Who's Your Favourite Historian?

[M. Porcius Cato]

Thanks for reviving this old thread. I was surprised to see that I'd listed Syme and Scullard three years ago. Now I'd replace them both with Gruen and Brunt.

[Pompieus]

Syme is still a favorite of mine, Gruen certainly. One might suggest Lily Ross Taylor, Andrew Lintott, and A. E Astin.

[Coast09]

Syme is still a favorite of mine, Gruen certainly. One might suggest Lily Ross Taylor, Andrew Lintott, and A. E Astin.

 

I am new to the forum and to the site. But I'm a longtime lover of history and of its discussion. For my entry post, I will stay with an author in the (very late) Roman area of study: Steven Runciman. I believe his writings, though a bit old now, carry timeless eloquence.

Edited February 20, 2009 by Coast09

[Placida]

Dio Cassius

[Aurelia]

Herodotus, for his colourful descriptions of the ancient world.

[sylla]

Contemporary: Walter Scheidel.

 

Antiquity: Caius Asinius Pollio.

[marcus silanus]

Mine is Proffessor Keith Hopkins. My favourite ancient historian is Tacitus.

 

Polybius, for me, is the most gripping of the ancients. He benefits from his subject matter, that being the period of greatest Roman expansion from regional power to the mistress of the known world. Although he does reflect his Achaen background and favour towards Scipio Aemilianus in certain passages, by and large he strives for truth and balance.

 

As a non-Roman looking in, he is better able than others to put the vast story of the rise of Rome in the context of the cultures and powers that surrounded them. The text has an epic feel about it for this reason and I find his history in the modern critics' parlance, 'unputdownable'.

[Formosus Viriustus]

Salvete !

 

Thucydides for me. No doubt. He not only recorded history, he really wrote for the ages. Spooky how he predicted 25 centuries ago how we today would view Athens and Sparta.

Suetonius is very funny, and so is Herodotus. Xenophon is a really excellent storyteller. Although he hasn't much eye for the bigger picture, his descriptions of events really bring them to life.

But pretty much all those whose work has survived and that I know are more than worthwhile.

I know there is a lot more 'hard' information to be found in recent publications. The authors have done most of the hard work of sifting and sorting and comparing the information for us.

But for me history is as much an art as a science. And very few modern authors come anywhere near the classics from that point of view.

 

Formosus

[WotWotius]

'Ancient' historian: easy - Tacitus.

 

'Modern': again, easy - Edward Gibbon, hands down.

 

Modern:

-Theoretical historian/Historiographer: R.G. Collingwood, followed by Herbert Butterfield;

-Narrative historian: Peter Green;

-Art historian: Paul Zanker (the only individual who has every interested me in the subject);

-Military historian: Adrian Goldsworthy;

-Archaeologist: Richard Hingley (a man very much on my wavelength).

 

Overall: Gibbon.