Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of <I>The History</I>

by Debra Hamel

Debra Hamel’s book is a lively introduction to The History of the Persian Wars, Herodotus's account of Persia's expansion under four kings—Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius, and Xerxes—and its eventual collision with the city-states of Greece.

The History can be a long slog for modern readers, but it is full of salacious tales about sex, violent death, divine prophecies, and cannibals. Following the structure of the original work, Hamel leads the reader through a colorful tour of the central stories that compose The History. She highlights the more interesting and important parts of the story while providing readers who are new to Herodotus with the background information necessary to appreciate the author’s wide-ranging subject matter. At once academic and cheeky, the experience of this book is like reading Herodotus while simultaneously consulting a history of Greece and a scholarly commentary on the text.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics, Mythology

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 10, 2012

About the author

Debra Hamel studied classics as an undergraduate at The Johns Hopkins University and again as a graduate student at Yale, where she specialized in ancient history. Since receiving her Ph.D. in 1996 she has published a number of scholarly articles and reviews as well as publications for a general audience, including several articles that have appeared in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History.

Debra is the mother of two preternaturally attractive girls. She writes and blogs from her subterranean lair in North Haven, Connecticut.

Reviews

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It's nicely written, but mainly simply a summary of Herodotus.

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been trying to read Herodotus for four years. Each attempt would be met with interest, tedium, boredom, and eventually abandonment. I doubt I shall ever finish Histories, but I really like the manner with which Debra Hamel distills the fun part of the books. She marks her chapters such that one could easily reference the primary source. Her style is fun without being coy or condescending. Even if you never thought of tackling Histories, this is an entertaining romp through the fact and fiction that form part of the foundation of European culture.

[Sandrine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reader’s digest for Herodotus’ Histories which I had not yet tackled. I am glad I read this one first and got the best bits including references, clarifications and detangling some of the conundrums.