Diodorus Siculus

I only read the books on Philip of Macedon. Diodorus's history is chock-a-block with wars, alliances, betrayals. Philip's starts out with a massive military defeat but then, due to his indefatigable, charismatic leadership, political and military genius, and (probably) luck, turns into a long string of wins and consolidations in Macedonia. Alliances with Athens, Sparta, and other city states to the south set the stage for Alexander. Diodorus himself is a lucid, capable historian dealing with show more facts, not legends. This makes it all the stranger that war and turmoil take up almost the whole of his narrative. Those were evidently violent times. show less

Ugh, I had to read this for one of my M.A. classes and I hated it. That's probably because this is not my favorite subject. However, if you are an Ancient history buff or historian, you will definitely want to read/own this!

"I am much obliged to you for the communication of the Deuxponts Catalogue of Greek & Latin books . . . I have their Plato which I like much. I wish they could be induced to print Diodorus Siculus & Dionysius Halicarnasseus in the same format. these are the only Greek authors of esteem which have never been printed but in large formats. There is indeed an Octavo edition of Diodorus printed at Basle. But it is of 5. books only out of 15. which remain, it is without a translation which is show more necessary for much the greater part of readers, and it is in an obsolete character, abounding with contractions now out of use, & little known. so that in fact it is worth nothing. Wesseling’s edition of Diodorus, and Hudson’s of Dionysius, exactly copied, but in Octavo format, would certainly meet with great success, the translation being printed on the same page with the original."—Thomas Jefferson to Jean Antoine Gautier, July 21, 1788 show less

Early Greek history (480 - 302 BC). Fun stuff if you like that sort of thing, (which I do).