The Histories

by Herodotus, Robin A. Waterfield, Carolyn Dewald

Overview

One of Western history’s greatest books springs to life in Tom Holland’s vibrant new translation
 
Herodotus of Halicarnassus—who was hailed by Cicero as “the father of history”—wrote his histories around 440 BC. It is the earliest surviving work of nonfiction and a thrilling narrative account of (among other things) the war between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the fifth century BC.
 
With a wealth of information about ancient geography, ethnography, zoology, comparative anthropology, and much else, The Histories is also filled with bizarre and fanciful stories, which award-winning historian Tom Holland vividly captures in this major new translation—highlighting Herodotus’s superb storytelling gifts and displaying his delightful curiosity alongside his flair for riveting epic drama. Featuring an introduction and notes by Professor Paul Cartledge, a translator’s preface, an index of significant persons and places, maps, and a supplementary index, this translation makes Herodotus irresistible reading once more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192824257
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	11/28/1998
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Pages:	840
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 5.00(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Few facts are known about the life of Herodotus. He was born around 490 BC in Halicarnassus, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor.
 
Tom Holland is the acclaimed author of The Forge of Christendom, Rubicon, and Persian Fire and has adapted Herodotus, Homer, Thucydides, and Virgil for BBC Radio.
 
Paul Cartledge is A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge.

Read an Excerpt

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Table of Contents

The HistoriesPreface
Introduction
1. Herodotus' Life and Work
2. The Subject-Matter of The Histories
3. Herodotus' sources and Metho Histories
4. Structure and Themes in The Histories
5. Herodotus' Later Reputation

Further Reading
A Note on the Text
Maps

Herodotus The Histories
Book One
Book Two
Book Three
Book Four
Book Five
Book Six
Book Seven
Book Eight
Book Nine

Glossary
Structural Outline
Chronology
Abbreviations
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“De Sélincourt’s pacy, natural-sounding, rendering, as superbly revised and annotated by John Marincola…was a game-changer…still reads freshly and is a bestseller six decades after its first publication.”
—Edith Hall,  Times Literary Supplement

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Histories:
“Unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the past half-century…I am in awe of Tom Holland’s achievement, and have no doubt it will bear rich fruit in bringing Herodotus to public attention”
– Edith Hall, Times Literary Supplement

“Lively, engaging version of the Histories…[an] admirable translation”
–The Economist

Praise for In the Shadow of the Sword:
"Written with flamboyant elegance and energetic intensity, Holland delivers a brilliant tour de force of revisionist scholarship and thrilling storytelling with a bloodspattered cast of swashbuckling tyrants, nymphomaniacal empresses and visionary prophets. The book is unputdownable."
—The Times of London

Praise for Rubicon:
"Tom Holland has produced in one volume the crispest and most compelling account of this momentous period I have ever read."
—The Seattle Times

Praise for Persian Fire:
"Excellent... Holland is a cool-headed historian who writes no less authoritatively and engagingly on classical Greece than he did on ancient Rome in his last book, Rubicon"
—Mary Beard, The Sunday Times 

From the Publisher

★ 2014-04-08
A delightful new translation of what is widely considered the first work of history and nonfiction.Herodotus has a wonderful, gossipy style that makes reading these histories more fun than studying the rise of the Persian Empire and its clash with Greece—however, that's exactly what readers will do in this engaging history, which is full of interesting digressions and asides. Holland (In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire, 2012, etc.), whose lifelong devotion to Herodotus, Thucydides and other classical writers is unquestionable, provides an engaging modern translation. As Holland writes, Herodotus' "great work is many things—the first example of nonfiction, the text that underlies the entire discipline of history, the most important source of information we have for a vital episode in human affairs—but it is above all a treasure-trove of wonders." Those just being introduced to the Father of History will agree with the translator's note that this is "the greatest shaggy-dog story ever written." Herodotus set out to explore the causes of the Greco-Persian Wars and to explore the inability of East and West to live together. This is as much a world geography and ethnic history as anything else, and Herodotus enumerates social, religious and cultural habits of the vast (known) world, right down to the three mummification options available to Egyptians. This ancient Greek historian could easily be called the father of humor, as well; he irreverently describes events, players and their countless harebrained schemes. Especially enjoyable are his descriptions of the Persians making significant decisions under the influence and then waiting to vote again when sober. The gifts Herodotus gave history are the importance of identifying multiple sources and examining differing views.A feast for students of ancient history and budding historians of any period.

Kirkus Reviews