The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus

Description

Herodotus, popularly known as the 'Father of History', is the first major prose writer in the history of Western literature whose work has survived in full. At a time when the ancient Greeks' knowledge of the past relied on orally transmitted memories, he was a pioneering historical practitioner who explored the interplay of myth and history and the role of narrative in history. In this volume a team of experts discusses Herodotus' Histories and their influence. Taking a thematic approach, it explores the Histories and their context, their techniques and themes, their representation of the Greeks' relationships with foreigners and their reception. Topics covered include the Histories' relationship to Homer, their view of the natural world, their methodology and the Herodotean narrator. Each chapter presents the most up-to-date scholarship on Herodotus and offers a guide to further reading on the subject.

Carolyn Dewald is Professor of History and Classics at Bard College, New York. She has written extensively on Herodotus, including the introduction and notes to Herodotus The Histories (translated by Robin Waterfield) (Oxford 1998). Her other publications include Thucydides' War Narrative: A Structural Study (forthcoming). John Marincola is Professor of Classics at Florida State University. His previous publications include Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography (Cambridge 1997; 0521480194 HB; 0521545781 PB), Greek Historians (Oxford 2001) and (with M. A. Flower) Herodotus: Histories Book IX (Cambridge 2002; 0521593689 HB; 0521596505 PB).

"The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus is am odel of its kind and its editors should be proud. We are all in their debt." - John Dillery, University of Virginia