golden Age”. But there’s a lot of excellent works that do not fall into that time period.

People never really stopped writing in Latin. For instance, when Isaac Newton published his treatise on the laws of motion in the late 17th century, he did so in Latin (here’s an original copy).

But generally we don’t consider anything “classical” after the 5th century C.E. and the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Surviving Roman texts include

• Comedies by Plautus and Terence
• Epics by Vergil, Ovid, Lucan, and Valerius Flaccus
• Cicero’s speeches, philosophical treatises, and personal letters
• Historical accounts by Caesar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus
• Lyric poetry by Catullus, Horace, and Propertius
• Martial’s cutting epigrams and Juvenal’s satire
• Pliny the Elder’s Natural History and Pliny the Younger’s engaging letters.

Later on, I will recommend some good Greek and Roman classics to start with. But first we need to clear up another terminological issue: classical vs. classic.

Classical vs. Classic Literature

As we discussed above, “classical literature” strictly speaking refers to the literature of ancient Greece and Rome. But what about “classic” literature? What is the difference between “classical” and “classic”?

To be honest, there is a lot of confusion over the two terms. This is reflected in dictionaries, where “classic” is listed as a synonym for “classical”.

But the trend in modern English is to separate the two. Today, “classic” typically refers to anything of high quality that has stood the test of time.

Let’s look at the Oxford English Dictionary‘s definition.

Of the first class, of the highest rank or importance; constituting an acknowledged standard or model; of enduring interest and value.

OED s.v. classic (definition I.2a)

Notice that there are no historical or geographical restrictions in this definition. But there is a value judgment included: classic books should be “of the first class” and should serve as models for future authors.

Similarly, Merriam-Webster’s first definition of “classic” is “serving as a standard of excellence : of recognized value.”

Classic books – that is, classics – can come from any time period or location. The Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, dating to the 2nd millennium B.C.E., is a classic of world literature. So is Tolstoy’s War and Peace, a classic novel written in 19th-century Russia.

But neither of these works is classical.

On the flip side, a more obscure Roman work like Silius Italicus’ Punica is classical, but not classic. The Punica comes from ancient Rome, but it has never enjoyed much popularity, even among classicists.

We can say that Homer’s Iliad, on the other hand, is both classical and classic. It comes from ancient Greece and it is still popular today.

Here is a Venn diagram that shows the overlap between classical literature and classic literature.

Lesser-known Greek and Roman authors such as Bacchylides, Herodian, and Philostratus fall under the category of “classical”. On the other side of the diagram, Jane Austen (England, 19th century) and Chinua Achebe (Nigeria, 20th century) are examples of “classic” authors.

Meanwhile, the famous Athenian philosopher Plato and the famous Roman epicist Vergil are in the center of the Venn diagram. They are classical and classic.

Beginner’s List of Classical Literature

Are you interested in reading some classical literature for yourself? I have curated a list of five affordable classical works that you might enjoy.

Several genres are represented: epic, tragedy, philosophy, and history/biography. The works are listed in chronological order.

I have linked to my favorite translations, but all these works are in the public domain, so you can find versions online, too (although the quality varies).

Homer’s Odyssey

The story of Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan War is a timeless classic. The cunning Greek hero encounters angry gods, monsters, and witches on his quest to get back to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.

Trouble is brewing at home, too, as Penelope’s suitors threaten to seize power. Luckily Odysseus and his family have the support of Athena, goddess of wisdom and warfare.

The Odyssey is always a fan favorite. When I polled my classical mythology students at Kenyon College, Odysseus was the most popular epic hero (although he is far from perfect!).

👉 Check the price of the Odyssey here!

Sophocles’ Theban Plays

Tragedies are great place to start reading classical literature because they are short (usually about 60 pages) and focused on a single narrative arc.

The Athenian playwright Sophocles (5th century B.C.E.) wrote some of the most famous tragedies in world history. His so-called “Theban Plays” are especially popular.

Have you heard of the Oedipus complex? Yup, that is inspired by Sophocles and his plays about the unfortunate royal family of Thebes (a city-state in mainland Greece).

Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex showcases king Oedipus’ struggle to outrun fate, while Antigone depicts the clash between human and divine law and familial and political obligations. Oedipus at Colonus features Oedipus in exile, seeking support from Athens.

👉 Get Sophocles’ three Theban plays here!

Plato: The Last Days of Socrates

The Greek philosopher Socrates is famed for his “Socratic method” and also for his execution for impiety by the Athenian government. After his death, he lived on in the dialogues of his student Plato (4th century B.C.E.).

If you are interested in classical philosophy, then this collection of dialogues is a fantastic place to begin. It brings together the Euthyphro, the Apology, the Crito, and the Phaedo. Socrates debates issues such as the immortality of the soul against the backdrop of his own trial for impiety (and his own impending death).

👉 Check the price of The Last Days of Socrates here!

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

If you know any Greek or Roman myths, then you almost certainly have encountered stories retold by Ovid (even if you didn’t realize it). The birth of the gods and the flood, Daphne’s flight from Apollo, Arachne’s transformation into a spider, the Minotaur and the tragic fall of Icarus . . .

Ovid, a popular love poet, published his mythological extravaganza in 8 C.E. It became an instant success, and Ovid’s versions of myths have inspired writers, artists, and sculptors for two millennia.

The Metamorphoses, as the title suggests, is focused on change and transformation. Myths weave in and out of one another in a series of embedded narratives. Ovid can be charming and funny, but please do be aware that there is a lot of violence (especially gender-based) in this poem.

👉 Get Ovid’s Metamorphoses here!

Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars

Suetonius was likely born in Hippo Regius (today Annaba, Algeria) to a family of moderate means. He managed to work his way up in the imperial bureaucracy at Rome and, in the early 2nd century C.E., he performed secretarial duties for the emperors Trajan and Hadrian.

Suetonius’ job gave him access to imperial archives, and this inspired him to write biographies of the first twelve Roman emperors. He starts with Julius Caesar (not technically an emperor) and then covers all the Julio-Claudians and Flavians.

This is the least-known of the five works I am recommending to you in this post, but Suetonius can be a fun introduction to Roman history. I often tell my students that he wrote the gossip columns of the ancient world, and it’s true that he has a flair for the dramatic. But there is still some good historical information to be found!

👉 Get The Twelve Caesars here!

Final Thoughts on the Term “Classical”

As I have alluded to several times in this post, there are some ambiguities and even controversies surrounding the term “classical”. The first issue is that there is overlap between “classical” and “classic”.

Let’s take a trip into the past. Both of these adjectives derive from the Latin adjective classicus, which in turn comes from the Latin noun classis.

If we look in my favorite online Latin dictionary, we discover that classis originally referred to each of the six divisions of the Roman people. The legendary king Servius Tullius divided people up according to their wealth for the purpose of assigning them different military responsibilities.

Most of the time, though, ancient Romans used classis to refer to their navy. And the adjective classicus, in turn, meant “belonging to the fleet”. A classicum was a military trumpet. Classicī were Roman sailors.

So why, you might ask, do we use “classical” and “classic” the way that we do? Well, classicus also had the rarer meaning of “belonging to the first (social) class”, and this, apparently, lead to the idea of classicus as “superior”, “model”, or “standard”.

We only have one example of this usage in the ancient world. It is in Aulus Gellius’ Attic Nights (19.8.15), written in the second century C.E.

Over a thousand years later, in the 1500s, both “classical” and “classic” became popular in English to mean a) superior or model AND b) relating to the Greek and Roman world.

That’s why the two terms are still so intertwined today, despite attempts to separate them. And this makes “classical” a complicated descriptor.

After all, we can talk about the Classical period in European music (think Mozart). We can also get more specific and refer to the Classical Period in ancient Greece (the period of Greek history between the Archaic and the Hellenistic).

So you really need to pay attention to context. That said, if you hear “classical literature”, you should be safe to assume Greek and Roman literature of all time periods is meant.

The other issue with the term “classical” is that it tends to equate excellence with the Greek and Roman world (the so-called “Western tradition”). Yes, there are absolutely many classical works that deserve to be classics . . . but Greece and Rome don’t have a monopoly on classics, despite the fact that we call the discipline “Classics” (capital C).

There are many other equally ancient and/or equally rich literary traditions in the world. But terminology such as “Classics” and “classical” tends to put Greece and Rome on a pedestal.

Despite the confusion that often surrounds the word “classical”, it is still the most recognizable and most used term to refer to the literatures and cultures of ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

And that’s why I have written this post: so that you understand what classical literature is and how it relates to classic literature!

I hope this discussion was helpful, and I highly recommend that you read some of the classical works which I have recommended.

Still need to be convinced? Read my post dedicated to Greek tragedy!