Great Books Program Ancient Greek Year

  • First year of our four-year Great Books Program
  • High school or college credit options
  • Read & discuss the finest works of Western civilization
  • Our faculty are highly experienced online moderators
  • Weekly, online classes with students from around the world
Each of our Great Books Program online classes begin with a poem and a short discussion of poetry related to the week’s reading. Complete list of poetry can be found in our Great Books Study Guides.

Poetry for Week 3 of the Ancient Greek Year Sea Fever, by John Masefield I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking. I must go down to the sea again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying. I must go down to the sea again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Ancient Greek Year Samples

This class sample is from the Greek year [the first year] of our Great Books Program. The students have read two of Plato’s dialogues, Crito and Phaedo, for this class. In the Crito, Socrates is awaiting execution in his prison cell. His friend Crito has come early one morning to try to convince Socrates to escape his cell [which he could do relatively easily] to avoid undergoing an unjust execution. He offers several arguments as to why this is the proper thing to do. The sample begins with the students responding to this question, “Which of Crito’s arguments do you find to be the most persuasive? Whichever argument you choose why do you choose it?” The moderators for the class were Dr. James Taylor and Mr. Stephen Bertucci.

Great Books of the Ancient Greeks Weekly Readings
Great Books of the Ancient Greeks IGreat Books of the Ancient Greeks II
First SemesterSecond Semester
Weekly ReadingsWeekly Readings
Week 1
The Great Conversation – Robert Hutchins
Theogony - Hesiod
Prometheus Bound -Aeschylus		Week 15
Peloponnesian War* -Thucydides
Week 2
The Iliad - Homer		Week 16
Peloponnesian War* -Thucydides
Week 3
The Iliad - Homer		Week 17
Fragments* - Presocratic Philosophers
Week 4
The Odyssey - Homer		Week 18
Ion, Meno - Plato
Week 5
The Odyssey - Homer		Week 19
Gorgias - Plato
Week 6
Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides - Aeschylus		Week 20
Republic* - Plato
Week 7
Trojan Women, Alcestis - Euripedes		Week 21
Republic* - Plato
Week 8
Aesop’s Fables* -Aesop		Week 22
Symposium - Plato
Week 9
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus -Sophocles		Week 23
Apology, Euthyphro - Plato
Week 10
Antigone - Sophocles, Hippolytus - Euripides		Week 24
Crito, Phaedo - Plato
Week 11
Histories* - Herodotus		Week 25
Poetics, On the Heavens*, On the Soul* - Aristotle
Week 12
Histories* - Herodotus		Week 26
Ethics*, Metaphysics* -Aristotle
Week 13
Lycurgus, Solon - Plutarch		Week 27
Selections on First Principles of Philosophy
Week 14
Pericles, Alcibiades -Plutarch		Week 28
Aristides, Alexander -Plutarch
First Semester Oral ExamsWeek 29
The Oath, On Ancient Medicine, On Airs, Waters, Places - Hippocrates
Week 30
Elements*, Euclid
Second Semester Oral Exams
*Selections

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