Roman Historiography

Presents a survey of Roman historical writing, from its origins through to Christian late antiquity. This work discusses historical writers of significance, outlining their biographical details, considering their work in terms of essential themes, and situating it in the context of Roman literature and society more broadly.

---

Romans began to write their own history after the great conflict between Rome and Carthage in the late third century B.C. However, the genre quickly developed, shaped by some of Rome's greatest writers, including Sallust, Caesar, Livy, and Tacitus. In this book, ancient historian and classical philologist Andreas Mehl presents an erudite and readable survey of Roman historical writing, from its origins through to Christian late antiquity. Mehl considers works in Greek and Latin, running from the Annales Maximi and the fragmentary early annalists through to Orosius and Procopius of Byzantium. He discusses every historical writer of significance, outlining their biographical details, considering their work in terms of essential themes, and situating it in the context of Roman literature and society more broadly. His account enables students to negotiate the differences between ancient and modern historical writing, and so better to understand the texts and the world which is represented within them.