Herodotus also wrote about the greek mythology as in the book herodotus. Sep 21, 20 herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. These oral histories often contained folktale motifs and demonstrated a moral. Designed for students with little or no background in ancient greek language, history, and culture, this new abridgement presents those selections that comprise herodotus historical narrative. Sep 30, 2008 the war elevated athens to the first rank of greek citystates, led to the creation of the athenian empire, and laid the foundations for the subsequent rivalry with sparta. Herodotus states that he makes a display of his history research to show the deeds of both greeks and nongreeks and to explain how they gain, maintain, and lose. These are meticulously annotated, and supplemented with. The histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the persian empire, as well as the events and causes of the grecopersian wars between the achaemenid empire and the greek citystates in the 5th century bc. Change is the greatest of herodotus many themes and the one that, like the sun in platos famous metaphor. To read the history herodotus only book is to seek ones roots as a member of western democratic civilization.
He also chimes in to discuss the culture of ancient people such as the people of massagetae who practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism or the persians who looked down on the greeks for their open marketplaces. Selections from the histories herodotus, samuel shirley trans. Herodotus, who wrote a generation after the persian wars, puts these battles in the context of a great clash of civilizations, between greek freedom and asian despotism. Herodotus, politics and athenian democracy brad martin, xavier university as is widely accepted by scholars, much of the western philosophies have roots in ancient greece. He investigated and wrote about the rise of the persian empire and the grecopersian wars that came as a result of a struggle over hellenic citystates on the mediterranean coast of modernday turkey. Composed in the ionic dialect of ancient greek, this expansive account of the grecopersian war that occurred during the first two decades of the 5th century is the first prose masterpiece in european literature. Herodotus not only documented this pivotal moment in greek historythe. On the war for greek freedom by herodotus overdrive. He is known for having written the book the histories greek. On the war for greek freedom herodotus, samuel shirley. Ancient history is fascinating and herodotus does a great job of informing about the political and military history of ancient times. Samuel shirleys fresh, contemporary translations recall the charm and diversity of herodotus language, while james romms lively introduction, notes, and best of all summary passages allow even a casual reader to comprehend and enjoy this kaleidoscopic text. Designed for students with little or no background in ancient greek language, history, and culture, this new abridgment presents those selections that comprise herodotus historical narrative.
Herodotus, if you dont know, is widely considered to be the wests first historian. Herodotus, who is known as the father of history, has also been called the father of lies. On the war for greek freedom herodotus, james romm. Herodotus on the challenge of hellenic unity the occidental. Among the most influential ancient greek figures is the father of history, herodotus of halicarnassus, who chronicled the history of the persian wars. Sperthias and bulis lecture hydarnes, the persian governor of ionia, about greek freedom 5. Jan 14, 2018 herodotus himself laments greek disunity.
Simultaneously, it tells the story of the growth of the persian empire. These are meticulously annotated, and supplemented with a chronology of the archaic age, historical epilogue, glossary of main characters and places, index of proper. Beautiful if not very accurate the four stars are for its not being complete i am referring to the edition on the war for greek freedom. Herodotus covers the empires geography, social structure, and history before describing the events which led to xerxes invasion of greece and the greek citystates uniting to defeat his army. If a single sentence can be said to sound the keynote of herodotus histories, surely it is this one, privileged by its position at the end of the works introductory segment. Change is the greatest of herodotus many themes and the one that, like the sun in platos famous metaphor, sheds illumination on all the others. Description of the book on the war for greek freedom. Mar 15, 2003 on the war for greek freedom is a remarkably successful introduction to the histories.
He claimed that before the athenian citizens won their freedom they were no braver than anyone else but, as soon. Though the results so far may be questioned, we can still hope. How the curse was visited upon their sons in 430 b. Project muse herodotus and the war for greek freedom. Herodotus on the war for greek freedom paul curtman. A defense of the distinctively athenian ideal of freedom of speech. Herodotus, the father of history, researched and wrote the histories in the middle of the 5th century bce. The lack of greek unity in the face of the invasion 8.
Preface if a new translation of herodotus does not justify itself, it will hardly be justified in a preface. These are meticulously annotated, and supplemented with a chronology of the archaic age, historical epilogue, glossary of main characters and places. Those cities that were formerly great are now diminished, while those that are now great were once small. These are meticulously annotated, and supplemented with a chronology of the archaic age, historical epilogue, glossary of main characters and places, index of proper names, and maps. Speech and freedom, left his native greece and fled to the barbarians, where he lost his. Mar 15, 2003 designed for students with little or no background in ancient greek language, history, and culture, this new abridgment presents those selections that comprise herodotus historical narrative. To read the history herodotus only book is to seek ones roots as a member of.
Often called the father of history, herodotus, is one of the earliest historians ever to put ink to paper. He was not the first person to write a lengthy narrative of past events, but his predecessors so far as we can ascertain were primarily annalists, contenting themselves with chronicling a sequence of incidents. It is in part a gripping and much revered tale of colossal confrontation between freedom loving greek speaking peoples the athenians, spartans, and others and the seemingly unstoppable forces of the persians. Hansens nine principles of freedom in the classical greek world and shows how herodotus weaves the motif of freedom into his narrative in writing the histories. Halicarnassus, who chronicled the history of the persian wars. Greek researcher, often called the worlds first historian. Samuel shirleys fresh, contemporary translations recall the charm and diversity of herodotus language, while james romms lively introduction, notes, and best of all summary passages allow even a casual reader to comprehend and enjoy this kaleidoscopic. Quotations by herodotus, greek historian, born 484 bc. Herodotus s on the war for greek freedom 1508 words. Selections from the histories hackett classics 9780872206670. Romm has made a judicious selection of the most important passages from the histories and he has joined them with concise summaries of the intervening events so as to make the book a unified, coherent whole.
Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery the persians on the one hand, and freedom. James s romm designed for students with little or no background in ancient greek language, history, and culture, this new abridgment presents those selections that comprise herodotus historical narrative. The historian as philosopher herodotus and the strength. On the war for greek freedom is a remarkably successful introduction to the histories. A phoenician version of io story makes her responsible. Thus, from the start, the history of writing history warns that historians also share in the frailties of fallible mankind, the long record of which they pass on to every succeeding generation as perhaps their most valuable bequest. Herodotus and the persian wars utah state university. Herodotus also had drawn on and ionian tradition of storytelling, collecting, and interpreting the oral histories he chanced upon in his travels.
Sep 19, 2018 ancient history is fascinating and herodotus does a great job of informing about the political and military history of ancient times. Selections from the histories hackett classics kindle edition by herodotus, romm, james, shirley, samuel. Designed for students with little or no background in ancient greek language, history, and culture, this new abridgment presents those selections that comprise herodotus. The war elevated athens to the first rank of greek citystates, led to the creation of the athenian empire, and laid the foundations for the subsequent rivalry with sparta. On the war for greek freedom history hackett publishing. Mar 01, 2003 on the war for greek freedom is a remarkably successful introduction to the histories.
Herodotus, the greek historian known as the father of history, describes a debate on the three government types herodotus iii. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading on the war for greek freedom. Histories, by herodotus, is an ancient greek text that tells the history of the wars between greece and persia. The rise of the persian empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict. Selections from the histories, paperback, 201 pages, published 2003 by hackett publishing company, isbn. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Herodotus writings on the grecopersian wars contain insights into greek political thought.
Samuel shirleys fresh, contemporary translations recall the charm and diversity of herodotus language, while james romms lively introduction, notes, and best of all summary passages allow even a casual reader to comprehend and enjoy this. The historian as philosopher herodotus and the strength of. Herodotus and the strength of freedom history today. Liberation war, a macedonian freedom war by a significant portion. Herodotus translated by samuel shirley edited, with introduction and annotation, by james. In the histories, he describes the expansion of the achaemenid empire under its kings cyrus the great, cambyses, and darius i the great, culminating in xerxes expedition to greece 480 bce, which met with disaster in the naval engagement at salamis and the battles at. Herodotuss history is an account of the grecopersian wars 499479 bce and the story of the growth and organization of the persian empire. Translated by samuel shirley and edited with introduction and notes by james romm. Herodotus histories full audiobook book 1 of 3 youtube.
1306 1007 574 394 1166 794 1239 863 181 366 981 423 413 70 1055 197 1312 568 279 720 1247 1069 1248 1298 1519 95 17 1210 1493 1497 454 1085 596 1058 1185 184