Ancient History: Monuments and Documents

If students are to do history, as opposed to reading it, they must learn how to engage with historical sources.

Ancient Hostory: Monuments and Documents introduces students to the chief disciplines, methods, and sources employed in doing ancient history. It gives them a sense of the nature of evidence and its use in the reconstruction of the past, helping them to read a historical narrative with more critical appreciation; and it encourages them to consider the differences between their own academic experience of ancient sources books, inscriptions, coins, and the like and the use of these same objects within the everyday life of ancient society.

Charles W. Hedrick, Jr. writes clearly, concisely, and concretely, invoking ancient illustrations and modern parallels as appropriate.

Preface.

1. Monuments and Documents.

2. Geography.

3. Chronology.

4. Literary Texts.

5. Records.

6. Public Writing.

7. Coins.

8. Material Culture.

Index.

Charles W. Hedrick Jr is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author of History and Silence (2000) and the Decrees of the Demotionidai (1990), and the co–editor of Demokratia (1996) and The Birth of Democracy (1993).

"Detailed but lively, this book offers an introduction to the sources of evidence about ancient history. Hedrick has a keen sense of irony for the varying ways in which ancient and modern people read the same documents and he is an ideal guide to help us bridge the gap." Barry Strauss, Cornell University