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It is thought that Aristotle wrote most of his philosophical works after he returned to Athens in 335 BCE, one year after Alexander’s accession to the Macedonian throne, and prior to Alexander’s death twelve years later—and during the time he was actively directing his Lyceum (or Peripatetic School, as it is sometimes known). His works are believed to have been derived from notes he would jot down on whatever subject he was focusing on at the time. He would use them for his lectures at his Lyceum, and it seems that his works were, for a while, passed down after his death to the masters of the Lyceum, who followed in his steps. The second of these masters, Neleus, allegedly took Aristotle’s library to the city of Scepsis, in what is now northwestern Turkey but was then the Kingdom of Pergamon. The manuscripts were then hidden in cellars for nearly 150 years, ostensibly to keep them from being confiscated by the King of Pergamon, before they were rescued by the manuscript collector Apellicon of Teos (d. c. 84 BCE). Apellicon had the damaged documents recopied and taken back to Athens, but in 86 BCE, the Roman General Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138–78 BCE) took them to Rome. There, the works were compiled and edited by Andronicus of Rhodes (c. 60 BCE), and this was the edition that was copied in medieval monasteries and then put into print during the Renaissance.
Contents
- Chapter 1: Egypt and Early Africa
- Pyramid Texts
- “Instructions of Ptahhotep”
- “Hymn to the Nile”
- Egyptian Book of the Dead
- Nebmare-nakht: A Scribal Schoolbook (Papyrus Lansing)
- Divine Birth and Coronation Inscriptions of Hatshepsut
- “Great Hymn to the Aten”
- Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty
- Victory Stela of Piankhi
- Inscription of Ezana
- Chapter 2: The Hittite Empire in Anatolia
- Anitta Text
- Hittite Laws
- Deeds of Suppiluliuma
- Mursili II: Plague Prayers
- Hattusili III: Apology
- Chapter 3: Near East
- Instructions of Shuruppag
- Reform Edict of Urukagina
- “Sargon’s Defeat of Lugalzagesi”
- Enheduanna: Hymns to Inana
- Victory Inscription of Utu-hegal
- Curse of Agade
- Letter of Shulgi to Ishbi-Erra
- Hymn of the Righteous Sufferer
- Code of Hammurabi
- Epic of Gilgamesh
- Enuma Elish
- Bible: Genesis
- Bible: Exodus
- Middle Assyrian Laws
- Bible: Deuteronomy
- Bible: Jeremiah
- Bible: 1 Samuel
- Neo-Babylonian Chronicle 3
- Book of Enoch
- Chapter 4: Persia
- Verse Account of Nabonidus
- Cyrus Cylinder
- Darius the Great: Behistun Inscription
- Darius the Great: Tomb Inscriptions
- Xerxes I: Daiva Inscription
- Contract of Mibtahiah’s Third Marriage
- Zend Avesta
- Chapter 5: India
- Rig Veda
- Valmiki: Ramayana
- Upanishads
- Jain Sutras
- Yoga Sutras of Patañjali
- Kautilya: Arthashastra
- Rock and Pillar Edicts of Asoka
- Ashvamedha Parva
- Bhagavad Gita
- Laws of Manu
- Lotus Sutra
- Heart Sutra
- Chapter 6: East Asia
- Classic of Poetry: Chinese Agricultural Calendar
- Noble Eightfold Path
- Sun Tzu: The Art of War
- Analects of Confucius
- Mandate of Heaven
- Canon of Filial Piety
- Dao De Jing
- Han Feizi
- Classic of Rites
- Sima Qian on His Own Castration
- Sima Qian: Biography of Ji An
- Huan Kuan: Discourses on Salt and Iron
- Ban Gu: “Treatise on Food and Money”
- Ban Zhao: Lessons for a Woman
- Kojiki
- Nihongi
- Chapter 7: Archaic and Early Classical Greece
- Homer: Iliad
- Hesiod: Theogony
- Herodotus: “On Libya”
- Herodotus: “On Darius”
- Funeral Oration of Pericles
- Orphic Tablets and Hymns
- Aristotle: Constitution of Sparta
- Aristotle: “The Nature, End, and Origin of the States”
- Aristotle: Athenian Constitution
- Aristotle: Constitution of Carthage
- Chapter 8: Late Classical and Hellenistic Greece
- Hippocratic Oath
- Plato: Meno
- Plato: “Of Wealth, Justice, Moderation, and Their Opposites”
- Plato: “Allegory of the Cave”
- Aristotle: Metaphysics
- Cleanthes: “Hymn to Zeus”
- Polybius: The Histories
- Pseudo-Sibylline Oracles
- Chapter 9: The Roman Republic
- Twelve Tables of Roman Law
- Marcos Cato (the Elder): On Agriculture
- Lucretius: On the Nature of Things
- Cicero: On the Laws
- Law of Caesar on Municipalities
- Virgil: Aeneid
- Chapter 10: The Roman Empire
- Deeds of the Divine Augustus
- Plutarch: “Life of Alexander”
- Pliny the Elder: “An Account of the World and the Elements”
- Tacitus: Germania
- Juvenal: The Satires
- Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander
- Marcus Aurelius: Meditations
- Laws Ending Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
- Theodosian Code
- Sozomen: Ecclesiastical History