Reviews of Prospective Textbooks

The following guide to textbooks includes links to a number of comparative reviews. The focus is upon currently available introductions and anthologies of texts designed for students. See also a guide to translations of individual ancient philosophical texts.

Introductory Surveys

• ANNAS, J., Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
• GILL, C., Greek Thought, Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics 25 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995)
• GUTHRIE, W. K. C., The Greek Philosophers: From Thales to Aristotle (London: Methuen, 1950; repr. Routledge, 1997)
• HADOT, P., What is Ancient Philosophy? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002)
• IRWIN, T., Classical Thought, A History of Western Philosophy 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989)

Read a comparative review of these textbooks.

General Anthologies

• ANNAS, J., Voices of Ancient Philosophy: An Introductory Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
• COHEN, S. M., P. CURD, & C. D. C. REEVE, Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy: From Thales to Aristotle, 2nd edn (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000)
• IRWIN, T., Classical Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)
• LESHER, J. H., The Greek Philosophers: Selected Greek Texts from the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle (London: Bristol Classical Press, 1998)

Read a comparative review of these textbooks.

The Presocratics

• BARNES, J., Early Greek Philosophy (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987)
• CURD, P., A Presocratics Reader (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996)
• KIRK, G. S., J. E. RAVEN, & M. SCHOFIELD, The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983)
• MCKIRAHAN, R. D., Philosophy Before Socrates: An Introduction with Texts and Commentary (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994)
• WATERFIELD, R., The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and The Sophists, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)

Read a comparative review of these textbooks.

Aristotle Anthologies

• ACKRILL, J. L., A New Aristotle Reader (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987)
• IRWIN, T., & G. FINE, Aristotle, Introductory Readings (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996)

Read a comparative review of these textbooks.

Hellenistic Philosophy

• INWOOD, B., & L. P. GERSON, Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, 2nd edn (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997)
• LONG, A. A., & D. N. SEDLEY, The Hellenistic Philosophers, 2 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)

Read a comparative review of these textbooks.

Plotinus and Neoplatonism

• MACKENNA, S., & J. DILLON, Plotinus, The Enneads, abridged (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991)
• GREGORY, J., The Neoplatonists: A Reader (London: Routledge, [1991] 1999)
• O'BRIEN, E., The Essential Plotinus (Indianapolis: Hackett, [1964] 1997)

Read a comparative review of these textbooks.

Next Section: Online Resources