Whatever the origin and nature of the evidence at liand, history is simultaneously both explanation and interpretation. It is thus appropriate that the reader be informed about the sources that justify the author’s interpretive choice. As a guide at each step of the way, I attempt to provide an inventory under the title “Sources and Problems.” For the same reasons of clarity and rigor, I give frequent and sometimes lengthy quotations of ancient texts. By way of support for the explanation and the argument, I have also included archaeological and iconographic evidence. In this way, I hope, readers will be clear about the path I have followed, the evidence that justifies and upports it, the arguments I bring into play, and the worth of the interpretations 1 propose. They will have before their eyes all the elenrents that will permit them to conceive and/or propose alternative solutions. However much references to ancient sources may seem to burden the main text, I have found it necessary to provide them in parentheses, so that readers may look them up immediately, if they wish to examine, verify, or dispute them on the spot. I have also provided many subheadings—informative ones, I hope—so that readers can find their way easily through this substantial tome. And finally, I have deliberately banished the reference and explanatory notes to the back of the book, not only because some are very long and very detailed but also and especially because I hope that in this way the book will be more easily accessible to students and nonspecialists, who are rightly put off by the display of a sometimes over-erudite critical apparatus. Those who are interested are free to turn to the research appendix, like the specialists.
World History
