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I'm starting Ancient Rome next week and was just wondering, who were some of the famous Roman historians? I've heard Dio mentioned a lot in a recent show on the history channel. Who else is there I should be aware of? Are there any Roman equivalents of a Herodotus or Thucydides?
Tacitus, Polybius, Vegetius, Caesar, and Cicero come to mind. Tacitus wrote the Annals which are some of the best Roman history I have readThe Historical Annals of Cornelius Tacitus . Polybius wrote a General history of the Romans. The General History of Polybius Caesar of course wrote the accouont of his Gallic warsThe Works of Julius Caesar. Vegetius wrote a treatise on Roman military methods that is still read in Military academies today.De Re Militari Cicero peppered his speeches and philosophical work with historical anecdotes.Works of Cicero available on Google books I have provided links to most of these works. Keep in mind that you can download any book on Google books and have it printed at Staples for between 10-20$. I envy you being in the States and having a Staples, there is nothing comparable in Germany. hope this helps.
If it's still available, I prefer a regular book. Amazon is fairly reasonable most of the time for older published books. Thanks for those links and names! Is that Tacitus a multi-vloume set? Is this the whole thing?
Plutarch is a big one who wrote on Roman history and the lives of certain individuals. Other writers (not necessarily historians) who may be helpful with aspects of Roman history include Seneca, Varro, Vitruvius, Pliny the Younger, Juvenal, Cicero, Martial, Josephus, Ovid, Virgil…some of this depends on which period of Roman history you'd like to read about. But I would say Plutarch for general history.
If it's still available, I prefer a regular book. Amazon is fairly reasonable most of the time for older published books. Thanks for those links and names! Is that Tacitus a multi-vloume set? Is this the whole thing?
The Annals is only one book, though a fairly thick one. I think that is it.
Virgil wrote the Aeneid, an epic tale of Rome's founding figure (Aeneas) who left Troy at the end of the Trojan War. The story picks of the pieces of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and shows how Aeneas was transformed into the first “Roman”. It's basically a must-read in Western Civ education, and if you don't have time to read the whole thing you may want to at least read through a summary.I'm thinking that I should buy a copy of Plutarch's Lives...it was some interesting reading online and it might be better if I could have a copy that I could mark up. BTW, any takers on your Greek book?
Just bought Complete works of Tacitus, Rise of Roman Empire by Polibius, and Livy Early History I-V (also Sport in Ancient Times by Crowther. The other Roman-specific sports book I saved on the list is a little high. Might buy it later )Amazon sends a thank you for the economic stimulous.
Suetonius: De Viris Illustribus, De Vita CaesarumCassius Dio and his Roman History http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html and many more
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