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The Historians of Ancient Rome: An Anthology of the Major Writings
From reviews of the first edition: "The Historians of Ancient Rome will certainly and deservedly satisfy many, more, in fact, than any of its competitors."
-- Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Covering more than a thousand years of Roman history, The Historians of Ancient Rome is the most comprehensive single volume of ancient sources available in English for the study of Rome. Ronald Mellor has selected extensive passages as well as complete texts by ten Greek and Roman historians, from Livy's account of the city's foundation by Romulus to the great defeat at Adrianople of Ammianus Marcellinus. Major longer works are judiciously abridged or excerpted; Sallust's "The Catilinarian Conspiracy", Suetonius's Life of Julius Caesar, and Augustus's"Res Gestae" are presented in their entirety. This second edition has been expanded to include greater coverage of the late Republic and Roman Empire.
-- Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Covering more than a thousand years of Roman history, The Historians of Ancient Rome is the most comprehensive single volume of ancient sources available in English for the study of Rome. Ronald Mellor has selected extensive passages as well as complete texts by ten Greek and Roman historians, from Livy's account of the city's foundation by Romulus to the great defeat at Adrianople of Ammianus Marcellinus. Major longer works are judiciously abridged or excerpted; Sallust's "The Catilinarian Conspiracy", Suetonius's Life of Julius Caesar, and Augustus's"Res Gestae" are presented in their entirety. This second edition has been expanded to include greater coverage of the late Republic and Roman Empire.
632 pages, Paperback
First published December 8, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 17, 2012
This was good in that it was a collection of a lot of good authors and it made me want to read them in full.
It's biggest shortcomings are being what it is (I get the impression I'm missing out on a lot from Livy) and it's appalling lack of an index or even decent explanatory footnotes!
Overall, fun: makes me want to read all of Livy.
It's biggest shortcomings are being what it is (I get the impression I'm missing out on a lot from Livy) and it's appalling lack of an index or even decent explanatory footnotes!
Overall, fun: makes me want to read all of Livy.
December 15, 2011
Great selection of texts, but very confusing layout and NO INDEX.
August 10, 2023
(3rd edition published 2013)
Firstly, this was a really nice and comprehensive anthology of important selections from the writings of Roman historians. The included selections from Livy alone would have required buying four separate books to get them all. It was great having so many excerpts in one place. The introduction, editorial notes, and section overviews were informative and interesting. The timeline was also useful, although the format/presentation was kind of clunky.
If you've ever read a Landmark edition of say, Herodotus or Thucydides, you will long for maps and family trees and descriptive headers, and everything that makes those publications so incredible. I did. That is perhaps an unfair standard for comparison. Despite lacking those ancillary tools, I would heartily recommend this anthology.
Now to the historians themselves. The bulk of my reading were all of the included selections for Livy and Tacitus. I also read some Polybius, Sallust, and Ammianus.
Livy - 5 stars: I loved it. I admire the dedication. (He spent his entire life writing this!) Livy tells a great story while still being instructive and informative. Not dry at all. Mortimer Adler tells us to read history not only to learn what happened in the past, but also to learn the way people act in all times and places. Adler believes that "no kind of literature has a greater effect on the actions of people than history." Livy had undoubtedly had a tremendous effect on centuries of readers.
Tacitus - 4 stars: really liked it. Tacitus is a very good writer. Concise but descriptive with an amusing dry wit. I underlined many clever phrases. His writings were instructional and gave me a good understanding of the time period and emperors that he covered. However, I found his style to be a bit jarring in its inconsistency. Some events were told in great detail, others mentioned so quickly that I nearly missed them. Transitions were sometime abrupt. It made it a little hard to follow the narrative at times.
Overall 5 stars, this is a book I know I will refer to for many years.
Firstly, this was a really nice and comprehensive anthology of important selections from the writings of Roman historians. The included selections from Livy alone would have required buying four separate books to get them all. It was great having so many excerpts in one place. The introduction, editorial notes, and section overviews were informative and interesting. The timeline was also useful, although the format/presentation was kind of clunky.
If you've ever read a Landmark edition of say, Herodotus or Thucydides, you will long for maps and family trees and descriptive headers, and everything that makes those publications so incredible. I did. That is perhaps an unfair standard for comparison. Despite lacking those ancillary tools, I would heartily recommend this anthology.
Now to the historians themselves. The bulk of my reading were all of the included selections for Livy and Tacitus. I also read some Polybius, Sallust, and Ammianus.
Livy - 5 stars: I loved it. I admire the dedication. (He spent his entire life writing this!) Livy tells a great story while still being instructive and informative. Not dry at all. Mortimer Adler tells us to read history not only to learn what happened in the past, but also to learn the way people act in all times and places. Adler believes that "no kind of literature has a greater effect on the actions of people than history." Livy had undoubtedly had a tremendous effect on centuries of readers.
Tacitus - 4 stars: really liked it. Tacitus is a very good writer. Concise but descriptive with an amusing dry wit. I underlined many clever phrases. His writings were instructional and gave me a good understanding of the time period and emperors that he covered. However, I found his style to be a bit jarring in its inconsistency. Some events were told in great detail, others mentioned so quickly that I nearly missed them. Transitions were sometime abrupt. It made it a little hard to follow the narrative at times.
Overall 5 stars, this is a book I know I will refer to for many years.
June 20, 2019
My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.
June 7, 2020
Excellent (really big) handbook for studying Ancient Roman translations in English rather than Latin.
December 4, 2024
also a textbook
August 3, 2022
LOVE this anthology series. It feels like an honor to read ancient history from the minds of ancient historians and story-writers. Do yourself a favor and get this book. If you have any interest whatsoever in Ancient Rome, get this book. If you are self-respecting world historian, GET THIS BOOK!
December 10, 2010
Good group of primary sources about the Roman Republic and Empire. I enjoyed it a lot.
May 2, 2011
Great collection of Roman historians.
May 18, 2011
Despite the fact that it was basically one big abridged book, I really liked it. Primary sources are too much fun, and this was a well-arranged primary source bonanza.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews