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From: pector@ihuxw.UUCP (Scott W. Pector)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Greek and Roman Classics
Message-ID: <642@ihuxw.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Jan-84 17:18:16 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxw.642
Posted: Tue Jan  3 17:18:16 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Jan-84 04:59:38 EST
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I agree.  Herodotus is great!  His frustration with his sources is evident
(always apologizing for them), but the stories that are told seem like
source material for Monty Python!  The history of the world to 450 B.C.
is the topic and he does a great job.  Lots of exaggeration when it comes
to the Greeks.  (Incidentally, a great response to Herodotus is made by
Gore Vidal in his book "Creation."  Quite enjoyable.)

I also agree on Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian Wars.  Thucydides
was a realist and got tired of all that business about the zillion gods
involved.  Another good history is Arrian's "Life of Alexander."  Unfortun-
ately it was written 200 years after Alexander the Great's death and is
subject to lionization and deification of its subject, but it is still
pretty good.  Xenophon's account of an attempt by a group of Greek mercenaries
to put a Persian prince in power in the Persian Empire (ca. 399 B.C.), its
failure, and their escape back to Greece is also interesting.  Xenophon is
a real egotist.

I'm going to read some stuff by Julius Caesar on the Roman Civil War and
his conquests of Gaul and Britain later this year.  Hope it's good.

							Scott Pector