The Histories - The Original Classic Edition

The Histories (also known as The History) of Herodotus is considered the founding work of history in Western literature. Written from the 450s to the 420s BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that were known around the Mediterranean and Western Asia at that time.

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (circa 484 – 425 BC). He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. The Histories; his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced, is a record of his investigation of the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars and includes a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Although some of his stories were fanciful, he claimed he was reporting only what had been told to him.

This edition is Volume I.

Plutarch's best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving Lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek Life and one Roman Life, as well as four unpaired single Lives. This is Vol I of the work.

Plutarch subsequently named, on becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( circa 46 – 120 AD), was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He was born to a prominent family in Chaeronea, Boeotia, a town about twenty miles east of Delphi.

This Bybliotech version of Thucydides "History of the Peloponnesian War" with unique illustrations has been compiled and optimised for e-readers. It includes an active table of contents for ease of navigation, and ten unique illustrations relevant to the story within.

Thucydides was an Ancient Greek historian and author and his book " History of the Peloponnesian War" recounts the 5th Century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411BC. Based on the style of his text, Thucydides has been called the Father of the school of political realism, which view the relations between nations as based on 'might' rather than 'right'.

This book is part of the Bybliotech series "Texts from Ancient Greece"

There are some timeless lessons here for military and civilian leaders. Xenophon fully explains his decisions (when he can), and ALWAYS asks for advice from other generals. This was critically important in an army of mercenaries whose loyalty was to themselves. Getting other leaders to buy into his decisions gave them a sense of empowerment (to use TQM jargon) and a stake in the outcome. He tries to be fair and cares for his troops-though he doesnt hesitate to risk lives if the mission calls for it. In battle he uses what might be termed asymmetric warfare: always pitting Greek strengths against enemy weaknesses; avoiding fighting the way his enemy fights best.

This is a new and freshly published edition of this culturally important work by Titus Livius, which is now, at last, again available to you.

Enjoy this classic work today. These selected paragraphs distill the contents and give you a quick look inside The History of Rome:

His most important works were The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews. The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation (66?70). Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience. These works provide valuable insight into 1st century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity.

This is a high quality book of the original classic edition.

This is a freshly published edition of this culturally important work, which is now, at last, again available to you.

Why, then, is The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire timeless? The author wasnt a post-modernist man trapped in an Enlightenment body; Gibbon had no conception of social history or archeology, his 18th century idea that climate affects morality is long out of date, and his analyses of the Middle East are hampered by his reliance on second-hand sources. But in 200 years no one has seriously challenged the framework Gibbon used to explain the fall of the empire. In fact, contemporary histories of Rome still owe a great deal to him.

Why? One reason is his careful use of documents. Decline and Fall relies mostly on writers like Ammianus and Sidonius, who tried to be impartial. Another is Gibbons almost superhuman objectivity; while individual characters are berated for this and that, the author is usually sympathetic to human foibles, and always tells his tales with as much complexity as the sources will allow. Which is one reason the works alleged hostility to Christianity is overstated; Gibbon said the religion played a role (not the role) in the fall of Rome, and even praises the new faith for breaking the violence of the fall, and mollify(ing) the ferocious temper of the conquerors. Theres one stumble, and thats the section on the various heresies and religious controversies of the 300s. Duty required Gibbon to analyze the niggling and sometimes incomprehensible arguments over Christs nature (and he confessed he didnt understand the passions behind them), but the historian gets bogged down in theological jargon and never makes it clear what role those heresies played in the fall until the end of Volume III. By then youve forgotten the details.

Thats a small scratch in the masterpiece. In two centuries no one has challenged his famous conclusion: The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. Today we have more details, but the trajectory Gibbon plotted has never been recalculated.

Decline and Fall is also a great read, and one of the best narratives in the English language. War, idealism, corruption, droll asides and the clash of civilizations fly along a brisk stream of prose. Its a big book, but the work moves faster than books a tenth its size.

This unexpurgated and illustrated version of Caesar's works has been compiled by www.Bybliotech.org and optimised for e-readers. It includes an active table of contents for ease of navigation, and each of the books contains its own unique illustration.

Julius Caesar made an indelible mark on History. He did so in both deeds and words - making sure his accomplishments weren't forgotten by recording them in his own writing. This Bybliotech Anthology is a complete collection of the surviving works of Julius Caesar, containing two titles - "The War in Gaul", (or, "The Conquest of Gaul") and "The Civil War"- each with unique illustrations.

In these two books Caesar details how over the period between 58 and 50 BC he conquered a vast area of what is now France, Belgium and Switzerland, as well as twice invading the British Isles. Caesar's work gives an unparalleled insight into his military strategy, but also into his political machinations an motivations - as the book was intended to be read as propaganda by the Roman public.

Following his return from these campaigns Caesar was elected 'dictator' of the Roman Republic - a position that was confirmed in perpetuity in 44BC, but which lead directly to the conspiracy to assassinate him.

This unexpurgated anthology has been compiled by www.Bybliotech.org and optimised for e-readers.  It includes an active table of contents for ease of navigation, and features unique illustrations as frontispieces for the individual books in the anthology.

Please visit our website at www.bybliotech.org to browse our extensive range of titles from the Ancient World.

HERODOTUS was born at Halicarnassus, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor, in the early part of the fifth century, B. C. Of his life we know almost nothing, except that he spent much of it traveling, to collect the material for his writings. He died in 424 B. C. Among these descriptions of countries it was to the ancient, reader is his account of the marvels of the land of Egypt. From the priests at Memphis, Heliopolis, and the Egyptian Thebes he learned what he reports of the size of the country, the wonders of the Nile, the ceremonies of their religion, the sacredness of their animals