Jared Covington

A Classical Dictionary distills the mythography, biography, geography, and institutions of Greece and Rome into an alphabetized treasury of proper names. Lemprière offers concise entries-supported by citations of ancient poets and historians-while retaining the eighteenth-century encyclopedic manner: lucid, occasionally moralizing, eager to reconcile variant traditions. The scope runs from Olympian genealogies and heroic itineraries to civic rituals, coins, and cults, with cross-references that turn a list of names into a map of classical culture.
Bridging schoolroom and gentleman's library, it shaped Romantic reading and long remained a standard companion to Latin and Greek authors. Born in the Channel Islands and educated at Winchester and Oxford, John Lemprière combined the careers of Anglican clergyman and schoolmaster; the Dictionary was famously conceived to aid his pupils' reading of the classics. His pedagogical purpose explains the book's clarity and its careful indexing of variant myths and place-names, while successive editions expanded the citations and corrected inconsistencies.
Drawing eclectically on ancient sources as well as earlier compendia, he produced a work at once practical and aspirational, inviting students to pass from gloss to text. Essential for classicists and historians of reception, this landmark work rewards reference reading and reflective browsing. Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted.
Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.