On Writing History from Herodotus to Herodian

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My historian is to be this kind of man- fearless, above bribery, free, a friend of frank speech and truth, one who calls figs figs and a trough a trough'

What is history and how should it be written? How does it differ from other forms of writing? What responsibility does the historian bear? This new anthology of writings from the ancient world, when the study of history was just beginning, explores these questions and many more. It ranges from longer pieces, such as the complete essays 'On Thucydides' by Dionysus, 'On the Malice of Herodotus' by Plutarch and the witty 'How to Write History' by Lucian, to key shorter writings by Polybius, Cicero, Xenophon and Pliny the Younger, brought together here in fresh new translations.

Edited and Translated by John MarincolaMy historian is to be this kind of man- fearless, above bribery, free, a friend of frank speech and truth, one who calls figs figs and a trough a trough'

What is history and how should it be written? How does it differ from other forms of writing? What responsibility does the historian bear? This new anthology of writings from the ancient world, when the study of history was just beginning, explores these questions and many more. It ranges from longer pieces, such as the complete essays 'On Thucydides' by Dionysus, 'On the Malice of Herodotus' by Plutarch and the witty 'How to Write History' by Lucian, to key shorter writings by Polybius, Cicero, Xenophon and Pliny the Younger, brought together here in fresh new translations.

Edited and Translated by John Marincola
John Marincola was born in Philadelphia in 1954, and was educated at Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University. He has taught at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, and at Union College in New York, and is currently an Associate Professor of Classics at New York University. From 1997 to 1999 he was Executive Director of the American Philological Association, and in 1999-2000 he was a Junior Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC. He is the author of Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography (Cambridge, 1997), Greek Historians (Greece and Rome New Surveys in the Classics 31, Oxford, 2001), and of several articles on the Greek and Roman historians.