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The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories

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If you're interested in ancient history, you owe it to yourself to know something about Robert B. Strassler. This retired businessman did his undergraduate degree in -- and has had a lifelong interest in -- the classics. He has dedicated his "retirement," apparently, to the re-issue of ancient authors in handsome, reader-friendly editions. This is his second such edition, the first having been his Landmark Thucydides.

My comments so far:

THE MAPS. There is no edition of Herodotus like this -- abundant maps, all easy to use and pleasing to the eye. Newcomers to Herodotus will find the maps invaluable. The reason: Herodotus takes you on a tour of much of the ancient world, telling you stories and legends and relating recent history. You may not know exactly where Miletus was located, or Sardis, or the river Scamander, and you can't simply look them up on a Google map -- that world has vanished; the place-names are now all different. So it's incredibly helpful, when you bump into references to such places, to have at hand an attractive set of maps to refer to. Also, Strassler is faithful to his own method, which is always to provide at least TWO maps -- one an overview of a region (say, the eastern Mediterannean), the other a zoomed-in, detailed look at one portion of that region (e.g., the western coast of Turkey). As a result, the maps always work -- always helpful, never mystifying.

THE TRANSLATION. I'm no expert in ancient Greek, so I can't comment on the quality of the translation, which is by Andrea L. Purvis. Strassler, as the general editor of this edition, says that his goal was to ensure that the text "would be clear, simple, and easily comprehensible to a modern reader. My narrow objective occasionally created difficulties for Andrea and led to some disagreements between us -- she arguing for tighter fidelity to the Greek text and I for clarity in the English... With time and iteration, we were always able to find a mutually agreeable compromise."

THE PRICE. Were this book a college text, just looking at it, you might expect it to cost $70 - 80. The fact that you can get it for less than $30 is amazing.

My view, in short, is that if you're going to tackle Herodotus, this is the only way to do it.

Herodotus recorded primarily oral accounts of events leading up to the Persian Wars of 490 and 479-480 BCE and in the process describes the known world of his day. The detailed discussion (after a brief summary of mythic tales) begins at about 560 BC with Croesus of Lydia (he of "rich as Croesus") and concludes with the battle of Mycale and the siege of Sestos. He describes the interactions between Croesus and the Greek colonies on the coast of Asia Minor and then goes on to describe the foundation of the Persian Empire by Cyrus and its subsequent expansion under his successors. Herodotus perceives the conflict as the result of individual human actions, rather than of larger political and economic forces. His account is a grand story filled with digressions to describe a myriad individuals, places and historical anecdotes while building to the grand finale of the Greek victories over the Persians. The whole is a colorful, fascinating tapestry of Mediterranean life in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE.


Reasons to Read Herodotus
Readers interested in Ancient Greece can turn to many sources but reading Herodotus (and Thucydides) has the benefit of seeing Greece through the eyes of the ancient Greeks themselves. Thus the history and culture come alive from a first person perspective. The Histories are literally an `inquiry' (it was Herodotus who gave the word `history' its current meaning, until then there being no such concept) into the causes of the conflict between Greeks and Persians. He attempts to provide evidence for his conclusions and indicates where he disagrees with existing wisdom.
Herodotus is an astonishingly sophisticated and cosmopolitan observer. In Book 2, Chapter 3, referring to the Egyptians, he observes that with regard to religion he does not think that any one nation knows much more about such things than any other. This attitude is not universal even now and was almost unheard of until the 20th century. Herodotus has influenced us in ways we may not suspect. The informal motto of the US postal service (...neither snow nor rain nor heat nor dark of night keeps them from completing their appointed course) comes from Book 8, Chapter 98, referring to the Persian system of royal couriers.
The remarkable notion to emerge from reading the Histories is that while the emphasis seems to be on Greece, in fact it was the Persian Empire that was the 800 lb gorilla of the Mediterranean World. The war was in no way a conflict between the absolutes of good and evil. Numerous Greek cities sided with Persia, and there were influential pro-Persian lobbies even in the cities (e.g. Athens) that fought it. The exiled Spartan king Demaratos lived at the Persian court and accompanied Xerxes on his Greek expedition, advising him on the way. The Athenian general Themistocles after defeating the Persians on behalf of the Greeks ended up living at the court of Xerxes' successor in later life. The nuanced portrayal of antagonists (while recognizing affiliation to one side) is a special gift of the Greeks and dates back to Homer with his sympathetic portrayal of the Trojans.


Reasons to read this particular edition
The Landmark Herodotus has several useful features. The Histories are all about the geography of the ancient world and maps are essential to understanding them. The Landmark Herodotus has the appropriate maps (127 in all) interspersed with every few pages of the text, supporting every episode for easy reference. Notes on the text occur at the bottom of each page instead of in a separate section at the end of the book, making reference easy. The text is cross-referenced, i.e. when Herodotus refers to something described elsewhere in the Histories notes indicate the precise book and chapter. A short summary of each chapter appears in the adjacent margin as a side note. This makes flipping back and forth easy. Finally, at the top of each page is a running head providing at a glance the date, location and a summary of the action on that page. Twenty-one appendices provide additional information. These are relatively short (a few pages each) and to the point, though of variable quality. Some provide additional information, some only commentary on the text. The index, glossary and bibliography are designed for the general reader wanting more information.

Casual readers may find the world of Herodotus a strange and alien world. The more discerning reader will realize that the descriptions of politicians lying, cheating, changing sides and taking and giving bribes are no different from the headlines of today. This is what made the battle of Thermopylae stand out as an exception rather than the rule (then, as now). When King Leonidas realized he had a rare opportunity to demonstrate moral fiber he decided that it would `not be decent' for the Spartans to leave their post in the face of the much larger Persian army when he had been sent specifically to guard the pass. Instead, he dismissed his allies (perhaps forestalling them deserting anyway, but in any case saving their lives) and led a charge dying together with all 300 of his Spartans. His name has echoed down the millennia.

Tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
That here obedient to their laws we lie.

This new volume is a companion piece to the earlier "The Landmark Thucydides," also edited by Richard B. Strassler.

Like its predecessor, the translated ancient text is accompanied by numerous side-notes that quickly orient the reader chronologically and geographically and also includes excellent, detailed essays exploring various relevant matters. Perhaps most important of all are the maps, a necessity for the modern reader when studying events of over two thousand years ago. Strassler has chosen to provide not merely a handful of general maps, as would be likely in most books of this kind, but instead well over a hundred very clear maps.

I cannot yet comment upon the translation, beyond saying that at first approach it appears straightforward and highly readable. Herodotus is our principal source for the story of the wars of the Greek city states against Persia, and he did much to shape our perceptions of that struggle and our views of the Greeks. An edition of "The Histories" such as the present volume is in that regard a real touchstone in appreciating the roots of the modern West.

Let me start out by saying that, in theory, a "Landmark Herodotus" has much promise as an idea, but not in the execution of this volume, I'm afraid.

The model that worked so well for the Landmark Thucydides -- text with maps and appendices to explain larger themes and issues -- does not work so well for Herodotus.

While the maps are a welcome adornment, what this volume lacks are specific and copius textual notes to explain the material. Instead we are shunted to various appendices at the end that are all done by fine scholars, but are not directly tied back to the actual textual material.

Instead of purchasing this hardcover volume, I highly recommend the much cheaper Oxford Classics paperback edition of Herodutus. It is an excellent English language translation with dozens of pages of highly specific endnotes elucidating the material.

Herodotus is a wide ranging, expansive read in contrast to Thucydides, who is only covering a condensed period of history spanning some 20-30 years at its core, and is limited in its geographic scale to mostly Greece, Asia Minor and the Agean. [The notable exception being the great chapter on the Athenian expedition to attack Syracuse in Sicily].

If you must purchase this volume, I suggest waiting for the paperback edition to come out. The translation is a decent one, so it has merit from that standpoint. But the format that worked seemlessly for Thucydides, is lacking for Herodotus. With the wealth of material covered by the father of History -- a few appendices cannot do the work justice. You want to be able to follow along as you read the tales, and have the option of checking a source or an explanatory note if a subject strikes your imagination.

In many ways the experience of this volume is like reading a modern tourist guidebook for a country with all of the accomodations reviews for each city in one appendix, and all the restaurant reviews in another appendix.

Like the Landmark Thucydides, the Landmark Herodotus is an excellent edition, with a good introduction, copious notes, 127 maps, 21 appendices, a glossary, bibliography, dated timeline, and index. Being a huge fan of the Thucydides edition, I was hoping for a Landmark Herodotus, and am overall very impressed with the book. The only criticism I have is in the translation. The Thucydides edition used Richard Crawley's fine and well established translation, but a new translation by Andrea Purvis was used for Herodotus. Hers is not a bad translation, in fact I think it is probably very true to the original Greek, but it is simply not as elegantly done as George Rawlinson's The Histories (Everyman's Library). For example, here is how Purvis translated the Proem:

Herodotus of Halicarassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time. May the great and wonderful deeds - some brought forth by the Hellenes, others by the barbarians - not go unsung; as well as the causes that led them to make war on each other.

And Rawlinson's rendition of the same:

These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory; and withal to put on record what were their grounds of feud.

Readers unfamiliar with other translations will probably not miss anything, but I must admit I found the translation a bit hard going at times. I would personally prefer a slightly less literal and more literary translation than a precise modern version that reads a bit tediously in places. But overall, this is a wonderful edition. Hope we get more Landmark editions, as Strassler seems to hint in his preface.

This book of Herodotus's writings is an enjoyable read for the average reader due to its rich completeness. The difficulty in reading and understanding a text 2500 years old is considerable. Understanding is complicated by the strangeness of unknown geography, place names, and the obscurity of the culture, and psychology of the time and of each particular place. This considerable accomplishment of the scholar authors gives sufficient maps, background material and commentary to allow a reader with only a modest background in ancient history to enjoy and benefit from this ancient and seminal work. The completeness and readability of the text allows the reader to experience these writings as a true history (or, at least as true as exists from that date) rather than a fictional fantasy that is the general outcome of reading ancient material. It should be a must read for every university student of Western Civilization.

Excuse the old song, but I could not help but to use it for this splendid book. Let me start by the quality of the production and material. The paper is of high quality, especially important in a book of this size. There is but little bleed from the reverse of each page. The paper is smooth and displays the fonts crisply. The binding is superb. You may lay it open nearly at any page and it splays for your waiting eyes.

All the old cob webs are swept away by this clean prose. Yet there is no edgy try at the avant-guard or hyper-modern. Something of a voice manages to come through, but never in a self-conscious manner. We hear the stories with their deep meanings, but not troubling over the facticity of any moment.

The Histories are laid bare without attempt to count the number of ships or match events to dates. Strassler eases you into the panorama of this great work to read and to see it on its own terms. The great assistance of the format: the maps, the notes and the gloss -- all make this work accessible as it has never been.

Only because I had a highly skilled Classics professor, and he an expert in comparative Ancient Greek, was I able to have a tour through this work at a tender age. Now you can have quite a bit in your reading chair.

You will be captive as the text reveals Solon at the palace of Croesus. How the great law giver and traveler lays out his argument that no one can be judged as while alive. And you will pause. You are reading this tome, not so much as one wanting the history, but as one who seeks the paideia, the Greek way.

The page layout has everything you can ask for; and then are all the appendices. Just enough photographs.

There are certain classic texts that every serious student of history should own. However, the last thing you would ever probably want to do with some is take them off your shelf and read them. The archaic language, the stultifying syntax, and the obscure references make these works all but impenetrable to even the most educated mind.

This is decidedly not the case with this beautiful new edition of the works of Herodotus with a new, readable and understandable translation. Herodotus, commonly known as the father of history, traces in his Histories the growth of the Persian Empire, its invasion of the city-states of Greece, and their ultimate repulsion by the barely united Greek forces. Instead of a dry recitation of facts, we get an exciting story of abductions, betrayals, exhilarating battles and incredible feats of bravery that would make a soap opera enthusiast proud. But this is not a comic book version of a classic work. It is in fact a highly accessible translation that is a must for all scholars of ancient cultures, but also a valuable resource for all us dilettantes.

Robert B. Strassler, the editor, has done a yeoman's job in publishing this work for a large audience. It begins with a lengthy introduction that gives us background on the widely traveled Herodotus, describes his work and puts in into context. In addition, the volume is full of drawings, photos, innumerable maps and side notes that add considerably to our understanding. If that wasn't enough, it concludes with twenty-one appendices on critical topics by leading classical scholars, as well as a comprehensive index.

Herodotus was more than just a historian for he frequently writes about the culture, geography, religions and legends of the people and areas he describes. These in-depth descriptions add fullness and dimension to our understanding of these events.

With the publication of The Landmark Herodotus, we have a valuable and usable addition to the library of classic histories. Therefore, it will do a lot more than merely look good on your bookshelf.

Armchair Interviews says: Excellent readable book of ancient history.

I have been working through The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise-Bauer, and I have been dreading this big volume of Herodotus. I stumbled upon this edition in the library, and what a great find! It has maps,explanatory footnotes, summaries of each paragraph along the margins, pictures of archaelogical sights, and more! The translation is wonderfully readable too.

I heartily recommend this version!

this is the most helpful Herodotus I've ever read (and I've read a few).
The maps, every chapter synopsis, and the notes make for the most informative reading of the work.
Its bulky and expensive, but if you care about Herodotus' work, its a must have.