Book excerpt: Commentaries on the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, an anonymous history of events in the Greek world in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC, have usually dealt almost entirely with problems of the text. In this book, Dr Bruce has written an historical commentary, basing his work on both the London and Florence papyri, which between them provide all the surviving fragments of the text. Dr Bruce begins with a brief description of the two papyri. He then discusses the Oxyrhynchus historian's style and method - his sources, chronology, bias, interest in causation, etc. The introduction ends with a résumé of the numerous theories of the author's identity (Dr Bruce favours either Cratippus or an author not known to us by name at all). The main part of the commentary is arranged in the form of notes on the sections of the Greek text, with occasional detailed notes on particular words or phrases. There are appendices on the Battle of Sardis and the Constitution of Boeotia; and the book concludes with a full biography. Dr Bruce's book is a complete guide available for further historical study of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia.