The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories
by Herodotus
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Book Summary Information
Author: HerodotusEditor: Robert B. Strassler
Introduction: Rosalind Thomas
Translator: Andrea L. Purvis
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-06
ISBN: 0375421092
Number of pages: 1024
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Reviews of The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories
Book Review: It no longer all Greek to me
Summary: 4 Stars
Greek history is a big gap in my education. When I read a review of the "Landmark Herodotus" that talked about all the maps and annotations it contained, I thought this would be a good way to get up to speed.
I had some basic questions starting out; how were the Persian wars different from the Peloponnesian wars? Why should we still care about Greek history? I understand why we care about Greek culture but not so clear on the importance of the history. What did we really know about the Persian wars and how did we know it?
Reading Herodotus answered most of these questions and though his History isn't a primary text, it did give me insight into the thinking and the culture of that period. Much of what Herodotus wrote about was within a generation or two of his own times.
What stood out was the conflict between the forces of fate as represented by prophecies of oracles and the actions of men. While Herodotus saw men and women as capable of great deeds, they were often hampered or helped by prophecy.
Next, the long chronological context that he places the Persian war into. Its stretches back to the Egyptians and he is clearly fascinated by that culture and sees that while Persians conquered them, the Egyptians remained very influential on the Greeks.
Third, the multitude of tribes or people of the ancient world surprised me. The Greeks weren't just Greeks. They were Ionians, Athenians and Spartans and many more as well. The Persians conquered many people and this was a problem when they went into battle with people who didn't share a loyalty or connection and were a cause of the Persian's many defeats.
Finally, I was disappointed that the conflict between democracy and tyranny wasn't more delineated. I thought Herodotus would extol and explain the virtues of Athenian democracy but not so much.
The annotations were useful but weren't quite as illuminating as I had hoped. The pluses were the many maps and the timeline which I used after I finished a chapter to ground myself in the "who did what to who, when" that I'd lose track of as I read the text. The minuses included a poor glossary that could easily have been ten times as large and the appendices which were plentiful and written by eminent scholars on a wide range of subjects but they didn't give me a cohesive understanding of the whole of Herodotus' work. It was a bit like Sinatra's Duet albums where he and his singing partners never shared the same recording studio. Connection and engagement were missing.
Summary of The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories
From the editor of the widely praised The Landmark Thucydides, a new Landmark Edition of The Histories by Herodotus, the greatest classical work of history ever written.Herodotus was a Greek historian living in Ionia during the fifth century BCE. He traveled extensively through the lands of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and collected stories, and then recounted his experiences with the varied people and cultures he encountered. Cicero called him "the father of history," and his only work, The Histories, is considered the first true piece of historical writing in Western literature. With lucid prose that harks back to the time of oral tradition, Herodotus set a standard for narrative nonfiction that continues to this day.
In The Histories, Herodotus chronicles the rise of the Persian Empire and its dramatic war with the Greek city-states. Within that story he includes rich veins of anthropology, ethnography, geology, and geography, pioneering these fields of study, and explores such universal themes as the nature of freedom, the role of religion, the human costs of war, and the dangers of absolute power.
Ten years in the making, The Landmark Herodotus gives us a new, dazzling translation by Andrea L. Purvis that makes this remarkable work of literature more accessible than ever before. Illustrated, annotated, and filled with maps, this edition also includes an introduction by Rosalind Thomas and twenty-one appendices written by scholars at the top of their fields, covering such topics as Athenian government, Egypt, Scythia, Persian arms and tactics, the Spartan state, oracles, religion, tyranny, and women.
Like The Landmark Thucydides before it, The Landmark Herodotus is destined to be the most readable and comprehensively useful edition of The Histories available.
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