The Matter of BC — 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 BC — from roughly 1000 BC to the early years AD — is chronologically told. It is noteworthy that the works that make up this set were written with either historical or religious intentions, but, for the purposes of this literary canon, these wider meanings can, of course, be set aside. Here, rather, we care less for correct dates or metaphysical realities than for the fact that this loose narrative series represents the most mentally and morally uplifting reading that one could ever engage in.
The Matter’s ten works, in reading order:
- Selections from the Old Testament
- Genesis
- Job
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Joshua
- Judges
- Ruth
- 1 Samuel
- 2 Samuel
- 1 Kings
- 2 Kings
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles
- Ezra
- Esther
- Nehemiah
- The Histories by Herodotus
- The History of Rome by Livy (Books 1-5)
- The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
- The Hellenica by Xenophon
- The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian
- The History of Rome by Livy (Books 6-10)
- The Histories by Polybius
- The Parallel Lives by Plutarch (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
- Galba
- Otho
- Selections from the New Testament
- Matthew
- Mark
- Luke
- John
- Acts
- Revelation