Iustini ex Trogi Pompeii historiis externis libri xxxxiiii.

With woodcut printer's mark on title, elaborate woodcut initials, Gryphius Griffon devise on last page verso. Printed in Italics. 496 pp., (23) leaves. Small 8vo. 18th-century red leather, gold ruling, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (slightly damaged), blind library stamp on first and last leaves. Lyon, Antonius Gryphius, 1573. An early edition of the Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' "Historiae Philippicae", the only version in which this text exists. The original text, in forty-four books, was a general history of the world concentrating on the Macedonian Empire founded by Philip II and the Hellenistic kingdoms. It began with Ninus, the founder of Nineveh, and ended about A.D. 9. Apart from the Epitome by Justinus (3rd century), we possess summaries of the forty-four books, and fragments in other writings. It is still considered, even in this abridged state, an important authority for ancient history, including ethnographical and geographical digressions. This edition includes the fine introductory essay "De utilitate legendae historiae" by Simon Grynaeus (1493-1541). - Not in Adams, BN or BL; cf. Graesse III, 513 (1590 ed.). CLASSICS ; HISTORY ;