Adolphus William Ward's translation of 1868-1873 made Curtius' seminal work (first published in German between 1857 and 1867) available to the Victorian reading public. Volume 1 covers the period before the so-called Dorian migrations, and the development of Attica and the Peloponnese up until the Persian wars.

This English translation (1868 1873) made accessible to the Victorian reading public a history by the great German scholar Curtius.