Monday, February 20, 2012

research digressions

With recurring references to Herodotus and Thucydides, I grabbed a copy of both from the university library. I first began reading Herodotus years ago although I never finished it at the time. And I have had Thucydides on the 'To Be Read' list for a long time.

Unfortunately both have become a distraction. My interest is not the histories as such that both reveal, but the philosophical standpoint they respectively occupy. But both are just so darn interesting. Where would we be without the diligent people who did the translations into English? Not to mention the monks who kept copying the old manuscripts to keep them 'alive' in the first place. And I have had a curious interest in the Spartans for years. Not that I would have lasted long living in that less-than-pleasant society. Being both below average height and short-sighted would not make for a terribly good member of the phalanx!

I have to really watch myself here as I simply do not have the time to afford such digressions. But history written in an interesting fashion is just so incredibly interesting to read, which is what brought me to this point of research in the first place.

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