Readings in the Classical Historians

by Michael Grant (Editor)

Grant, a preeminent classics scholar, presents an anthology of classical historians, from early Greek, up to the beginnings of the Christian era. Included are the significant writers who chronicled the major events of early Western civilization and laid the foundations of the historical Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Julius Caesar, Livy, Plutarch, and others. Through the general introduction, chronology of events, and introductions to each historian, Grant places the historians in the context of their world, and overall in Western culture. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Greece, Roman History, Classics

698 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1992

About the author

Michael Grant was an English classisist, numismatist, and author of numerous popular books on ancient history. His 1956 translation of Tacitus’s Annals of Imperial Rome remains a standard of the work. He once described himself as "one of the very few freelances in the field of ancient history: a rare phenomenon". As a popularizer, his hallmarks were his prolific output and his unwillingness to oversimplify or talk down to his readership.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Leonard Mokos · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're not a fan of Michael Grant, don't sweat it. This is an omnibus of ancient historians, judiciously excerpted. The best way to approach this book is to read from it not continuously but from selection to selection, over time. Years really. Every so often you will come across something that makes you want to consume the entire source material, and that's what this is: a tableau of teasers. You nibble something nice, then go off to expose yourself (metaphorically) to the great historians, even the unjustly obscure ones.
Oh and it's "Annals", not Anals of Imperial Rome. Or so they claim... <--- this is a joke for Catullus fans.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

While obviously not for everyone, I thought, "Readings in the Classical Historians" was an interesting read. A number of historians are included, with select excerpts of their work. Because the volume is arranged in order of the historian's lives, not the subject matter, the narrative jumped around a lot. Not a full version of anything, but a good introduction.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just an anthology of historiographic fragments but also the evolution of Western prose and ways of remembering.

[Carla Ferris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good historian resource book. The time line is not easy to follow but the historians are given good details in their lives. I found information on Eusebius.