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Hey guys,
If I was to ask who you considered the top five current authorities on roman history to be what would you say? And on what specific area? Goldsworthy? M. Bishop?
Di vos incolumes custodiant
Titus Antonius Thurinus
AKA Michael Neel
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Everything is so specialised now. Probably the closest thing to a general Roman expert that I can think of would be Mary Beard.
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Werner Eck, for the Imperial period, perhaps. HereĀ“s a list of his publications:
http://alte-geschichte.phil-fak.uni-koel...ichnis.pdf
Christian K.
No reconstruendum => No reconstruction.
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas.
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It's difficult to think of people who could be considered authorities on Roman history in general - authority tends to come with specialisation. Goldsworthy's a great populariser, as (in a more scholarly way) is Beard, and previously Michael Grant perhaps. But Goldsworthy is comparatively narrow in his focus and draws heavily on original work by others. The more specialised the research, the more interpretation and subjectivity is involved, and the greater potential for expert disagreement!
Having said that, I'd suggest (in the English-speaking world):
Ramsay MacMullen
T.D. Barnes
Fergus Millar
Peter Brown
David S Potter
Which are just the first five that occured to me, and are mainly late empire specialists...
Michael P Speidel also seems to come up a lot in more military circles!
(Edit - cross-posted with Duncan about Millar!)
Nathan Ross
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I am afraid that I find recent scholarship too shallow. Fergus Millar is one of the very few exceptions.
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
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I forgot about Millar too, somehow. :oops: I have his Roman Near East, which is quite good.
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I know that the following sounds like a compliment among friends, not completely to be taken seriously, but - ahem - I think that Duncan Campbell is, for me, quite an authority about military matters.
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
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I think I might second that Jona.
Brian Stobbs