New at LacusCurtius and Livius.Org

[Jona Lendering]

-- and I was one of those until last week! --

I was one until today.

I find it hard to understand why he is constantly maligned by scholars like Anthony Birley. For the Roman army in the late second and early third centuries, Herodian is an invaluable source.

I have a theory. Because he focuses on "great men", Birley is a rather old-fashioned historian (I do not mean this in a pejorative sense - it is just that his topics are old-fashioned). He may have internalized some of the prejudices of the ancient "great men", and may have become something like a senator himself, with some disdain for non-senatorial authors. When he uses the Historia Augusta, it is always with a remark that the twelve "great" lives are based on a collection of biographies written by a senator.

But this is just a thought.