Ab urbe condita vs Description of Greece: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Historiography, Antiquities, Politics and government, Early works to 1800
Ab urbe condita
"Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from his farm to save the state - these and many more stories immortalized by Livy in his history of Rome have…
vs
Description of Greece
Pausanias (110 – 180 A.D.), was a Greek geographer, known for his work Description of Greece.  The ten volumes (which are all included), cover Attica, Corinth, Laconia, and more.  This edition is translated by…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Ab urbe condita is the quickest read — about 4 hours vs 9 for Description of Greece.
- Description of Greece has the widest readership — 33 ratings behind its score.
Scores by source
| Ab urbe condita | Description of Greece | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.2 (33) |
| Hardcover | 3.0 (2) | — |
Reception
| Ab urbe condita | Description of Greece | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 8 | 33 |
| Editions | 558 | 103 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 111 |
| Reading it now | — | 5 |
| Written reviews | — | 3 |
| Wikipedia attention | 7089 | 1925 |
| Pages | 237 | 488 |