The Portable Greek Historians

Thucydides (c. 460/455 - 399/398 BCE) was an Athenian general who wrote the contemporary History of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, which lasted from 431 BCE to 404 BCE. However, Thucydides' History was never finished, and as such, ends mid-sentence in the winter of 411 BCE. The Histories was divided into thirteen separate books... [continue reading]

Herodotus (c.484 – 425/413 BCE) was a writer who invented the field of study known today as `history’. He was called `The Father of History’ by the Roman writer and orator Cicero for his famous work The Histories but has also been called “The Father of Lies” by critics who claim these `histories’ are little... [continue reading]

Xenophon of Athens (430-c.354 BCE) was a contemporary of Plato and a fellow student of Socrates. He is known for his writings, especially his Anabasis, Memorobilia and his Apology (the latter two dealing with Socrates and, besides Plato’s writings, the basis for what we know of Socrates) though ancient sources claim that he wrote more than forty books... [continue reading]

Polybius was, whilst a Greek historian, a Roman historian, in that his work dealt with explaining how Rome came to be so great. Like the three Classical Greek Historians, Polybius himself had personal experiences and inquiries into what he was studying at a level that included and went beyond reading scrolls and memoirs stored in a library... [continue reading]