Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 02

What did the ancient world sound like when historians first told its story? This volume gathers the voices of the greatest chroniclers of antiquity, from Thucydides recounting the Peloponnesian War to the writers who watched Rome transform from republic to empire. The period from 450 BC to 12 AD witnessed the collapse of Athenian democracy, the thunderous conquests of Alexander, the grinding wars that made Rome master of the Mediterranean, and the strange peace of Augustus's new empire. Here, readers encounter history as it was originally written: passionate, argumentative, unafraid to take sides. These are not dry chronicles but living narratives from historians who either witnessed the events they described or drew on sources now lost to us. For those who want to hear the fall of Athens in Thucydides' own words, to trace Alexander through the historians who worshipped him, to read of Rome's bloody transformation through pens that understood its stakes, this volume opens a door to the past that no modern retelling can match.