When I first discovered the Landmark Thucydides (1996), I have to admit that it really blew my mind. For years I'd been trying to make some headway into his history of the Peloponnesian war, but had found it impossibly dry by comparison with Herodotus, whom I first started reading as a teenager.
I guess what made it so good were the detailed maps and frequent cross-references, which made it possible to follow the various campaigns and get some sense of their relative strategic importance. Without a comprehensive knowledge of Greek geography, it's hard to know how else one could really understand what was actually going on in each battle.
It was eventually followed by an edition of Herodotus, almost as good; then Xenophon's continuation of Thucydides, the Hellenika; then Arrian's Campaigns of Alexander; and finally Julius Caesar's Commentaries.
Here, then, is the series as far as it's gone:
Robert B. Strassler, ed. The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to The Peloponnesian War. Trans. Richard Crawley. 1874. Introduction by Victor Davis Hanson. 1996. Free Press. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2008.
Robert Strassler, ed. The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories. Trans. Andrea L. Purvis. Introduction by Rosalind Thomas. Pantheon Books. New York: Random House, Inc., 2007.
Robert B. Strassler, ed. The Landmark Xenophon’s Hellenika. Trans. John Marincola. Introduction by David Thomas. 2009. Anchor Books. New York: Random House, Inc., 2010.
James Romm, ed. The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander / Anabasis Alexandrou. Trans. Pamela Mensch. Introduction by Paul Cartledge. Series Editor: Robert B. Strassler. Pantheon Books. New York: Random House, Inc., 2010.
Kurt A. Raaflaub, ed. & trans. The Landmark Julius Caesar: The Complete Works: Gallic War, Civil War, Alexandrian War, African War, and Spanish War. Series editor: Robert A. Strassler. Pantheon Books. New York: Random House, Inc., 2017
Thomas, David, trans. The Landmark Xenophon’s Anabasis. Ed. Shane Brennan & David Thomas. Series Editor: Robert Strassler. Pantheon Books. New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2021.
We're promised at least a couple more volumes if the series continues:
- Polybius' Histories
- Ammianus Marcellinus' Res Gestae
No doubt specialists can manage without them, but I'm a long country mile from being even averagely knowledgeable in this field.
- Ammianus Marcellinus (c.330-c.391-400 CE)
- Arrian (c.86-160 CE)
- Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE)
- Herodotus (c.484-c.425 BCE)
- Polybius (c. 200 – c. 118 BCE)
- Thucydides (c.460–c.395 BCE)
- Xenophon (c.430-354 BCE)
- Ammianus Marcellinus. The Later Roman Empire: (A.D. 354-378). Trans Walter Hamilton. Introduction by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986.
- Arrian. The Life of Alexander the Great. Trans Aubrey de Sélincourt. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1958.
- Rufus, Quintus Curtius. The History of Alexander. Trans. John Yardley. Ed. Waldemar Heckel. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.
- Gergel, Tania, ed. Alexander: Selected Texts from Arrian, Curtius and Plutarch. Introduction by Michael Wood. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2004.
- Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great. 1973. An Omega Book. London: Futura, 1978.
- Plutarch. The Age of Alexander. Trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert. Introduction by G. T. Griffith. 1973. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986.
- Renault, Mary. The Alexander Trilogy: Fire from Heaven; The Persian Boy; Funeral Games. 1970, 1972, 1981. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.
- Renault, Mary. The Nature of Alexander. 1975. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.
- Caesar. War Commentaries. Trans. Rex Warner. Mentor Books. New York: New American Library, 1960.
- Warner, Rex. Julius Caesar: A One-Volume Edition of the Two Novels The Young Caesar and Imperial Caesar. 1958 & 1960. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1967.
- Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Aubrey de Selincourt. 1954. Ed. A. R. Burn. 1972. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
- Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Aubrey de Selincourt. 1954. Rev. John Marincola. 1996. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003.
- Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Tom Holland. 2013. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2014.
- de Selincourt, Aubrey. The World of Herodotus. London: Secker & Warburg, 1962.
- Kapuściński, Ryszard. Travels with Herodotus. 2004. Trans. Klara Glowczewska. 2007. London: Penguin, 2008.
- Polybius. The Histories. Trans. W. R. Paton. Introduction by Col. H. J. Edwards. 6 vols. 1922, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967, 1968, 1972.
- Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Trans. Rex Warner. 1954. Ed. M. I. Finley. 1972. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.
- Warner, Rex. Pericles the Athenian. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1963.
- Xenophon. The Complete Works: A New Edition. Trans. Ashley, Spelman, Smith, Fielding, and Others. Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo & Co., 1881.
- Xenophon. A History of My Times (Hellenica). Trans. Rex Warner. 1966. Ed. George Cawkwell. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.
- Xenophon. The Persian Expedition. Trans. Rex Warner. 1949. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1952.
Authors & Works:
Ammianus Marcellinus (c.330-c.391-400 CE)
Lucius Flavius Arrianus [Arrian of Nicomedia] (c.86-160 CE)
Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE)
Herodotus [Hēródotos] (c.484-c.425 BCE)
Polybius (c.200 – c.118 BCE)
Thucydides [Thoukydídēs] (c.460–c.395 BCE)
Xenophon of Athens (c.430-354 BCE)
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- category - A Gentle Madness: Classical Literature
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