Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

> So, which of the books of antiquity which Caligula checked out of the library
> and never returned would you like to see turn up?
> All of Plutarch's "Lives" would be a good start.

We have today only a very small percentage of the books written in
Antiquity. Of course, I would love to get them all back. But if a
fairy were to show up and offer me ten books, my wish list would be:

Latin

1. the lost books of Tacitus (Histories 5ff. and lost portions of the
Annals): you couldn't wish for a better source on the successors of
Domitian (after all, this was his lifetime). His description of
Caligula's life would be interesting too

2. Traianus' Commentaries: our view of the Imperial Roman Army of his
age would be quite different if we had them

3. Sulla's autobiography: Granted, we do have other sources on his
life. But this a crucial age, the transition from the good ol' Roman
aristocracy to the dominance of strong figure - of whom Sulla was the
first to use military power against Rome itself. His justifications
would offer insights in the ways Pompeius, Caesar and Augustus
thought.



Greek

4. Hieronymus of Cardia. This one is obvious and would be my first
wish. We have no thorough account of the Hellenstic Age. Everything
you could wish for: Involved in politics and army operation, thorough
grasp of political and miliary affairs, good judgement...
unfortunately, only small parts are transmitted through Diodorus,
Plutarchus and others. His history ran from Alexander's death to
(probably) the death of Pyrrhus.

5. Lost books of Polybius. This is obvious too. Most of the text
printed in Polybius editions are excerpts with varying quality. The
integral text is only transmitted for the first five books.

6. Poseidonius. He continued Polybius up to the Sullan Age. Not much
survived, but his portion shows at least how much (in terms of
quality) we lost.

7. Dexippus. We have a huge gap in Roman history, i. e. the 3rd c.
A.D. Okay, this age was chaotic and there wasn't much literal
production anyways, but we did lose some really valuable accounts. The
first of them is Dexippus, who organised in person Athen's defense
against the Herulan invasions. Surviving fragments show him to be a
great historian too.

8. Eunapius. He continued Dexippus' work (which ended with 270 A.D.).

9. Olympiodorus. You guess it: Eunapius' follower.

10. Priscus. The next author in the line of late antique Greek
historians.



However, I wouldn't care too much about Plutarchus' Lifes. Don't
forget: They aren't comtemporary accounts. He read books and then
wrote books. So if the fairy were to offer you books, you should ask
her for the originals, not for books derived from the originals.


The greatest part of this stuff was lost on a single day, 13 April
1204. On this day, western crusaders sacked Constantinople, burning,
looting, raping, slaying. All the works 4-10 were before this day
available in Byzantium (excerpts were made of them) but weren't heard
of later.

However, another story is just an invention. There is a story that
Amr, Arab conqueror of Egypt, was asked by his officers what to do
with the Alexandrian library: "If there is the Koran, we don't need
the library because we already have it. If there are other books, we
don't need the library because we don't need them. So set fire to the
building." This story is made up and was told the first time some 600
years after Amr.



Peter Riedlberger
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