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Greek historians
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The Greek researcher and storyteller
Herodotus
of Halicarnassus
(c.480-c.429) was the world's first historian. In the Histories,
he describes the expansion of the Achaemenid
empire under its kings Cyrus
the Great, Cambyses
and Darius
the Great, culminating in king Xerxes'
expedition in 480 BCE against the Greeks, which met with disaster in the
naval engagement at Salamis
and the battles at Plataea
and Mycale.
Herodotus' remarkable book also contains ethnographic descriptions of the
peoples that the Persians have conquered, fairy tales, gossip, legends,
and a very humanitarian morale. |
Agora Museum, Athens
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Being exiled because he had been unable to defend Amphipolis
during the Archidamian
War, the former Athenian general
Thucydides
(c.460-c.395) wrote the history of the wars
fought between Athens and Sparta in the years 431-404. And nothing
else. Because of the absence of romantic digressions, the History of
the Peloponnesian War is less easy to read than the Histories
of Herodotus, but Thucydides offers an in-depth
analysis of the mechanisms of war. His description of the changing use
of language has become a classic. Although he does his best to remain objective,
Thucydides can not always hide his personal judgment. For example, his
account
of the plague at Athens in 429 slowly develops into a shocking story
about moral corruption. |
Altes Museum, Berlin
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The Hellenica (Greek history) by the Athenian historian Xenophon
(c.430-c.354) begins at the point where Thucydides'
History of the Peloponnesian
War breaks off. This continuity, however, does not apply to the depth
of the analysis, because Xenophon lacks the objectivity of his predecessor.
When he was still a young man, this student of Socrates
took part in the campaign of the Persian prince Cyrus
the Younger against his brother, king Artaxerxes
II Mnemon. Xenophon's fascinating account of the expedition, the Anabasis,
is his masterpiece. Among his other works are a vie romancée of
king Cyrus the Great, a Symposium, and a book on horses. |
Museum of Aphrodisias |
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Polybius
of Megalopolis (c.200-c.118) was born at the moment when
the Romans had defeated Carthage
and started to focus on Greece. Polybius' family played a role in the resistance,
and after 168, he was brought as a political prisoner to Italy, where he
lived for eighteen years. In Rome, he was introduced to the cultural circle
of the family of the Cornelii Scipiones, and he accompanied Scipio Aemilianus
on his campaigns. Moreover, Polybius made some voyages himself: for example,
he crossed the Alps to find out how Hannibal
had invaded Italy, and sailed along the coast of western Africa. This gave
him a good knowledge of the inside dealings of Roman politics, which make
his World history one of the most important sources for the study
of the rise of Rome. Because later generations did not appreciate the Greek
language of the age of Polybius, he never became a "classic" author, and
a great part of the World history is now lost. The full text in
English translation of his work can be found here. |
Polybius; cast from a lost monument in Cleitor (Greece) (Museo nazionale della
civiltà romana, Rome) |
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Lucius Flavius Arrianus -or Arrian,
as he is usually called in English- was a man of two cultures: born in
c.87 in Greek Bithynia and educated by the philosopher Epictetus,
he became an important official in the Roman empire and a personal friend
of the emperor Hadrian,
who made him consul
in 129 or 130. He was still serving the government when he died in 145.
In spite of his dazzling career, he found time to write many books. We
still possess (a.o.) his description of the Black Sea, the Anabasis
(the history of Alexander's
march into Asia), the Indikê (on the marvels of India and
the voyage of Alexander's admiral Nearchus),
and an excerpt from his Events after Alexander. Although his work
lacks charm, Arrian is certainly one of the better historians of Antiquity.
More information about him can be found here. |
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Appian
of Alexandria (c.95-c.165) is the most underestimated
of all ancient historians. He occupied a high office in his native city
and practiced law at Rome, where he became acquainted with the emperors
Hadrian and Antoninus
Pius and wrote his Roman History. The surviving books,
which deal with the age of the Roman civil wars (133-35), show that Appian's
magnum opus was one of the greatest scholarly achievements of Antiquity.
He is the only ancient author who recognized the social causes of the wars
and vividly describes the ensuing conflicts, sometimes paraphrasing original
documents (e.g., Marc Antony's funeral speech of Julius
Caesar; text).
Never has the stylistic device of repetition been used more effectively
than by Appian in his shocking account of the persecution of the enemies
of the Second
Triumvirate. More information on Appian: go here. |
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Like Arrian of Nicomedia and Appian of Alexandria, Cassius
Dio (164-c.235) was a Greek by birth and a Roman by conviction,
and one of the great historians of Antiquity. He became a senator
during the reign of Commodus,
was made consul by Septimius Severus (204), served as governor
in Africa and Pannonia Superior, and had the rare distinction of being
made consul for a second time, together with the emperor Severus Alexander
(229). Dio started his literary activity in the 190's and wrote his Roman
History in the years 211-233. It is a marvelous book. Where we can
compare it to other historical studies (e.g., we can read his account of
the reign of the emperors Tiberius,
Caligula,
Claudius,
and Nero together
with Tacitus' Annals), Dio is often better, and for certain periods
(e.g., the reign of Augustus
and the second century), he is our most important source. Unfortunately,
large parts of the Roman History are only known in Byzantine excerpts.
The full text of this work, in English translation, can be found here. |
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As a historian, Herodian
is not the equal of Arrian of Nicomedia, Appian of Alexandria, and Cassius
Dio, but he certainly is an entertaining author, whose Roman History
offers a nice account of the years 180-238, which more or less coincide
with Herodian's life time. The author served the Roman government as a
public servant in the capital, but his function was not extremely important,
because Herodian nowhere shows deep understanding of politics or military
strategy. Modern historians have long considered his information unreliable,
but today he is regarded as a source of some importance. For example, he
is less biased than Dio against the emperor Heliogabalus.
On the other hand, the Roman History contains several grave errors. |
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