The ancient Greek achievement in the writing of history set the standard for all time. But the nature of that achievement looks increasingly problematic in the light of recent work on such topics as literacy, orality, rhetoric, narrative technique, and the invention of tradition. This book contributes to the understanding of both the achievement and the problems of Greek historiography by gathering the papers delivered by various distinguished scholars at an Oxford seminar in 1991.

The editor's Introduction traces the story of Greek historiography from archaic times to imperial Rome, and then discusses the intertextual relation of the Greek historians to each other and to other sorts of discourse. The seminar begins with an essay on historical explanation from Hecataeus to Polybius, and continues with papers on Herodotus (two papers), Thucydides, Theophrastus, and Diodorus of Sicily.

There are also essays on the tradition about the First Sacred War, and on the Persian War theme in the Roman Empire.