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1. Ancient History Reading List:
“Asia vs. Greece – The Beginning”
- Homer, The Iliad
- Xenophon, The Education of Cyrus
- Victor Davis Hanson, The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and
the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization
- Paul Rahe, The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The
Persian Challenge
- Herodotus, The Histories
- Ann Ward, Herodotus and the Philosophy of Empire
- Seth Bernadette, Herodotean Inquiries
“Brother vs. Brother – The Decline of Classical Greece”
- Anthony Everitt, The Rise of Athens
- Paul Rahe, The Spartan Regime
- Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War
- Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War
- Victor Davis Hanson, A War Like No Other
- Paul Rahe, Sparta’s First Attic War
- Paul Rahe, Sparta’s Second Attic War
- Xenophon, Hellinika
“Among the Ruins, A New Man Arises”
- Xenophon, Anabasis of Cyrus
- Adrian Goldsworthy, Philip & Alexander
- Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander
- Theodore Ayrault Doge, Alexander
“On Tiber’s Shores”
- Virgil, The Aeneid
- Anthony Everitt, The Rise of Rome
- Livy, History of Rome Books I-V
- Livy, History of Rome Books VI-X
- Nicolo Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy
“The Carthaginian Threat”
- Richard Miles, Carthage Must Be Destroyed
- Polybius, The Histories
- Adrian Goldsworthy, Cannae
- Livy, History of Rome Books XXI-XXX
- Theodore Ayrault Doge, Hannibal
“Expansion & Crisis”
- Livy, History of Rome Books XXXI-XLV
- Sallust, Catiline & Jugurthine Wars
- Duane Roller, Empire of the Black Sea

2. - Mike Duncan, The Storm Before the Storm
- Julius Caesar, The Gallic War (Landmark)
- Appian, Civil War
- Lucan, Pharsalia
- Theodore Ayrault Doge, Caesar
“The Dawn of the Empire”
- Anthony Everitt, Cicero
- Anthony Everitt, Augustus
- Josephus, The Jewish Wars
- Suetonius, Lives of the 12 Caesars
- Tacitus, Annals & Histories
- Tacitus, Agricola & Germanica
“Great Men”
- Robert Lamberton, Plutarch
- Plutarch, Lives
Notes on the List:
- Section headers in quotes are my own and are meant to break
up eras and common themes.
- I am including Homer and Virgil as “history,” as these are
foundational stories which illustrate the character of
these peoples. I try and do the same thing by including The
Education of Cyrus to highlight the character of the
Persian regime, even though it is recorded through a Greek
lens.
- This list is meant to be more or less chronological from
the Trojan War to the Fall of the Roman Empire.
- Secondary sources are meant to compliment core texts and
can be skipped if desired. Although I would recommend the
Richard Miles book on Carthage as there are no Carthaginian
primary sources.
- Secondary sources are heavily skewed towards certain
authors and have been given to me as recommendations.
Obviously, this can be added to, but generalist books like
Mary Beard’s S.P.Q.R. are not helpful in this setting as
they take too high a view of the history itself.
- For big works like Herodotus, Thucydides, Caesar, I try and
stick with the Landmark editions based on the maps alone.
Although I have heard the Hobbes translation of Thucydides
is very good.
- I would stick with the Wayne Ambler translation of
Xenophon’s Anabasis, as the Landmark has only just come
out, and the narrative of the Greeks being in “the Wild
West” of Persia is heightened with a lack of orientation.

3. - Wayne Ambler’s translation of Xenophon’s The Education of
Cyrus is preferred.
- The John Dryden translation of Plutarch is preferred.
- Plutarch is last because he will best illuminate why you
went through the trouble of reading all these books in the
first place. These books will also give you a foundation as
to be able to go deeper into Plutarch to garner more
wisdom.