Famous books, ancient and medieval

by Robert Bingham Downs

Paper Book, 1964

Status

Available

Call number

028

Collection

Publication

New York, Barnes & Noble [1964]

User reviews

LibraryThing member themulhern
Well worth the read. It's organized by author, not work, where possible. Books with multiple authors receive a single entry. Authors with multiple significant works, e.g., Aristotle, get longer articles than authors with just one significant work, e.g., the Venerable Bede. Each article typically
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includes: 1) some historical context, 2) a brief biography, and 3) a discussion of the works reception then, 4) an assessment of the author's work by some modern historian or literary writer. Pedestrian, perhaps, but useful, too.

I read the articles in reverse order, I recommend this choice. In the period between the late Roman Empire and the Renaissance, notable authors are spread very thinly across the centuries, sometimes there is a gap of 50 or 100 years between the death of one author and the birth of the next. In other periods, e.g., the late Roman Republic and Early Empire the authors cluster, often they knew each other in real life.
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Language

Physical description

xx, 329 p.; 22 cm
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