Tales of the unexpected: 10 literary classics you may not have read

Early feminist science fiction, the last man on Earth and the memoir of a highly intelligent cat ... among the 1,200 titles in the Penguin Classics series are these forgotten masterpieces

Alistair Elliot obituary

Poet and translator whose work was inspired by the classical world

Donna Zuckerberg: ‘Social media has elevated misogyny to new levels of violence’

The academic, who has found that far-right men’s groups are using classical antiquity to back their views, talks about her new book

I can see Odysseus lashed to the mast of this ship, struggling to resist the Sirens’ song

The eerily beautiful wreck discovered in the Black Sea takes us right back to Homer’s Greece

Metamorphica by Zachary Mason review – mish-mash of Graeco-Roman myth

A predatory Athena and a playboy Narcissus bring flashes of brilliance to a reworking of Ovid that lacks rigour

The Little Prince review – the visitor from B-612 reinterpreted

Michael Morpurgo’s version of the most translated story in the world has his trademark clarity and emotional force

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker review – a feminist Iliad

This brilliant retelling of Homer’s epic poem focuses on the cost of war to women through the story of Briseis, Achilles’ concubine

Aristotle’s Way by Edith Hall review – ancient wisdom as self-help

This book may be the product of a publishing trend, but the range and subtlety of the Greek philosopher’s thought are thrilling

Myths, monsters and the maze: how writers fell in love with the labyrinth

From the ancient Minotaur myth to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining … why are mazes so powerful and comforting in confusing times?

Ancient tales are back in fashion – for telling it like it is

Fairytale and myth can hold a mirror to our troubled times – as evidenced by the refugees walking the Canterbury Tales route, says Guardian culture editor Claire Armitstead

Best summer books 2018, as picked by writers – part one

Surrealist artists, dogged detectives, modern lovers and spies behaving badly ... leading authors pick their best books to enjoy these holidays

Miriam Griffin obituary

Oxford classical scholar and expert on Seneca who offered new insights into the torrid world of Roman imperial politics

Country diary: landmarks of the Mabinogion

Ffestiniog, Gwynedd: Thirty years ago, the Llech Ronw lay unheralded by a stream. These days, alas, it is surrounded by wire and concreted into a plinth

Circe by Madeline Miller review – myth, magic and single motherhood

A nymph faces the joys and lonelinesses of independence in this feminist reworking of Greek myth from an Orange winner

Civilisations: How Do We Look / The Eye of Faith by Mary Beard – review

Islamic calligraphy and whistling statues – we’ve come a long way from the Kenneth Clark’s patrician worldview