Since there are so many of these darn things the review shall be divided into three sections. First, a brief description of the Loeb series of books and their advantages/disadvantages. Second shall be my thoughts on the author himself, his accuracy, as well as his style and the style of his translator. This is of course only my opinion and should be treated as such. The final part shall review what this particular book actually covers.
The Loeb series date back to the turn of the last century. They are designed for people with at least some knowledge of Greek or Latin. They are a sort of compromise between a straight English translation and an annotated copy of the original text. On the left page is printed the text in Greek or Latin depending on the language of the writer and on the right side is the text in English. For somebody who knows even a little Greek or Latin these texts are invaluable. You can try to read the text in the original language knowing that you can correct yourself by looking on the next page or you can read the text in translation and check the translation with the original for more detail. While some of the translations are excellent mostly they are merely serviceable since they are designed more as an aid to translation rather than a translation in themselves. Most of them follow the Greek or Latin very closely. These books are also very small, maybe just over a quarter the size of your average hardcover book. This means that you'll need to buy more than just one book to read a complete work. They are also somewhat pricey considering their size. The Loeb Collection is very large but most of the more famous works can be found in better (and cheaper) translations elsewhere. If you want to read a rarer book or read one in the original language then you can't do better than the Loeb Editions.
Herodian's History takes up two books in the Loeb series. Herodian was an equestrian from somewhere east of Rome (possibly Alexandria). That's basically all that is known about him except that he enjoyed a post in the civil service for most of his life. His history covers the period from the death of Marcus Aurelius to the ascension of Gordian III. The best part about it is that it survives intact.
Cassius Dio
is his only other major contemporary and his history cuts off at the reign of Alexander Severus. So he covers an extra twenty years. There has been a lot of criticism leveled at Herodian over the years for his sloppiness and inattention to detail, but once his history ends the following century is reconstructed from a patchwork of mostly late sources. Even a somewhat careless historian can capture how people saw events at the time and provide a basic narrative. His biggest failing is that he wasn't a member of the senatorial aristocracy like Cassius Dio and thus didn't have access to the more reliable sources of information that entailed. But even that can be overstated since Dio (or his epitomizers) is inaccurate and imprecise in many areas. Herodian is also one of the most readable historians and his work follows a basic and easily understood narrative. The poorly recorded third century is lucky to have him.
This volume covers the emperors from Macrinus to Gordian III. This section is the part that isn't covered elsewhere. After Elagabalus it's into new territory. Dio covers Alexander Severus briefly, but only to say how amazing he was for giving him a consulship. So in Herodian we get to see the reigns of Alexander Severus, Maximinus, and the two Gordians, ending with the ascension of Gordian III, whose reign was not to be a happy one but who offers a quiet moment for Herodian to end his work. It's still kinda unfortunate that Herodian didn't go past that since once Gordian III dies all detailed sources fail us and we're stuck with just a basic list of emperors and their occasional achievements. A collection of inaccurate information dealing with the emperors of this book can be found in the
Historia Augusta
.
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