Read the nine books of the History of Herodotus, in name and number identical with the nine Muses. He may be considered the best representative of the Ionic, as Thucydides of the Attic dialect. He is fond of old wives tales and digressions, pervaded by charming sentiments, which, however, sometimes obscure the due appreciation of history and its correct and proper character. Truth does not allow her accuracy to be impaired by fables or excessive digressions from the subject. While he tends to comment on books he did not like, Photius also loved a few. For example, he praises the writings of Arrian, who is one of the best sources for the campaigns of Alexander the Great:

This author is second to none of the best historical writers. He is very strong in concise narrative, and never impairs the continuity of the story by ill-timed digressions or parentheses; he is novel rather in arrangement than in diction, which he employs in such a manner that it would be impossible for the narrative to be set forth more clearly and perspicuously. His style is distinct, euphonious, and terse, characterized by a combination of smoothness and loftiness. His novelties of language are not merely far-fetched innovations, but are obvious and emphatic, figures of speech in reality, and not simply a change of ordinary words. The result is that not only in this respect is clearness secured, but also in the equipment, order, and nature of the narrative, which is the artistic essence of perspicuity.

For straightforward periods are used even by those who are not specialists, and if this is done without anything to relieve them, the style degenerates into flatness and meanness, of which, in spite of his clearness, there are no traces in our author. He makes use of ellipsis, not of periods but of words, so that the ellipsis is not even noticed; any attempt to supply what is omitted would seem to indicate a tendency to unessential additions, and would not really fill up the gap. The variety of his rhetorical figures is admirable; they do not deviate at once altogether from simple form and usage, but are gradually interwoven from the beginning, so that they neither offend by satiety nor create confusion by sudden change. In a word, anyone who compares him with other historians, will find that many classical writers are his inferior in composition.

Today, historians often make use of Photius Bibliotheca, in part because it is the only piece of information about dozens of the books he writes they have otherwise been completely lost. This work also offers an interesting view on what someone living in the ninth century was a good, or bad, read. You can read an English translation of parts of Bibliotheca at The Tertullian Project Here are also a few articles that examine the author and his work: Warren T. Treadgold, Photius on the Transmission of Texts (Bibliotheca, Codex 187), Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, Vol.19:2 (1978) Aubrey Diller, Photius Bibliotheca in Byzantine Literature, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 16 (1962) Tomas Hagg, Photius as a Reader of Hagiography: Selection and Criticism, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 53 (1999) Top Image: British Library MS Royal 1 E. IX, f.101