Spring 2004

GK 385 • Graduate Reading Course

Course Description

This seminar will introduce students to the major and minor Greek and Roman historical writers, with a special focus on the nature and development of the genre and its relationship to genres like biography. Students will read extensively in both original and in translation, and will be exposed to ancient discussions of history writing, major interpretative trends in the study of particular authors, and modern theoretical discussions of the nature of historical writing.

Texts

Selected Books (incomplete and subject to change): Texts (in selections) to be read in Greek and Latin include: Herodotos, Thucydides, Xenophon (Hellenica, Anabasis), Polybius, Sallust (CC and BJ) Caesar (BG and BC), Livy, Tacitus (Histories, Annals) Sample modern works (not including works on specific historians): C. W. Fornara, The Nature of History in Greece and Rome J. V. Luce, The Greek Historians R. Mellor, The Roman Historians C. Pelling, Literary Texts and the Greek Historian D. Potter, Literary Texts and the Roman Historian H. White, Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation L. Mink, Historical Understanding

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