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The classical historian J. B. Bury (1861-1927) was the author of a
history of Greece which served as a standard textbook for over a
century (and of which the first edition is also reissued in this
series). His interests ranged over a very wide period, and in this
1905 work he apparently abandons the classical world altogether to
consider the life of St Patrick, patron saint of his native
Ireland. However, as he points out in his preface, Bury was drawn
to Patrick through study of the lives of other missionaries across
the later Roman empire, and his first chapter surveys the context
of the diffusion of Christianity. He considers the various accounts
of the life of Patrick, and puts these into the context of what is
known of the ancient Irish kingdoms and the coming of Christianity.
An appendix supplies details of the original sources, including
Patrick's own writings.
This book, originally published in 1900, was the major work of the
classical historian J. B. Bury. It became a standard textbook on
the topic of ancient Greek history to the death of Alexander the
Great for almost a century, and in its updated form is still
studied today. Bury had studied philosophy as well as classics at
Trinity College, Dublin, and had travelled widely in Greece, but
until the publication of this work was better known for his
two-volume History of the Later Roman Empire (also reissued in this
series), and many of his other works also deal with the Byzantine
period. He describes in the preface his decision to limit the
extent of his history: 'compression into a single volume often
produces a more useful book'. This magisterial and very readable
synthesis of political and military history encompasses nearly
three millennia and the whole of the Mediterranean and Near East.
Originally published in 1910, this book presents the content of the
Creighton Memorial Lecture for 1909, which was delivered at
University College, London by John Bagnell Bury. This book will be
of value to anyone with an interest in the Later Roman Empire and
Roman political institutions.
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