The Public Works Book Club
Since 35,000 BCE
Public works is a book club where we only read stuff that is in the public domain, i.e. before January 1st, 1930. This website serves as a record of our meetings, as well as to advance interest in classic literature.
Texts Read So Far
| Order | Title | Author | Period | Year | Arc | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meditations | Aurelius | 2nd c. CE | 2022 | Theogony 1 | |
| 2 | The Tempest | Shakespeare | 17th c. CE | 2022 | Theogony 1 | |
| 3 | Antigone | Sophocles | 5th c. BCE | 2023 | Theogony 1 | |
| 4 | The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night* | Anonymous | c. 8th–14th century CE | 2023 | Theogony 2 | trans. Burton 19th c. CE |
| 5 | The Federalist Papers* | Hamilton, Jay, and Madison | 18th c. CE | 2023 | Theogony 2 | |
| 6 | Zhuangzi* | Zhuang Zhou | 2nd c. BCE | 2023 | Theogony 2 | |
| 7 | History of the Peloponnesian War | Thucydides | 5th c. BCE | 2023 | Anabasis 1 | |
| 8 | Hellenica | Xenophon | 4th c. BCE | 2023 | Anabasis 1 | |
| 9 | Republic | Plato | 4th c. BCE | 2024 | Anabasis 2 | |
| 10 | Herakles | Euripides | 5th c. BCE | 2024 | Anabasis 2 | |
| 11 | Seventh Letter | Plato | 4th c. BCE | 2024 | Anabasis 2 | |
| 12 | The Odyssey | Homer | 8th c. BCE | 2024 | Nostoi 1 | |
| 13 | Laws | Plato | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Memorabilia 1 | |
| 14 | The Persians | Aeschylus | 5th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 15 | The Second Tetralogy | Antiphon | 5th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | Antiphon 3 |
| 16 | Against Simon | Lysias | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | Lysias 3 |
| 17 | Against Conon | Demosthenes | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | Demosthenes 54 |
| 18 | Philoctetes | Sophocles | 5th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 19 | Categories* | Aristotle | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 20 | De Interpretatione* | Aristotle | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 21 | Prior Analytics* | Aristotle | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 22 | Bacchae | Euripides | 5th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 23 | Frogs | Aristophanes | 5th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 24 | Posterior Analytics* | Aristotle | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 25 | Topics* | Aristotle | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 26 | Euthyphro | Plato | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Memorabilia 2 | |
| 27 | Dyskolos | Menander | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 28 | Characters* | Theophrastus | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 29 | First Philippic | Demosthenes | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Anabasis 3 | |
| 30 | Apology | Plato | 4th c. BCE | 2025 | Memorabilia 2 |
* = selections of work
Links to Resources
A collection of useful resources for digital reading material, classic artwork in the public domain, virtual tours of ancient Mediterranean pottery, and more.
Contact
To get in touch, either to ask questions about the club or just to chat, or if you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, please send an email to [email protected] (Your email and other information will never be shared outside the club).
Click here for the site’s GitHub.