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Orpheus, The Orphic Hymns, Text, Translation and Notes, by Athanassakis, Apostolos N. Orpheus was an ancient musician with a voice that could cause savage beasts to lie down together and the very trees and rocks follow him. He was supposed to have founded the mysteries. Orphic teachings were the foundation of the Pythagorean philosophy. These hymns to the Greek gods come down to us without an author, and they probably were written sometime in the early part of the Christian era, but they most certainly retain the original spirit if not the academic purity. Some believe they were used during the secret initiation ceremony of the ancient Mysteries at Eleusis.

Osborne, Robin, Classical Landscape with Figures, The Ancient Greek City and its Countryside. Drawing on new evidence and on both archaeological and historical sources, this important book presents a highly original picture of ancient Greece and puts the life of the classical Greek city into perspective for the first time. Traditionally, the ancient Greeks have been seen as city-based and their culture and society explored from the standpoint of an urban civilization. But this focus reflects the most obvious and visible evidence from this period. The Greeks themselves wrote almost entirely about life in town and until recently excavations have been devoted to urban sites and other major monuments. For the first time, Robin Osborne puts the countryside at the centre of the picture.

Otto, Walter F., Dionysus, Myth and Cult, tr. by Robert B. Palmer. Quite simply, Otto's book is the best ever written on Dionysus, the Greek God of ecstasy, mystery, and culture. Here is the full treatment: the cults with dancing maenad women; the mask, tragedy, and theater; the worship of the vulnerable child; the wild joy; the somber madness and depths of silence; the vine and juices of nature; and the God's relation with women, especially is sole wife Ariadne. Complete illustrations, notes, and a rich index have made this book the standard reference work in the field, as well as a profoundly moving experience that carries the reader into participation with all things Dionysian.

Ovid, Metamorphoses, tr. by Allen Mandelbaum. Not only is Ovid's Metamorphoses a collection of all the myths of the time of the Roman poet as he knew them, but the book presents at the same time a series of love poems--about the loves of men, women, and the gods. He also presents poems of hate, to give the proper shading to the narrative. Pervading all is the writer's love for this earth, its people, its phenomena.