On Writing History from Herodotus to Herodian

Honorable Mention for the 13th Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study

The study of history was invented in the ancient world. Treading uncharted waters, writers such as Plutarch and Lucian grappled with big questions such as how history should be written, how it differs from poetry and oratory, and what its purpose really is. This book includes complete essays by Dionysius, Plutarch and Lucian, as well as shorter pieces by Pliny the Younger, Cicero and others, and will be an essential resource for anyone studying history and the ancient world.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the Author

John Marincola is Professor of Classics at Florida State University, where he specializes in Greek and Roman historiography and rhetoric. He is the author of Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography and Greek Historians, and has edited A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography and Greek and Roman Historiography, among other books.