Thucydides Reader Annotated Passages from Books I-VIII of the Histories

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9781585104123
• ISBN10: 1585104124
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-15
• Publisher: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co.

Summary

Annotated and illustrated, Focus Classical Commentary's Thucydides Readercontains passages from Books I-VIII of the Histories with introductory material, commentary, and grammatical notes for each of the eight books. An easy-to-reference, complete glossary-new to the second edition-is also included. Thucydides Readeris well suited for a course in Intermediate Greek, as well as for secondary school students who want to tackle the works of a popular but challenging author. This book is a standard text for any college course in reading Thucydides in Greek.

Author Biography

Blaise Nagy is Professor of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross. He is the author of Thucydides Reader and Herodotus Reader, both published by Focus Publishing, as well as numerous articles on Greek and Roman history.

Excerpts

Preface to Revised Edition
Since the publication of the first edition of this Thucydides Reader in 2005, I have taught Greek 341, the Thucydides seminar at the College of the Holy Cross, on two separate occasions. Of course, I used the Reader as the textbook each time and was careful to note which parts needed to be changed, were there to be a second edition. With the help of some wonderful students who were enrolled in the seminars, I was able to see where the original Reader needed fuller and better explanations, especially in those sections where Thucydides employs the kind of language that bewildered even ancient critics, such as Dionysius of Halicarnassus. I have implemented these changes in this edition of the Reader, as well as those kindly suggested by C. Emil Penarubia, a former student of mine who currently teaches Greek and Latin at Boston College High School. This second edition also benefits from the meticulously careful oversight of James McGovern, current holder of the Donaher Chair at Boston College High School. While reading Thucydides for his M.A. in Classics at Boston College, he spotted errors in both the Greek text and the notes of the Reader and generously brought these to my attention. The biggest change from the first edition of the Reader is the addition of a glossary, something I had purposefully not supplied for the first edition. Thismetanoiaor “conversion” has come about in response to the unanimous pleas of my students at Holy Cross, as well as the recommendations of colleagues elsewhere who have used the Reader in their courses. Given the particular difficulties of Thucydidean prose and the steep learning curve involved in achieving both comprehension of and appreciation for his writing, a basic glossary that provides a quick reference to Thucydides’ vocabulary will, I hope, both improve the speed of the student’s reading and encourage exploration of standard lexica and other reference works.