Prose
Miscellaneous prose works of the ancient world
438 works in the library
The category of prose encompasses a range of ancient works that resist easy classification into the more sharply defined genres. Technical treatises, encyclopaedic compilations, antiquarian studies, and works of natural science all fall under this heading — writings valued not for their literary form alone but for the knowledge they preserve and transmit.
The elder Pliny's Natural History, in thirty-seven books, attempted nothing less than a comprehensive account of the physical world: astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, mineralogy, medicine, and art. Drawing on hundreds of earlier sources (many now lost), it is a monument to Roman curiosity and organisational ambition, if not always to critical judgement. Varro's De Re Rustica and Columella's agricultural treatises preserved practical knowledge of Roman farming. Vitruvius' De Architectura remains the only surviving ancient work on architecture.
Greek prose contributed works of comparable scope. Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae ("Dinner-table Philosophers") is a vast compilation of learning about food, wine, music, and literature, preserving fragments of hundreds of lost works. Pausanias' Description of Greece is an invaluable guide to the monuments, cults, and legends of the Greek world in the second century AD. These works remind us that ancient literature served many purposes beyond the aesthetic — it was also the vehicle for preserving and organising knowledge about the world.
Authors (88)
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G
Galen 129 AD – c. 216 AD82 works
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Aristotle 384 BC – 322 BC35 works -
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Philo Judaeus c. 25 BC – c. 50 AD30 works
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Tertullian c. 155 AD – c. 220 AD27 works
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Nepos c. 110 BC – c. 25 BC25 works
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A
Ausonius24 works
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Hippocrates c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC18 works -
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Theophrastus c. 371 BC – c. 287 BC15 works
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Suetonius c. 69 AD – c. 122 AD12 works
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C
Claudian c. 370 AD – c. 404 AD12 works
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Titus Livius (Livy) 59 BC – 17 AD11 works
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stoa025510 works
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O
Ovid 43 BC – c. 17/18 AD9 works
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Prudentius8 works
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Statius c. 45 AD – c. 96 AD6 works
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Moschus b. fl. c. 150 BC5 works
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Cicero 106 BC – 43 BC4 works -
Aretaeus of Cappadocia b. fl. c. 1st–2nd century AD4 works -
B
Boethius c. 477 AD – 524 AD4 works
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Pindar c. 518 BC – c. 438 BC4 works -
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Horace 65 BC – 8 BC3 works
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Pseudo-Caesar3 works -
B
Bion of Phlossa b. fl. c. 100 BC3 works
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Aeschylus c. 525 BC – 456 BC3 works -
Hesiod b. c. 700 BC3 works -
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Sextus Empiricus c. 160 AD – c. 210 AD2 works
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Apuleius c. AD 124 – c. AD 1702 works -
Procopius c. AD 500 – c. AD 5652 works -
Basil AD 330 – AD 3792 works -
P
Pseudo-Plutarch2 works
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Tacitus c. 56 AD – c. 120 AD2 works
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Bacchylides c. 518 BC – c. 451 BC2 works -
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Tibullus c. 55 BC – c. 19 BC2 works
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Aelian c. AD 175 – c. AD 2352 works -
A
Apollodorus b. c. 1st–2nd century AD2 works
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Pliny the Elder 23 AD – 79 AD2 works -
Phaedrus c. 15 BC – c. 50 AD2 works -
Achilles Tatius b. c. 2nd century AD2 works -
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stoa02612 works
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Theocritus c. 300 BC – c. 260 BC2 works
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P
Pseudo-Tertullian1 work
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Lycophron b. fl. c. 3rd century BC1 work
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A
Aristides 117 AD – 181 AD1 work
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Sallust 86 BC – 35 BC1 work
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P
Proclus AD 412 – AD 4851 work
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Q
Quintus Tullius Cicero 102 BC – 43 BC1 work
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Oppian of Apamea b. fl. c. early 3rd century AD1 work
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Longus b. c. 2nd century AD1 work -
C
Celsus c. 25 BC – c. AD 501 work
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L
Lucretius c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC1 work
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C
Callistratus b. fl. c. 3rd–4th century AD1 work
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Propertius c. 50 BC – c. 15 BC1 work
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E
Euclid b. fl. c. 300 BC1 work
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Plotinus 204 AD – 270 AD1 work
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Xenophon of Ephesus b. fl. c. 2nd century AD1 work
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Jerome1 work
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Pliny the Younger 61 AD – c. 113 AD1 work -
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Zonaras b. fl. c. 12th century AD1 work
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F
Florus c. AD 74 – c. AD 1301 work
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V
Valerius Maximus b. fl. c. AD 14–371 work
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Quintus Smyrnaeus b. fl. c. late 3rd century AD1 work -
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Agathemerus b. fl. c. 2nd century AD1 work
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Greek Anthology1 work
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Oppian b. fl. c. late 2nd century AD1 work
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C
Cassius Dio Cocceianus c. AD 155 – c. AD 2351 work
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Curtius Rufus b. fl. c. 1st century AD1 work -
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Philostratus Minor b. fl. c. 3rd century AD1 work
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Philostratus Sophista b. fl. c. 3rd century AD1 work
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Quintilian c. AD 35 – c. AD 1001 work -
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Demetrius of Phaleron b. fl. c. 1st century BC1 work
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Parthenius of Nicaea b. fl. c. 1st century BC1 work
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Gellius c. AD 125 – c. AD 1801 work -
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Minucius Felix1 work
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V
Vitruvius c. 80 BC – after c. 15 BC1 work
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D
Demades c. 380 BC – 319 BC1 work
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A
Aratus Solensis c. 315 BC – 240 BC1 work
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A
Aeneas Tacticus b. fl. 4th century BC1 work
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A
Ammianus Marcellinus c. 330 AD – c. 391 AD1 work
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Columella c. AD 4 – c. AD 701 work -
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Persius 34 AD – 62 AD1 work
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stoa00791 work
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stoa00541 work
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stoa00401 work
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O
Onasander b. fl. c. 1st century AD1 work
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A
Asclepiodotus b. fl. c. 1st century BC1 work
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C
Claudius Ptolemaeus c. AD 100 – c. AD 1701 work
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C
Colluthus of Lycopolis b. fl. c. late 5th century AD1 work
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Tryphiodorus b. fl. c. 3rd century AD1 work