tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828125223861187137.post5073833128418241436..comments2023-05-27T06:57:26.684-05:00Comments on A Great Books Reading Blog: The Annals - TacitusPederhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16979481342103258777noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828125223861187137.post-43682019095470066102014-04-17T09:48:13.636-05:002014-04-17T09:48:13.636-05:00That's a great question and I'm not sure w...That's a great question and I'm not sure what the answer is. Herodotus is easily the most readable. His history is pure story and sometimes the story is too good to let considerations like truth get in the way. I can see people reading (and rereading) Herodotus much more than I can the other two.<br />Thucydides and Tacitus are somewhat similar. They employ what I think of as journalistic history in that they want to provide the most honest history they can. Each has an eye on posterity. Also, both of them are hard to read without some kind of companion work to help you figure out the players.<br />Gibbon, of course, is writing long after events so he has an advantage. His work is much more concerned with the larger narrative than with the day to day events. Very useful, but utterly dependent on the earlier writers. If they were journalists, he was an op-ed writer. (In this comparison, Herodotus would be someone like Paul Harvey.)<br />I think I enjoyed Herodotus the most, but all four were very important in their own ways. Pederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979481342103258777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828125223861187137.post-22256776068831502842014-04-16T18:57:27.060-05:002014-04-16T18:57:27.060-05:00Yes, the Greeks preferred a much crueler punishmen...Yes, the Greeks preferred a much crueler punishment than assassination - ostracism. Though Alcibiades seemed to fare well as an exile, if only for a short while :)<br /><br />Which historian's style do you like most - Herodotus', Thucydides', Gibbon's, or Tacitus'?Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06026665075141464526noreply@blogger.com