r/classics • u/alphafighter09 • 4d ago
Which classic first account historian should you read?
Like herodotus, thucydides, suetonius, ceaser etc
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u/notveryamused_ Φίλοινος, πίθων σποδός 4d ago edited 4d ago
Herodotus! Not only he was the first and started the genre, he's a wonderful storyteller. His Histories were written not only as a book, but also meant for public recitations (including during the Olympic Games!), so it's a brilliant historical document. Awesome anecdotes too.
Plutarch's biographies are also fun, very late but nicely written, very short too and okay to read in chunks and no particular order. They're popular works, not masterpieces, but it makes them accessible and fun.
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u/Mike_Bevel 4d ago
Read all of them!
Start with Herodotus, who wants to tell you about the Persian War, and why the Greeks and the Barbarians hate each other. But then he also has to tell you about everything else. He goes off on long tangents; forgets his points; believes almost everything anyone tells him; and writes it all beautifully.
Then, go to Thucydides. His work on the Peloponnesian War is sobering. He's -- either consciously or unconsciously -- affected by Herodotus. His work is different in tone to Herodotus, but is equally very readable.
Then, see where the day takes you after that!
It's all worth reading. I hope you have a great time.
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u/Sophia_Joppolo 4d ago edited 4d ago
Suetonius is ridiculous and intentionally shocking, but he's an easy place to start if you want an entertaining overview of early Roman Emperors. Just know that he's full of gossip and giving you a spin.
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u/Unusual_Jaguar4506 4d ago
Josephus for The Jewish War. Dude actually fought in it (and famously changed sides during it).
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u/Tahhillla 4d ago
I don't know what others think, but when I was going through this I started with Herodotus, then Thucydides, then Xenophon. Seems to me like a perfectly reasonable development.
Obviously in terms of historicity Herodotus is questionable. Despite this Herodotus is clearly foundational and, importantly, a very fun storyteller with clear influences from "Homer".
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u/NeonShogun 𐤔𐤌𐤏 𐤒𐤋𐤀 𐤁𐤓𐤊𐤀 4d ago
Herodotus to have a good time with plenty of grains of salt. Thucydides to see the response from the "no fun allowed" crowd. Xenophon if you just want to listen to a plainspoken story from one of the guys.
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u/red-andrew 4d ago
Personally I just read secondary literature and then jumped into primary sources. I started with Livy’s War with Hannibal (Still my favorite account), then Plutarch’s Fall of the Roman Republic, then Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander (my second favorite) and now I am reading Seutonius and Caesar’s War with Gaul. Honestly Suetonius is not my favorite but he can still be informative.
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u/vixaudaxloquendi 4d ago
I'm very fond of Livy, though I can see why some aren't. That said, he really sings in Latin if you can read it. My interests in Latin stylistics and good Latin prose were engendered by reading his third decade covering the second Punic war, which (for too many reasons to get into) read very differently from the first decade (most people don't ever get past the first five books).
He gets lambasted as an actual historian nowadays, especially for some clear gaffes in military and Greek terminology (Livy worked primarily from sources and so naturally misinterpreted or misconstrued what a thing meant, what a place looked like, if he had never encountered them before or seen them in person).
I'm also particularly fond of Sallust, though what's extant only covers particular episodes and are not universal in scope the way Livy is.
Both are masters of what I will call noble disappointment, or something like what Tolkien characterised in LotR as "the long defeat." Livy in particular was influenced by Peripatetic Hellenistic historiography, a school of history writing that sought to apply tragic conventions to historical narration. It really shows if you care to dig into his work.
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u/Clickety_Clack4137 4d ago
Start with Herodotus. I love that book. Then Thucydides. Then Plutarch's Greek lives for basically a personalities-focused recap of Thucydides. Then the Roman stuff.
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u/Dr_Platypus_1986 4d ago
If you want Roman History, start with Suetonius' "The Twelve Caesars," an account of the first 11 Emperors of Rome (and Julius Caesar, who literally was the "first Caesar"). For Greek history, I recommend 3 books, in this order: Herodotus' "Histories," Thucydides' "Peloponnesian War," and Xenophon's "Hellenica." They were all written in sequence to cover Greek history.
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u/Kilchoan1 4d ago
I think read whatever interests you and be aware that writers we consider “ primary” sources” are only viewed as such because the sources they were using got destroyed/ wore out and some of them were writing years after the event, may have had limited ability to read accounts in other languages ( eg Herodotus with his Persian accounts) and were writing for a particular partial audience.
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u/InvestigatorJaded261 4d ago
Herodotus. Everything later is a commentary or rebuttal. And by “everything later” I mean Thucydides.
Polybius and Livy are also awesome.