Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
To each his or her own. It can be surprising exactly much of what we know about ancient history is based on ancient texts. Certainly, for many historical figures, much of what we know about them is based on one or two ancient text.
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Ancient texts have their place and it’s an important one. But for a work that bills itself as a history, you really can’t ignore the developments in archaeology, chemistry, biology, physics - or sheer logic, for that matter. I enjoy ancient texts. But in terms of understanding exactly what went on, they’re enlightening but also sadly lacking. There’s no justification not to acknowledge the breakthroughs in those fields. Unless it’s a literary survey, and again, nothing wrong with that. But it ain’t history unless I missed the memo and it’s still 1650.