Classical Companion

The Classical Companion is a sourcebook for students and teachers interested in the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome. In this revised and updated second edition, we have added five original plays and a variety of activities specially written to accompany each play. One play is a translated excerpt from an ancient Greek comedy; the others are all original plays.

The Companion is divided into five chapters, each centering on a nation whose people succeeded in stopping, albeit briefly, the onward march of Greece and Rome. Chapter I focuses on Persia versus Greece; Chapter II on Greece versus Rome; Chapter III on Carthage versus Rome; Chapter IV on Gaul versus Rome; and Chapter V on Egypt versus Rome.

The first article of each chapter describes the historical events preceding the head-on collision of the two superpowers. The articles that follow give details of the major conflicts, profiles of the generals and leaders, and descriptions of the peoples themselves.

A series of puzzles based on the material is presented at the end of each chapter. In addition, each chapter includes a project with instructions—e.g., the project in Chapter IV is to reconstruct Caesar's famous siegeworks around Alesia.

Each chapter also includes an article to broaden the interest of anyone studying Western civilization. In Chapter V, “On Today's Ancients" describes three current projects designed to duplicate or test past experiences. These projects include the Daedalus human-powered airplane, the Greek merchant ship Kyrenia II, and the Greek warship Olympias.

Prefacing each chapter is a map locating every site mentioned. Foreign names and phrases are highlighted by a pronunciation key near the appropriate word. For delving deeper into a particular subject, a further reading list appears at the end of the book.

Each of the six companion sections presents ideas for additional study. These include topics for comparison, suggestions for essays and written reports, debate topics, and a variety of further activities. Each of the first five companion sections corresponds to a specific chapter. The sixth section at the end of the book includes suggestions relating to all the chapters.

We have especially enjoyed revising the original Classical Companion, and we hope you will enjoy using it. 

Rosalie and Charles Baker are the founders and co-editors of Calliope, the world history magazine. The Bakers have both held administrative positions and taught in public and private schools. Rosalie Baker's fields are Latin, classical civilization, and Romance languages. Charles Baker's fields are political science and English. They are committed to promoting the study of classical civilization in the school curricula. They are also the authors of the books Classical Ingenuity and Myths and Legends.