Our understanding of Greek and Roman civilization is in considerable measure a product of the intelligence and literary skills of its historians. Writing at different times and from different vantage points, the surviving historians illustrate the influences to which the genre was subjected in the course of its development. After Herodotus had established history as an independent form of literature, Thucydides defined its purpose and set a high standard of scientific and literary skill. Xenophon introduced new and abiding characteristics and Polybius repudiated the influences of rhetoric and drama and introduced Hellenistic qualities and an new focus - Rome. Sallust, Caesar, Tacitus and Livy among others, commented on the affairs of the Roman Republic and Empire. This book provides a survey of the historians of the ancient Greek and Roman world, exporing their surviving work, style and influences.
- ISBN10 086292152X
- ISBN13 9780862921521
- Publish Date 20 March 1997 (first published 9 July 1970)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint Bristol Classical Press
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 285
- Language English