The book offered to the reader by the famous scientist, the largest specialist in the history of ancient literature, ancient Greek and Latin languages ​ ​ I. M. Tronsky has withstood 6 editions. This book goes far beyond the textbook and gives a panorama of the development of ancient Greek and Roman literature as two stages of a single process, the socio-historical basis of which is a specific "antique form of ownership." The scientific and methodological principles laid down by I. M. Tronsky as the basis of his own work still retain their significance.