G. S. Kirk (1921–2003)

The classic reference to the presocratic philosophers. Students and scholars begin with Kirk and Raven.

A composite work on philosophers who preceded Socrates. Not nearly as engaging as Jonathan Barnes' wonderfully written book, it still gives a further account of the great minds in Ancient Greece.

Spends too much time trash talking the systems of deeper thinkers and better writers, but still makes some good points about the variety of possible origins and functions ("narrative, operative or validatory, and speculative or explanatory") of myth, its nuance, arguments for the localized social meaning of many mythic stories, but also generally a seriousness of purpose, a recurrence of themes, and a connection to a radically different concept of time than the historical/chronological.