Revisiting Some Old Old Favorites

Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
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Today I wanted to feature some books I read and reviewed before Echoes of Man began:

Dante Alighieri's Inferno isn't quite as old as the other books I've been reading. Published around 1314, it's 1000+ years beyond The Odyssey. And yet within it, we reach back into antiquity in the character of Virgil, Dante's guide, and in many of the beasts which inhabit a hell clearly based on the ancient idea of the Underworld.

Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad is about as far removed in time as one can get from antiquity, but I wanted to include it as the protagonist is Penelope, Odysseus wife, and the story centers on her time at home with the suitors while Odysseus is away.

Paul Cartledge's The Spartans: The World of the War-Heroes of Ancient Greece is a rather riveting non-fiction account of the high point of Sparta. I tend to be wary of non-fiction history books; I've read a lot of boring ones. But I really enjoyed the style Cartledge used to convey the information. And of course, the content is just fascinating.

Euripedes' The Bacchae takes us back to an ancient text. Written around 405 BCE, the play focuses on Dionysus, a rather randy and extraordinary god who seduces the women of a city. Pentheus, whose mother is off running around naked in the woods with Dionysus, is rather unhappy about the whole situation. The punishments doled out by the gods for bad behavior are extremely apropos to the crime, much like the entirety of Dante's Inferno.

The Tao Te Ching by Laozi is a religious/philosophical text which originated in the 6th century BCE during the Zhou Dynasty (China). The philosophies in this book influenced religious Taoism, Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, et. al. While the concepts are a bit difficult to grasp, the language and metaphors are relatively easy to understand, making it a difficult but not frustrating read.

Do you have any past reviews about ancient times?
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