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04/24/10(Sat)20:32 No.592264 
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 >>592179
Greetings
/co/mrade. /lit/erary here.
If you don't mind some old stuff,
here goes:
Greek history: the best is of course Thucydides. Next is
Herodotus; the third best is Xenophon's Anabasis for a good story, and
his Hellenica in terms of actual importance. Demosthenes' speeches also
shed light, albeit biased, on the period just before Alexander.
Arrian
gives us an account of Alexander the Great; Plutarch gives us a more
famous account, along with numerous other Vitae of important people.
For
the rise of the Roman Republic, look no further than Polybius, one of
the preeminent Greek historians after Xenophon. We also have Livy as a
source; he is pretty good, once you get beyond the fanciful stories at
the beginning and the long speeches.
Sallust gives us Cataline and
Jugurtha, both about the years after the end of the Punic Wars and
before Pompey and Caesar. Cicero's speeches are also useful for the late
republic. Caesar's Civil War, though obviously biased, will reward
careful reading, as will his account of the conquest of Gaul.
Now we
have the greatest of Roman historians, Tacitus with his bleak appraisal
of the early empire. We also see the more gossipy side of the imperial
court in Suetonius' Twelve Caesars.
The last Roman historian of any
note that I can remember off the top of my head is Ammianus Marcellinus;
he covers the late empire. Then everything becomes a bit sketchy.
The
medieval period is full of chroniclers; I am not sure what is current
these days in reading from this period, and I sadly have no
recommendations.
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