Mabel Lang's distinguished contributions to Bronze Age and Classical archaeology were matched by sensitive and original studies of Greek historical writing. Her Martin Classical Lectures on Herodotus were published in 1984; this volume collects her articles on Thucydides and adds substantial previously unpublished material on Thucydidean thought-patterns, adaptations of Herodotean structure, and the importance of indirect speeches in his history.
The assembled papers are an important complement to Mabel Lang's pathbreaking study of Herodotean narrative. Together with introductory and biographical essays by Jeffrey Rusten and Eleanor Dickey, and Miss Lang's distinguished longtime colleague Mary Patterson McPherson, these papers will enable students of historiography in general to obtain a better understanding of how Thucydides engaged his audience. Although they were written over many years, the papers share a consistency of insight that makes them continually relevant to all who endeavor to understand the literary art of Thucydides.
Jeffrey S. Rusten is Professor of Classics at Cornell University. He is the author of books on Thucydides, Theophrastus, Greek comedy, and Sophocles, among others, and the author of many articles and important Greek software.
Richard Hamilton is Paul Shorey Professor Emeritus of Greek at Bryn Mawr College. A recipient of the American Philological Association's Distinguished Service Award, he is the author of several books on Greek religion and a founding editor of the Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
