Gaius Octavius Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 I have just been gifted a copy of "Marcus Aurelius - A Biography" by Anthony Birley. Is There anything that I should be aware of about the quality of the author and his work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 I have just been gifted a copy of "Marcus Aurelius - A Biography" by Anthony Birley. Is There anything that I should be aware of about the quality of the author and his work? Birley is thorough and excellent from a scholarly perspective. It's not the easiest read especially for the layman, but since the folks who frequent this forum are hardly laymen on Roman history, it's quite appropriate. I've read a couple of his books and found them to be incredible research material, but not so much a "great read" if you know what I mean. He relies heavily, understandably, on ancient sources so you might occasionally read something horrible that Commodus had done to someone as a child and have a bit of an "oh please" moment. However, he also evaluates such ancient source material along with various coinage, architecture and archaeology in order to refute or confirm (i.e. the highly debated accuracy of the Historia Augusta). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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