From the editor of the widely praised The Landmark Thucydides, a new Landmark Edition of The Histories by Herodotus.Cicero called Herodotus "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, Herodotus's account of the rise of the Persian Empire and its dramatic war with the Greek city sates set a standard for narrative nonfiction that continues to this day. Illustrated, annotated, and filled with maps—with an introduction by Rosalind Thomas, twenty-one appendices written by scholars at the top of their fields, and a new translation by Andrea L. Purvis—The Landmark Herodotus is a stunning edition of the greatest classical work of history ever written.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“The most densely annotated, richly illustrated, and user friendly edition of his Histories ever to appear.”—Daniel Mendelsohn, The New Yorker“A first-rate achievement. Nothing is missing.... Like a Global Positioning System for Herodotus's world. Strassler has made it simply impossible to get lost.”—The New York Sun“Stunning.... Bears the same superb production and scholarly qualities of his earlier The Landmark Thucydides.... Andrea Purvis' new translation is taut and lucid.”—Houston Chronicle“A real service. . . .Considerably improves accessibility by integrating hundreds of maps and extensive timelines, amplifies the first historian's own epic accomplishment.”—Forbes
From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
About the Author
Bob Strassler, a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, is the president of Riverside Capital Management Corp., and an unaffiliated scholar whose articles have appeared in the Journal of Hellenic Studies. He received an honorary degree as Doctor of Humanities and Letters from Bard College in 1996. A viola da gamba musician, he is the chairman of the Aston Magna Foundation for Music and the Humanities.Andrea L. Purvis received her Ph.D. in Classical Studies from Duke University in 1998 and teaches in Duke University's Department of Classical Studies.
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Customer Reviews
“ The Landmark Herodotus has the appropriate maps (127 in all) interspersed with every few pages of the text, supporting every episode for easy reference. ”
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
192 of 196 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous book -- makes Herodotus accessible to the general reader
December 8, 2007
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
109 of 110 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
115 of 124 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely well executed translation
This was the best, most accessible translation of Herodotus by far after reviewing many others from my library. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Sujatha A. Nigam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Scholarly Edition
Beautifully printed, well annotated, with very clear and helpful maps. The translation was clear and readable. For anyone still interested in paper books, it was a joy.
Published 1 month ago by Michael W Watkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
So Interestng
Really enjoy reading about old history. Such a rare read and those involved did a job well done in helping express the translation.
Published 2 months ago by jkz1611
4.0 out of 5 stars
A truly outstanding volume, but take care with the format during...
I LOVE this series of historical treatments by Strassler. I have never seen historical "literature" handled with such incredible attention to "comprehensibility"... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Alex Lovejoy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Usefull
Very good book with a wide variety of maps, introductory and additional informations about Herodotus and his era. Read more
Published 3 months ago by ikarionas
5.0 out of 5 stars
Herodotus - The Histories
Great book, well put together for the reader. The maps are referenced & repeated to avoid flipping pages back or forward. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Gary
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thanks for fast service.
This was a very very fast and super easy way to obtain a book that is needed for school cheap.
Published 3 months ago by wesley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Use the Blackstone Audiobook to Accompany Text
Robert Strassler's "Landmark Herodotus" will probably be the benchmark by which all future translations will be measured. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Marco Antonio Abarca
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Book That Belongs in Every Library
This morning, I ordered my second copy of this book. I had loaned my first copy to a 'friend', and I doubt if I'll be seeing it again; and I just have to have a copy in my... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Nemo
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories
When my old Herodotus turned up moldy in the basement a few years back, I knew this was the version with which I would replace it. Read more
Published 13 months ago by P. W. Roberson
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