This book is an edition of the Athenian Constitution, the only one to survive of 158 Constitutions written in the school of Aristotle in the fourth century B.C., of which a text on papyrus was found at the end of the nineteenth century. Based on an edition commissioned by the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla in Italy, it provides an introduction, a re-edited Greek text with a facing translation, and a commentary. The editor has been engaged with this text throughout his working life, and published a large commentary on it in 1981 and a Penguin Classics translation of it in 1984: since then scholarly advances have continued, and he has been able to take advantage of them to bring the material in this book up to date. The translation aims at an accurate rendering of the Greek text; the commentary is based on the translation, and should be accessible to readers with little or no knowledge of Greek.

Herodotus is a colossus of ancient history, from whose major work the Histories, much of our knowledge of the Persian Wars and other events of the period derives. Writing in the third quarter of the fifth century B.C., he is the earliest Greek historian whose work survives and he was the first to produce an accomplished treatment of a major theme. Setting it in the context of conflict between Europe and Asia, Herodotus gives an account which traces the rise and expansion of the Persian empire and its dealings with the Greeks, and culminates in the Persians' unsuccessful invasions of Greece in 490 and 480-479 B.C. This is the first part to be included in the Aris & Phillips Classical Texts series of the Histories. Book V covers the beginning of the revolt of the Ionian Greeks against Persia in the 490s, with digressions on the history of Athens and Sparta at that time. As with other volumes in the series this volume comprises Introduction, Greek text with selective critical apparatus, English translation and a Commentary which focuses particularly on the history which Herodotus narrates, and how and why he narrates it as he does.

Professor Rhodes continues his edition of Thucydides' books on the Archidamian War with his edition of Book III, providing an Introduction (on Thucydides' history and on the Peloponnesian War), Greek text with selective critical apparatus and facing translation, and a commentary which should be useful not only to specialists but also to readers who know little or no Greek, and which assumes no previous acquaintance with Thucydides. Matters of text and language are discussed when necessary, but the emphasis is on the war which formed Thucydides' subject-matter and on the way in which he has chosen to treat the subject.

'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.

Herodotus is a colossus of ancient history, from whose major work the Histories, much of our knowledge of the Persian Wars and other events of the period derives. Writing in the third quarter of the fifth century B.C., he is the earliest Greek historian whose work survives and he was the first to produce an accomplished treatment of a major theme. Setting it in the context of conflict between Europe and Asia, Herodotus gives an account which traces the rise and expansion of the Persian empire and its dealings with the Greeks, and culminates in the Persians' unsuccessful invasions of Greece in 490 and 480-479 B.C. This is the first part to be included in the Aris & Phillips Classical Texts series of the Histories. Book V covers the beginning of the revolt of the Ionian Greeks against Persia in the 490s, with digressions on the history of Athens and Sparta at that time. As with other volumes in the series this volume comprises Introduction, Greek text with selective critical apparatus, English translation and a Commentary which focuses particularly on the history which Herodotus narrates, and how and why he narrates it as he does.