THE MATTER OF B.C.

by Stewart Berg

An introductory catalogue to the canon of canons

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The Matter of B.C., also called the Canon of Canons, refers to a number of works by before-common-era authors that can be read as part of a single narrative series, one in which the story of classical antiquity is chronologically told. The story in question is notable for the insight it gives into the creation of society, which was independently invented by the Greeks and Hebrews before being synthesized and spread by the Romans. The narrative in question — that of the Western World from the ashes of the Bronze Age Collapse to the ascent of Christ — showcases the worldviews — Jewish early, Roman late, Greek throughout — that created civilization as we know it. The Canon, then, is of the highest importance, and it very obviously represents the most mentally and morally uplifting reading that one could ever engage in.

The Canon’s works, in reading order:

• Apollodorus’ Library
• Books One through Ten of Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews
• Herodotus’ Histories
• Books One through Five of Livy’s History of Rome
• Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War
• Xenophon’s Hellenica
• Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander
• Books Eleven through Thirteen of Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews
• Books Six through Ten of Livy’s History of Rome
• Polybius’ Histories
• Appian’s Civil Wars
• Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, to be read in roughly chronological order:
  • Theseus
  • Lycurgus
  • Romulus
  • Numa Pompilius
  • Solon
  • Poplicola
  • Coriolanus
  • Aristides
  • Themistocles
  • Cimon
  • Pericles
  • Nicias
  • Alcibiades
  • Artaxerxes
  • Lysander
  • Agesilaus
  • Camillus
  • Pelopidas
  • Dion
  • Timoleon
  • Alexander
  • Demosthenes
  • Phocion
  • Eumenes
  • Demetrius
  • Pyrrhus
  • Agis
  • Cleomenes
  • Aratus
  • Marcellus
  • Philopoemen
  • Fabius
  • Flamininus
  • Aemilius
  • Cato the Elder
  • Tiberius Gracchus
  • Caius Gracchus
  • Marius
  • Sulla
  • Sertorius
  • Lucullus
  • Crassus
  • Pompey
  • Cato the Younger
  • Caesar
  • Cicero
  • Brutus
  • Mark Antony
• Suetonius’ Lives of the Twelve Caesars
• The Four Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation

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Mr. Berg grew up split between rural Texas and a Seattle suburb. After graduating from Pacific Lutheran University in 2014, he moved to Austin, where he began publishing his Miscellanea series of eBooks before joining the Press. He lives in Marble Falls, Texas.