Table of Contents

Introduction Part One: The Ancient Historians 1. The Historians of Greece and Rome Part Two: The Ancient Historians and Other Disciplines 2. History and poetry 3. History and Rhetoric and Philosophy 4. History and Documents Part Three: Sources and Strangeness 5. Use of Sources: Oral Traditions: Rumours: Predecessors 6. Selections: Alternatives: Probability 7. Speeches: Digressions: Inevitability: Cycles 8. Religion: Dreans: Portents 9. Too Little Economic, Social and Artistic History Part Four: Misinformation and Mistakes 10. Love of a Story 11. Self-Justification 12. Family Pressure: Politics: Anachronism 13. Chauvinism: Athens and Rome 14. Wars 15. Biography 16. Moralising 17. Error Part Five: Should We Read the Ancient Historians? 18. Fact and Fiction 19. The Literary Excellence of the Great Historians Part Six: Other Sources of Information 20. Some Other Historians 21. Some Lost Historians 22. Information from Other Sources 23. Misinformation Conclusion Bibliography Abbreviations Notes Index