Greek and Roman Classics Book Club

Name: Euripide's "Bacchae" @ MLK Jr. Memorial Library
Start: 2025-11-01T19:30:00.000Z
End: 2025-11-01T21:00:00.000Z
Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

4.8•36 ratings

Washington, DC, US

196 members · Public group

What we’re about

This a book club for anyone in the Washington, DC area who wants to get together to discuss works written in or about Ancient Greece or Rome. This includes drama, literature, poetry, philosophy, history and really anything else of interest to members.

All books will be read in English so no prior knowledge of Greek or Latin is needed. As long as you have an interest in these two civilizations and the motivation to tackle some of the great works they produced you will fit right in! In the spirit of democracy, members will get to vote on what they want to read next in each meeting.

Meetings will be in-person so that we can get to know each other and to make sure that discussion are casual and free flowing. We usually meet at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, but the venue may change as needed.

Upcoming events

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Sat, Nov 1 · 3:30 PM EDT
Euripide's "Bacchae" @ MLK Jr. Memorial Library
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St NW, Washington, DC, US
Details
In the spirit of the season we'll be reading The Bacchae by Euripides. Prepare to join us on descent into the chaos of gods, madness, and mayhem!

Euripides (480 BCE - 406 BCE) was a well-known playwright and the author of many tragedies, the Bacchae not least among them. Which translation you read is up to you. The Bacchae and Other Plays (Penguin Classics) is a fairly well regarded translation if you are looking for a starting place! There are free translations available but beware they may be less accessible and of variable quality. If you want some additional context, these resources are completely optional and may in some cases go far beyond the scope of our usual conversation, but may be interesting to you if you want to dive a little deeper:
As usual, we will meet in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in the 205-B Accessibility Room, located on the second floor at the back of the Center for Accessibility. The library should be available to those of you coming on the red/yellow/green lines via Gallery Place and those on the blue/silver/orange lines via Federal Triangle. See you there!
5 attendees