Herodotus: Histories Book I

Description

In the Histories, which could loosely be translated as 'Investigations' or 'Researches,' Herodotus tells how the Persian Empire began, grew, and then met defeat in Greece in his parents' generation. Book 1 begins that story. It introduces both the world in which the Persian imperial war machine began to operate and then expanded, and Herodotus' own procedures in undertaking the ambitious task he has set himself. This edition helps intermediate and advanced students to read the book in the original Greek and will also be of interest to advanced scholars. The Commentary provides information about dialect, grammatical forms, syntax, and other properties of his language. In addition, the Introduction and the Commentary engage in literary interpretation and explore Herodotus' value as a historian, his immense curiosity, and the attention he devotes to the customs, beliefs, concrete realities, and myths of other cultures.

CAROLYN DEWALD is an emeritus professor of Classics and History, Bard College. Her publications include the introduction and commentary to Herodotus: The Histories (1998); Thucydides' War Narrative: A Structural Study (2005); The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus (edited with John Marincola, 2006); and articles in J. Rusten, Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Thucydides (2009) and R. Munson, Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Herodotus (2013). ROSARIA VIGNOLO MUNSON is the J. Archer and Helen C. Turner Professor of Classics at Swarthmore College. She is the author of Telling Wonders: Ethno- graphic and Political Discourse in the Work of Herodotus (2001); Black Doves Speak: Herodotus and the Language of Barbarians (2005), and several articles on Herodotus and Thucydides. She has edited Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Herodotus (2013).