The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature

A useful reference work for anyone interested in the literature of the ancient world, The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature is arranged alphabetically and contains encyclopedic entries for all of the major authors and their particular works, Greek and Latin gods, mythological characters, histories of Greece and Rome, major historical figures, and relevant places. The original edition of the 1930s by Sir Paul Harvey became a classic of its own and was intended by the author to be a handbook of information for readers of the Greek and Latin authors and of modern works that touched upon the classical world. The current second edition is edited by Margaret Howatson, who revises and enlarges the Harvey edition. She notes that while a few of the entries on technical subjects were written with classical specialists in mind, the book generally requires no knowledge of Greek or Latin and is intended for anyone curious to find out more about the classical world. An ideal companion for any reader interested in Greek or Latin literature and history.

For anyone interested in reading from Greek and Latin / Roman history, literature, philosophy, & c. this will help you through. Entries include texts, themes, authors, characters, place names, and genre discussion. If you have always wanted to read Virgil, Homer, Julius Caesar, and were not inclined to begin with a chronological survey of culture, history, philosophy, this book will enliven and make intelligible your reading. One literary help for me was to be able to look up the name of a character, geographical location, or common noun, and find enough information to make a whole text intelligible.While Oxford Classical Dictionary covers subjects in greater detail, this volume is a direct help in reading Greek and Latin texts in translation.