The Ancient Sources on the History, Geography and Ethnography of Ukraine - Latin Authors, Part 1

About the Book

Key to understanding the ancient history of Ukraine and the northern Black Sea coast is access to material contained in the works of ancient authors. Students of history and archaeology are often frustrated by the limited availability of original texts and translations, especially of less commonly read authors. In addition, although the Internet and other resources have provided significant assistance, keeping track of publications in the English-speaking countries, Western Europe and nations of the former Warsaw Pact and USSR can be daunting, even for the specialist. The author’s objective has been to provide a complete compilation of source material on the history, geography and ethnography of Ukraine in Antiquity. Works of extant Roman authors, both well-known and obscure, have been examined for relevant material. In addition to historians and writers on natural history, works of the poets have been included, not only for strict historical data, but also to provide insight into Roman understanding of, and attitudes toward, the lands and peoples encompassed by present-day Ukraine. These excerpts are accompanied by new English translations and brief commentaries that address the historical context, examine parallels in Latin and Greek literature and make use of modern archaeological, medical and scientific knowledge to illuminate passages, some of which have been the subject of controversy for centuries. Fin ally, the author provides numerous archaeological and numismatic illustrations and an extensive bibliography of Latin and Greek sources as well as English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian and Russian secondary literature and a listing of Internet resources.

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About the Author

Richard A. Mason was born and raised in rural northeastern Ohio. In 1983, he received his undergraduate degree in Classics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio and enrolled in the medical school of the University of Ulm, Germany. Following graduation, he worked as a physician in Germany and as a consultant for clinical studies in emerging markets in Eastern Europe before returning to Ohio in 1997, where he lives with his wife, Simona, and three young sons, Matthew, Lucas and Michael. He is currently in the Department of Psychiatry of University Ho spitals of Cleveland. During his university years and, later, he traveled extensively in countries of the former Warsaw Pact as well as in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. In addition to his work in the medical field, he has published several studies on the history of Ukraine and ancient and mediaeval times with specific emphasis on increasing the accessibility of the original sources. The first volume in this series, published in Ukraine in 2004, covered the ancient Near Eastern sources on the history of Ukraine.