Ancient Sources

FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THIS LIST. New posts will be incorporated into existing posts and deleted for purposes of clarity and organization.

HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY

• Ammianus Marcellinus Roman History (Res Gestae) From 353 to the reign of Valens c. 378. The first 14 books taking up where Suetonius and Tacitus left off (from Nerva in AD 96 through 352) are lost.
   
  
• Appian: The Foreign Wars and the Civil Wars (Bellum Civile)
  Appian The Roman History
  Early Roman history is fragmented but the Punic Wars through the wars of the late Republic is extensively covered. (alternatives)
  Appian's Civil Wars, Appian's Foreign Wars
   
  
• Aurelius Victor
  Epitome de Caesaribus (Epitome of the Emperors) A summary of the emperors from Augustus to Julian
   
  
• Caesar Gallic Wars, Civil Wars, Alexandrian War, African War, 'Spanish' War (Bellum Gallicum, Bellum Civile, Bellum Hispanicum, Bellum Alexandricum) (alternative) Caesar's commentaries
   
  
• Cassius Dio, Roman History
  Books 1 - 80 Founding of Rome through Severus Alexander (about AD 222)
  Book 22 - 35 (The Grachii through Marius, Cinna, Sulla, etc.) is very fragmentary as is book 70 and 71 on Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius
   
  
• Cicero Letters (arranged by themes courtesy of theilian)
  Various works at:Perseus (Some from the above link and more from Perseus)
  Selected Letters (Fordham)
  Complete Letters (Perseus); (PDF download: vol. 1, vol. 3, vol. 4
  Treatise (includes De Officis, Nature of Gods, Old Age, Friendship, Republic, Laws among others)
  Speeches - 14 Philippics (Gutenberg), 1st speech against Verres (Bartleby), 2nd verres, Pro Cluentio, Pro Milone, Pro Archia, Pro Roscio Amerio (all UAH), Catilinarian Orations, Pro Murena, Pro Caelio, Additional Downloads via Gutenberg
   
  
• Cornelius Nepos: Lives of Eminent Leaders (including Hannibal and M. Porcius Cato)
   
  
• Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History
   
  
• Dionysus of Halicarnassus: Roman Antiquities A history of early Rome through the war with Pyrrhus. The founding through the mid 4th century BC is extensively covered in books 1 through 11. Books 12 through 20, roughly through the war with Pyrrhus, are badly fragmented.
   
  
• Exsuperantius, Julius Roman History a very short history from around the 4th century regarding the era of Marius and Sulla... seemingly based largely on the work of Sallust
   
  
• Festus Brevarium of the Accomplishments of the Roman People
   
  
• Gauis The Institutes - Translated by Edward Poste, Translated by Samuel P. Scott
   
  
• Gellius Attic Nights
   
  
• Herodian Roman History From the death of Marcus Aurelius to Gordian III. (alternative) Roman History also Book 5 only
   
  
• Historia Augusta
  Various Authors, Biographies in a Suetonius like fashion from Hadrian through Numerian AD 117 - 285
  Beware the sometimes dubious nature of this source.
   
  
• Florus Epitome of Roman History. For the most part it is an account of Rome's many wars from the beginning until the reign of Augustus. It is based mostly on Livy's more extensive work, but it is also valuable because it includes some of Livy's lost books. (alternative) Epitome
   
  
• Josephus Antiquities of the Jews and War of the Jews
   
  
• Licinianus, Granius Roman History a very fragmented history covering a few pages of a largely lost work. The preserved work covers the period between 163 and 78 BC
   
  
• Livy: History of Rome
  Books 1 - 45 Founding of Rome through the Third Macedonian War
  Books 46 - 142 are lost but the Periochae (a summary version) still exists. (alternatives) Livy's History Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, at Gutenberg From the Founding of the City
   
  
• Nicolaus of Damascus
  Life of Augustus
   
  
• Plutarch
  Parallel Lives, The Moralia (alternatives)
  Plutarch's Lives, (download) Gutenberg Project, Lives
   
  
• Polybius
  The Histories Books 1 - 39 covers the Punic Wars extensively
   
  
• Procopius Works related to the reign of Justinian Persian War, Vandalic War, Court of Justinian
   
  
• Sallust War with Jugurtha, Conspiracy of Catiline (alternatives)
  Catiline Conspiracy, Jugurtha War, Histories (fragments)
   
  
• Suetonius
  Lives of the Caesars
  Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian
  On Grammarians, On Rhetoricians
   
  
• Tacitus
  The Annals and the History covers AD 14 - 66 and 69, 70. or Tacitus' Annals.
  Life of Agricola (AD 40 -93)
  The Germania
   
  
• Vegetius
  De Re Militari (The Military Institutions of the Romans) Covers the structure, training, strategies, tactics and procedures of the late Roman army.
   
  
• Velleius Paterculus The Roman History Covers early history from the fall of Troy through the death of Livia in AD 29. The civil war era of Caesar is heavily focused.
  

POETRY, PHILOSOPHY AND MISCELLANY

• Apuleius The Golden Ass
   
  
• Cato the Elder De Agricultura (on farming) As the title suggests... but includes other societal elements
   
  
• Catullus Catullus Poems
   
  
• Celsus De Medicina On Medicine
   
  
• Cicero, Q. Tullius Commentariolum Petitionis (aka De petitione consulatus) Handbook on Electioneering or On running for the Consulship
   
  
• Columella, L Iunius De Re Rustica (on Agriculture)
   
  
• Fronto, Marcus Cornelius The correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto
   
  
• Frontinus The Aqueducts of Rome
   
  
• Galen On the Natural Faculties, book I, II & III
   
  
• Horace Selected Odes
   
  
• Juvenal Satire Satires
   
  
• Lucan Pharsalia (poem regarding Caesar's civil war with Pompey)
   
  
• Lucretius Carus Lucretius' On the Nature of Things philosophical poetry.
   
  
• Notitia Dignitatum (alternatives) Notitia Dignitatum. A detailed list of imperial administrative positions circa 400-420 AD.
   
  
• Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis) Epigrams
   
  
• Ovid Metamorphoses
   
  
• Pausanius Description (Travel Guide) of Greece
   
  
• Petronius Satyricon
   
  
• Pliny the Elder
  Natural History an enormous work covering a vast number of 'natural' subjects. An old translation dating from the early 17th century. (alternative) Perseus
   
  
• Pliny the Younger Selected Letters, Regarding Vesuvius. Pliny t.y's letters (Latin)
   
  
• Ptolemy Geography Maps and text material. Online resource via Lacus Curtius is a translation in progress.
   
  
• Quintilian Institutio Oratoria
   
  
• Seneca Essays and Epistles, Seneca Tragedies
   
  
• Strabo Geography
   
  
• Synesius of Cyrene Speeches, Essays, Hymns
   
  
• Twelve Tables S. P. Scott translation, Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne translation, M. H. Crawford translation
   
  
• Varro (M. Terentius Varro) De Re Rustica (on Agriculture)
   
  
• Vergil or Virgil (P. Vergilius Maro) Aeneid
   
  
• Vitruvius On Architecture
  

Religion

Early Church authors and religious related material, including various works of history, church doctrine, ethics, etc.

[*]Tertullian Many early church works including, of course, Tertullian

"Church Fathers" An extensive list of church related histories and later empire historians listed in chronological order... http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm

Fragments from Victor of Capua, Aristides the Philosopher, Irenaeus, Hermias the Philosopher, Origen, Dionysius of Alexandria, Eusebius, Philostorgius, St. Ephraim the Syrian, Aphrahat, Chronography of 354, Eunomius of Cyzicus, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Ambrose of Milan, Pacian of Barcelona, Macarius Magnes, Asterius of Amasea, Chromatius of Aquileia, Epiphanius of Salamis, Optatus of Milevis, John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Nestorius, Cyril of Alexandria, Palladius, Rabbula, Salvian, Sidonius Apollinaris, Eugippius, Dionysius the Areopagite,

Joshua the Stylite, Jacob of Ser

Link Databases containing various ancient source materials:

• The Ancient History Sourcebook Extensive list of sources organized by subject and author.
   
  
• Latin Library Many primary texts (in Latin of course).
   
  
• Lacus Curtius many texts in both Latin and English.
   
  
• Internet Classics Archive @ MIT 441 total Greco-Roman works.
   
  
• Perseus Digital Library enormous database, but slow to load. An improved Beta Version 4.0 is still being developed. Direct link to Greco-Roman texts.
   
  
• Corpus Sciptorum Latinorum @ Forum Romanum A large searchable and alphabetized list with both English and Latin texts and secondary sources.
   
  
• Gutenberg.org An extensive list of downloadable books, including many non ancient texts.
   
  
• Poetry in Translation Large database of poetry including a large collection of Greek and Latin poets.
   
  
• Society for Ancient Languages smaller selection of Latin texts.
   
  
• Fectio.org Related to Vortigern Studies which concentrates on the later imperial period, particularly in Britannia.
   
  
• Cultural Language Heritage Technology Mirror site of selected Perseus texts, expect similar loading delays.
   
  
• Perseus Berlin Mirror Occasional better performance than the main perseus site.
  

Miscellaneous source material on Greek, Byzantine, Eastern, Post-Roman Europe, etc.

• Cuneiform Tablets
   
  
• Gregory of Tours History of the Franks
   
  
• Herodotus Histories, book 7
   
  
• Homer: The Iliad, The Odyssey
   
  
• Vindolanda Tablets Online searchable database of inscriptions and tablets
  

In order to organize and clarify this list of links, posted additions will be incorporated into the existing posts. Discussion of any such links (inclusion, exclusion, edits, etc.) within this thread will be split at the conclusion of said discussion, in order to keep the thread clean and on topic.

Thank you to everyone who submitted various links, and my apologies for removing posts. I hope the new categorization will be useful.

Cheers!

[EDIT]

Thanks for the additions: Theiliad, P. Nonius Severus, Ludovicus, M. Porcius Cato, Nephele, Divi Filius, Flavia Gemina, Klingan, Ingsoc, P. Clodius, Melvadius, ASC, Legulieus (and to anyone else I may have missed).

Martial

There are lots more on that page though.

Pausanias travel guide

Procopius's "Wars" = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16764

Galen On the Natural Faculties, book I, II & III

Juvenalis satires (not only the first 3)

Festus, Brevarium of the Accomplishments of the Roman People

The Twelve Tables - S. P. Scott translation, Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne translation, M. H. Crawford translation

The Twelve Tables - S. P. Scott translation, Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne translation, M. H. Crawford translation

Very much appreciated!

Gaius, The Institutes - Translated by Edward Poste, Translated by Samuel P. Scott

Thanks guys... I figure the strike through method of leaving the record of the original posts works better than just deleting everything...