# new history of the Peloponnesian War *The Urth list — 6 messages, 4 voices, 08 Aug 2006* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Russell Wodell *08 Aug 2006, 15:18* This might be helpful for those (like me) still struggling to understand the historical background of the Latro series. http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/summer2006/kopff.html --- ### Matthew King *08 Aug 2006, 16:07 · in reply to Russell Wodell* The author of this review (Victor Davis Hanson) wrote a chapter about the naval battle of Salamis in his book Carnage and Culture. Salamis is the name "translated" by Latro as meaning Peace. I had read Carnage and Culture shortly before I discovered Wolfe, and I was thrilled when I recognized what Latro was writing about. Another great resource for historical background is the Teaching Company's audio lectures on Herodotos. > On Aug 8, 2006, at 10:18 AM, Russell Wodell wrote: > This might be helpful for those (like me) still struggling to > understand the historical background of the Latro series. > > http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/summer2006/kopff.html > _______________________________________________ --- ### Matthew King *08 Aug 2006, 16:10 · in reply to Matthew King* I misread that web page. Hanson is the author of the book in question, which means I'm about to go buy it right now. The Peloponnesian war, I should note, takes place well after the events in the Soldier books, and involves the Spartans and their allies against the Athenians and their allies. > On Aug 8, 2006, at 11:07 AM, Matthew King wrote: > The author of this review (Victor Davis Hanson) wrote a chapter... --- ### Chris *08 Aug 2006, 19:27 · in reply to Matthew King* I am not familiar with the work, but I would be slightly wary of reading too much into Latro's story from a modern book about its historical background. This background is, for Wolfe, seen more through the eyes of Herodotus, Thucydides or Xenophon. > The author of this review (Victor Davis Hanson) wrote a chapter about > the naval battle of Salamis in his book Carnage and Culture. > Salamis is the name "translated" by Latro as meaning Peace. > > I had read Carnage and Culture shortly before I discovered Wolfe, and > I was thrilled when I recognized what Latro was writing about. > > Another great resource for historical background is the Teaching > Company's audio lectures on Herodotos. > > On Aug 8, 2006, at 10:18 AM, Russell Wodell wrote: >> This might be helpful for those (like me) still struggling to >> understand the historical background of the Latro series. >> >> http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/summer2006/kopff.html >> _______________________________________________ --- ### Matthew King *08 Aug 2006, 21:36 · in reply to Chris* > On Aug 8, 2006, at 2:27 PM, Chris wrote: > I am not familiar with the work, but I would be slightly wary of > reading too > much into Latro's story from a modern book about its historical > background. > This background is, for Wolfe, seen more through the eyes of > Herodotus, > Thucydides or Xenophon. The focus of _Carnage and Culture_ is on the nature and development of Western military prowess, so the chapter on Salamis is not directly relevant to _Soldier of the Mist_. As I recall it, Latro doesn't tell us much about the battle of Peace. Knowing a little about the battle, the strategy of Themistocles, and the appalling human loss on the side of the Persians: I say knowing some of this makes for a richer reading of _Mist_. Regarding wariness toward modern books: where do you suppose the authors get their historical information about the Persian war if not from Herodotos, et al. --- ### Mo Holkar / UKG *09 Aug 2006, 13:55 · follows Matthew King* > At 22:36 08/08/2006, Matthew wrote: > Regarding wariness toward modern books: where do you suppose > the authors get their historical information about the Persian war > if not from Herodotos, et al. I think the point was though that Wolfe relishes and draws on the oddities and fantasies of Herodotus, which may be dismissed as unhistorical by modern scholars. So Herodotus may be in some ways more "infomative" when reading Wolfe than a 'but this is what actually happened' account. Mo ---