Want to know what books Paul McMullen recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Paul McMullen's favorite book recommendations of all time.
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"Book I" of the Histories provides a particularly good illustration of the discursiveness and diversity of Herodotus materials and of the ingenuity with which he develops his narrative and welds it into an artistic whole. Here he deals first with the distant mythological past and then in greater detail with the more recent history of Greek relations with the Near East, in an attempt to explain the origin of the quarrels between east and west which formed the background to the Persian Wars. This edition, formerly published by Cambridge University Press in their Pitt Press Series (1909,... more "Book I" of the Histories provides a particularly good illustration of the discursiveness and diversity of Herodotus materials and of the ingenuity with which he develops his narrative and welds it into an artistic whole. Here he deals first with the distant mythological past and then in greater detail with the more recent history of Greek relations with the Near East, in an attempt to explain the origin of the quarrels between east and west which formed the background to the Persian Wars. This edition, formerly published by Cambridge University Press in their Pitt Press Series (1909, reissued 1927) contains a serviceable introduction, text and careful annotation on matters of language and content. There is also a very useful explanatory index of historical and geographical names. less 
Paul McMullenThis is one of the first works of great ancient Greek history that I had contact with and it was the work of historiography that inspired me to pursue all this… (Source)
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Alan H. Sommerstein | 4.18
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The significance of Plato’s Apology of Socrates is impossible to overestimate. An account of the famous trial of Socrates in 399 b.c., it appeals to historians, philosophers, political scientists, classicists, and literary critics. It is also essential reading for students of ancient Greek.
This new commentary on Plato’s canonical work is designed to accommodate the needs of students in intermediate-level Greek classes, where they typically encounter the Apology for the first time. Paul Allen Miller and Charles Platter, two highly respected classicists and veteran... more The significance of Plato’s Apology of Socrates is impossible to overestimate. An account of the famous trial of Socrates in 399 b.c., it appeals to historians, philosophers, political scientists, classicists, and literary critics. It is also essential reading for students of ancient Greek.
This new commentary on Plato’s canonical work is designed to accommodate the needs of students in intermediate-level Greek classes, where they typically encounter the Apology for the first time. Paul Allen Miller and Charles Platter, two highly respected classicists and veteran instructors, present the Apology in its traditional thirty-three-chapter structure. They amplify the text with running commentary and glosses of unfamiliar words at the bottom of each page; brief chapter introductions to relevant philosophical, historical, and rhetorical issues; and a separate series of thought-provoking essays, one on each chapter. The essays can serve as bases for class discussions or as starting points for paper topics or general reflection.
By integrating background material into the text at regular intervals rather than front-loading it in a lengthy initial overview or burying it in back-of-the-book endnotes, the authors offer students a rich encounter with the text. Their commentary incorporates the latest research on both the trial of Socrates and Plato’s version of it, and it engages major philosophical issues from a contemporary perspective. This book is not only a much-needed aid for students of Greek. It is also the basis of a complete course on the Apology. less Paul McMullenSo Plato’s Apology of Socrates, which was his defence speech in 399 BC, at his trial for impiety, is one of the watershed moments of Western civilization. (Source)
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Donald J. Mastronarde | 4.12
Thoroughly revised and expanded, Introduction to Attic Greek, 2nd Edition gives student and instructors the most comprehensive and accessible presentation of ancient Greek available. The text features:
• Full exposure to the grammar and morphology that students will encounter in actual texts
• Self-contained instructional chapters, with challenging, carefully tailored exercises
• Progressively more complex chapters to build the student's knowledge of declensions, tenses, and constructions by alternating emphasis on morphology and syntax
• Readings based on actual texts... more Thoroughly revised and expanded, Introduction to Attic Greek, 2nd Edition gives student and instructors the most comprehensive and accessible presentation of ancient Greek available. The text features:
• Full exposure to the grammar and morphology that students will encounter in actual texts
• Self-contained instructional chapters, with challenging, carefully tailored exercises
• Progressively more complex chapters to build the student's knowledge of declensions, tenses, and constructions by alternating emphasis on morphology and syntax
• Readings based on actual texts and include unadapted passages from Xenophon, Lysias, Plato, Aristophanes, and Thucydides.
• Concise introduction to the history of the Greek language
• Composite list of verbs with principal parts, and an appendix of all paradigms
• Greek-English and English-Greek glossaries
Additional Resources:
•Robust online supplements for teaching and learning available
•Answer Key to exercises also available from UC Press (978-0-520-27574-4)
less Paul McMullenI’d say particularly if you already have some exposure to Latin, this book is a good choice. (Source)
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First published in 1978, Reading Greek has become a best-selling one-year introductory course in ancient Greek for students and adults. It combines the best of modern and traditional language-learning techniques and is used widely in schools, summer schools and universities across the world. It has also been translated into several foreign languages. This volume provides full grammatical support together with numerous exercises at different levels. For the second edition the presentations of grammar have been substantially revised to meet the needs of today's students and the volume has been... more First published in 1978, Reading Greek has become a best-selling one-year introductory course in ancient Greek for students and adults. It combines the best of modern and traditional language-learning techniques and is used widely in schools, summer schools and universities across the world. It has also been translated into several foreign languages. This volume provides full grammatical support together with numerous exercises at different levels. For the second edition the presentations of grammar have been substantially revised to meet the needs of today's students and the volume has been completely redesigned, with the use of colour. Greek-English and English-Greek vocabularies are provided, as well as a substantial reference grammar and language surveys. The accompanying Text and Vocabulary volume contains a narrative adapted entirely from ancient authors in order to encourage students rapidly to develop their reading skills, simultaneously receiving a good introduction to Greek culture. less Paul McMullenIt introduces you, step by step, to each part of speech and each concept of the language, at a very manageable speed. (Source)
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