Tom Holland Herodotus The Histories (Hardback) - Common

by Herodotus

Genres: History, Classics, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Greek Mythology, Greece

Hardcover

About the author

Herodotus (Greek: Ηρόδοτος) (c. 484 – c. 425 BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He is known for having written the Histories – a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was the first writer to perform systematic investigation of historical events. He has been described as "The Father of History", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.
The Histories primarily cover the lives of prominent kings and famous battles such as Marathon, Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. His work deviates from the main topics to provide a cultural, ethnographical, geographical, and historiographical background that forms an essential part of the narrative and provides readers with a wellspring of additional information.
Herodotus has been criticized for his inclusion of "legends and fanciful accounts" in his work. The contemporaneous historian Thucydides accused him of making up stories for entertainment. However, Herodotus explained that he reported what he could see and was told. A sizable portion of the Histories has since been confirmed by modern historians and archaeologists.

Reviews

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know that The Rest is History is not The Rest is Literature but I am now slowly reading two books directly because of their podcast. One is The Pillow Book and the other is this. I am very much enjoying Tom Holland's translation which makes the history feel very modern to the point that I keep forgetting that I am reading Herodotus and not Tom Holland's own telling of the past.

[Sally O'wheel · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning of the year, I resolved to read my pile of books and not buy any more books until that was done. I am pleased to announce that today I finished the last book on my pile. I had arranged them from shortest to longest, which in retrospect, was not wise. It meant that while I made fast progress at the start as the year went on, my progress slowed. The last book, The Histories by Herodotus, translated by Tom Holland, was 833 pages, 639 pages of the main text, followed by notes, maps and a very good glossary. It was very small writing so I could only manage to read 10 pages every morning. It has been a mammoth task to read it but i am very happy I have done so. Imagine a work in print after over a thousand years? It is the first work of history ever written, the first work of non-fiction. It tells the story of the Persian war against Greece but it's a shaggy dog story, going off on tangents all the time.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This translation of the classic Histories by Herodotus by Tom Holland (who also happens to be my favourite ancient history historian) is both modern, engaging, and extremely readable. I have read large chunks of this work in an older translation before, but this time through I realised how entertaining Herodotus really is. His work is filled with interesting stories and descriptions, not just of Greece and Greek history, but of other lands like Egypt, Babylon, and Persia, with the cultures and customs, animals, and fauna. We read about the Egyptian process of mummification and about how King Croesus of Lydia, who invented minted coins, lost his kingdom to the Persians. And I could not but chuckle and grin to myself whenever Herodotus called the Persians "barbarians", which had a different meaning to the ancient Greeks than it has for us today. Of course the bulk of the book is made up of the war between Greece and Persia including the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis, which inspired my imagination years ago as a young teen. Whatever we may think of the historical reliability of The Histories, and good historians will continue to disagree and argue about it, there is no doubt that The Histories is an immensely interesting and classic work and well worth your time. And Tom Holland's modern translation is definitely recommended. :)

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever been so determined to read a book. I felt ill when I opened my digital copy to see it was over 1200 pages. But I knew I wanted to read it at some point, so I decided to have at it. I managed to get it done in a week, which was nice, but it took some serious motivation to get it done. A lot of this is due to how Herodotus writes. It's like a monster Wikipedia rabbit hole, with some pointless anecdotes thrown in. It's interesting enough, especially regarding the Persian Kings and the eventual discussion of the Persian Wars. But the chapter to do with Egypt is poor, and I wish I could have just read the stuff on the Persian Wars. Well I'm done now, never to reread, and I am thankful. My head hurts.

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful piece to read, I enjoyed it to the most. It is my first book to read for Herodotus, my first book to read in ethnography.

Herodotus lived in the 5th century B.C. and travelled to Greece, Egypt and Persia, modern day Iran. Then he wrote this work, the "histories", i.e. research. It stood the test of time. It is divided into 9 books.

Furthermore, it started with:
"This is the display of the inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, so that things done by man not be forgotten in time, and that great and marvellous deeds, some displayed by the Hellenes, some by the barbarians, not lose their glory, including among others what was the cause of their waging war on each other."

The book gradually introduces kings, battles, places, temples, oracles and peoples. It digresses a lot. For example, in book 2 and 3, He describes Egypt and Babylon as an eyewitness. And then takes the reader back to the main theme, the Greco-Persian wars. But, it all makes sense at the end. This digression took me 6 weeks to go through.

To me, this one main idea:
"But for myself — it was not that hard words I had from you that stung me so much as this, that when two opinions were laid before the Persians, the one tending to the increase of pride, and the other to its abatement, showing how evil a thing it is to teach the heart continual desire of more than it has, of these two opinions you preferred that one which was most fraught with danger to yourself and the Persians" book VII

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting translation - my Greek isn't good enough to be certain, but it clearly makes efforts to convey the thrust and structure of the original. But it is not an easily-read history - something which results from Herodotus's approach. Imagine a history story with frequent flashbacks that offer conflicting versions of mythic histories to account for relationships. But if you're keen to read Herodotus, this will give you a great sense of it.

[Saju Pillai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herodotus, you fabulous, fabulous liar

[Luke Gerwig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every word of what Herodotus said is true

[Bill Cripps · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the epic stories of history, told like a ripping yarn.