'Old Oligarch' is a label often applied to the unknown author of the Athenian Constitution preserved with the works of Xenophon. Probably written in the mid 420's B.C., it is the earliest surviving Athenian prose text, and its author was probably a young pupil of the teachers known as sophists. It is an essay which replies to oligarchic criticisms of the Athenian democracy by agreeing with the critics that democracy is distasteful but arguing that it is appropriate for Athens as a city whose power depends on the poorer citizens who row the navy's ships, and that it is successful and could not easily be overthrown. This edition provides a Greek text and English translation, with Introduction, Commentary and Appendixes which discuss the date, authorship and character of the work, the historical background, the statements and arguments presented by the author and features of the author's style.

Plutarch's Life of Themistocles is a biography of a charismatic and controversial statesman. It is also a valuable historical document to a key period of Greek history, the early 5th century BC. While acknowledging the important ethical and literary dimensions of Plutarch's biographical work, the author deliberately concentrates on the historical aspects of the Life of Themistocles. The commentary includes much detailed comparison of Plutarch's narrative with those of other sources such as Herodotus, Thucycides, Diodorus and Cornelius Nepos, in an attempt to dispel the many myths and prejudices surrounding Themistocles and to produce as accurate as possible a picture of both the man and his period.