07-21-2006, 09:21 PM
Personally, I thought that his book on Alexander ought not to have been published because he was capable of ignoring the wealth of cuneiform sources that has been published during the last ten years. It's pretty simple, in my view: if you can not read ancient Greek, you must not write book about ancient Greece; and if you can not read cuneiform (and even ignore translations), you must not publish about the ancient Near East.
Fortunately, Thermopylae is safe and sound in Greece, and has a lot to do with Sparta, a subject that Cartledge knows a lot about. I wonder how he wants to demonstrate that Thermopylae changed the world; Herodotus' account, of course, did, but the battle was a simple mop-up. The legend is better than the real event (as always).
Fortunately, Thermopylae is safe and sound in Greece, and has a lot to do with Sparta, a subject that Cartledge knows a lot about. I wonder how he wants to demonstrate that Thermopylae changed the world; Herodotus' account, of course, did, but the battle was a simple mop-up. The legend is better than the real event (as always).
