Leonidas (De ducibus Graecis)

by Michael Hirschler

Greek history written in Latin! The book tells the story of Leonidas, king of Sparta, and his famous role in the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC). It also deals with the Greco-Persian Wars, where the Greeks saved Western civilization against the Persian invasion. It gives a good overview about the historical events that established the base for a self-confident rise of the Ancient Greek World. The book is written in Latin for second and third year Latin students. It is also very suitable for all who love to read Latin stories. ------ Griechische Geschichte in lateinischer Sprache nacherzählt! Im Mittelpunkt des Buches steht der Spartanerkönig Leonidas, der zusammen mit seinen Soldaten den vordringenden Persern in der berühmten Schlacht bei den Thermopylen (480 v. Chr.) heldenmutig Widerstand leistete. In diesem Zusammenhang widmet sich das Buch auch den Perserkriegen (490 v. Chr. und 480/479 v. Chr.) und bietet einen Überblick über die historischen Ereignisse, durch welche die griechischen Stadtstaaten sich erfolgreich gegen die Perser widersetzten.Das Buch richtet sich an Lateinlernende ab dem zweiten Lernjahr und an alle, welche gerne lateinische Texte lesen. Durch ein umfassendes Vokabelverzeichnis sowie Namen- und Sachregister wird dem Leser/der Leserin ermöglicht, sich in lateinischer Sprache mit einer der bekanntesten Persönlichkeiten der griechischen Geschichte zu befassen.

87 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2018

Reviews

[Jean-françois Virey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short story, beginning on page IX and ending on page XLVII (about 39 pages, five of which are full-page line drawings and a map.) The rest of the volume is a Latin-German/English glossary and an index of names and places, plus a short bibliography (of English works) and a few words from the author about his intentions in writing this series.

I read this for comprehensible input, as I suppose virtually everyone else will. My Latin is probably intermediate, so I'm not too sure about this, but two passages seemed weird to me. In the following sentence (pXLI): "Fuerunt enim Persarum naves et graviores et maiores quam Graecorum, quorum naves erant leves celeresque." Why not simply say "quae" instead of "quorum naves"? Doesn't "Graecorum" function as a possessive pronoun, already meaning "Graecorum naves"?

The other problematic sentence (pXXXI) is: "Persae a Graecis cladem accepit, sed bellum conficere noluerunt." Since Persae (the Persians) is plural (cf. "noluerunt" in this sentence and "potuerunt" on the opposite page), shouldn't the verb be "acceperunt"?

[Alexander Fiol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this novel very interesting as the story of Leonidas and the Greeks defense at Thermopylae is a very invigorating story. I enjoyed the context in this book as the author laid out the origin of the war between the Persians and the Greeks. It is a heroic tale, but a tragic story as the people fighting at Thermopylae all died. However, the Greeks went on to later win the war at sea, which made the story have a satisfying conclusion. This novel was good at weaving historical intricacies while retaining a smooth story that hooked the reader.

However, the writing did not appeal to me as much as the story did. The writing was difficult in some parts, and bland in others. I found that the author repeated so many variations of the phrase "they were in 'great danger'". I also had to keep referring to the back of the book to understand words, but perhaps my lack of Latin knowledge is at fault for that.

[Patrick Callen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the plot of Leonidas was good because it described a real historical event and the people that took part in it, while also being interesting and entertaining. I learned many things about the Greco-Persian War that is described in the book, such as the respective leaders of the two sides: Leonidas (Sparta) and Xerxes (Persia), or the battles that took place during the war, like at Thermopylae or Athens. I thought the grammar and vocab was somewhat difficult to read and parts of it were tough to understand while others were relatively easy. Overall, I would say that the book was a good challenge because of its hard parts but also parts that could be understood.