The Histories: A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Greek Histories in the Deluxe Penguin Classics Edition

Dennis Webb: Very pleased with this purchase. Book is like new and was dispatched promptly and wrapped very securely.

United States on Oct 17, 2023

GeeGee: Honestly, I don't know why this book isn't in every school's curriculum. Thank you Herodotus, for writing stuff down!

United States on Sep 22, 2023

Ian: Not having read the original I can't vouch for the accuracy of the translation, and occasionally a very modern turn of phrase can seem to jar with this tale from antiquity. But Tom Holland seems to have captured the spirit of Heroditus's work in this explanation of the 'super-power' clash between Greece and Persia.
In brief, great stories well told, and retold by Tom Holland in a very readable volume.

United Kingdom on Jun 26, 2023

Elle Vogel: Great book and translation. The copy we received had a small crease in the cover and some very light wear on the corner of the spine, but overall was in very good shape.

Canada on Jun 20, 2023

jean jolley: The Histories of Herodotus explains the ancient world and their gods - ideas - warfare etc which has shaped the present world we live in.

Australia on Nov 13, 2021

Sherry Snyder: This book was written with the "greatest Historian of All Time", Herodotus in the 5th Century BC. Yes that old, but so rich in the greatest detail it is amazing. I would agree that he WAS the greatest Historian that ever wrote. I will NOT give away the content, but if you want to read what really happened in the days of the great Kings with as said the most unimaginable detail then this is for you. It is not recent history for those who did not read what I wrote above then get another History book! I urge everyone to read this book. I was sitting in a doctor's lounge talking to a young teenager about this tome and a man sitting near us said "I am an Archaeologist and found elephant dung on the peaks of the Swiss Alps" which could only have come from Hannibal's trek to annihilate the Greeks! His accounts are true, other Historians have born this out. Buy it and you might even be amazed at man's early quest to dominate with ancient wars and other stories that have amazed me!

United States on Dec 25, 2020

Fortunata: Esta traducción de Tom Holland es genial, muy fácil de leer para cualquiera. La obra en sí es una maravilla, amena, divertida, y muy informativa, no se la pierdan.

Spain on Aug 13, 2019

Paulo Leite: O autor declarou, ao escrever o livro, que era seu propósito “preservar da decadência a lembrança do que os homens fizeram”, e “prevenir as grandes ações dos Gregos e Bárbaros de perderem a sua merecida glória”. A parte final de seu livro cumpriu o propósito; ela nos dá um relato completo e objetivo da luta titânica entre a Pérsia e a Grécia como foi possível para este historiador pioneiro. Com relação a parte inicial, ainda que nos proporcione um grande clímax, é na realidade uma história universal cultural, misturando fatos, anedotas, e mitos, de todo o mundo conhecido durante o período imediato precedente e contemporâneo ao próprio período de Heródoto. De maneira, às vezes, confusa ou encantadora, ele mistura nesta parte jornalismo, geografia, antropologia, fábulas, contos de viajantes, “filosofias e moralização de mercado”. Embora escreva em prosa e sobre eventos reais, em vez de lendas, ele está mais próximo de Homero e da arte, em vez da narrativa histórica moderna também chamada de história científica. Um antigo crítico romano – Quintiliano – disse que Heródoto era “prazeroso, lúcido, difuso”; três adjetivos precisos....

Brazil on Dec 17, 2016

Judith C. Clark: I am really enjoying this book. It is written in clear, sometimes ironic, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, always exciting prose. Also has some English spelling(!) which I enjoy.

My brother got me interested in Ancient Greece. Started me off with the 'Battle of Salamis', which was great, then I found 'Song of Wrath', and now Herodotus. I have just got to the Battle of Thermopylae. After that will come Salamis, and then Xerxes will go home in defeat after one final battle. It seemed a life of perpetual choices: at any time My enemy is my enemy, My Friend is my enemy, My Family is my enemy. Trust no one, or very few.

The way the various Greek cities lived, their constant conflicts, the quite amazing brutality of the time. The "time" is interesting too, having to keep it in perspective as one has to count backwards towards AD. Keeping all the kings straight is a bit difficult as their offspring were named after their fathers, with no I, II, III, etc. following the name. I must admit to skipping occasional paragraphs that contained just names.

The maps (13 of them) are great. It was easy to trace Xerxes path of his military and his navy from beginning to end, a very...

United States on Apr 11, 2016

James Liu: I'm not going to try to convince you to read Herodotus. I assume you've decided to read Herodotus already, and need some help distinguishing between translations. I used to read Greek kind of OK, but would never have gotten through all of Herodotus to read it for pleasure with the Greek that I had.

Holland's translation is very colloquial British English. It is as if the stories in the Histories are being told by an Economist columnist, as opposed to a Greek inventing an entirely new style of storytelling. It's a little bit distracting at first, but it does drive the story forward. It's talky (as the introduction points out, this would be in keeping with how the Histories would have been presented, in public lectures). And it is a pleasure. Although it is not as if the other (newer) translations are lacking for readability.

Grene's translation in the University of Chicago edition is perhasp the most difficult. Grene's is written in a bracing straightforward American prose, but it seems to conceal less the sort of paradoxical (to modern readers) cast of mind of an ancient Greek author. Grene is also closer to the Greek on a sentence-by-sentence level, which also helps...

United States on Jan 02, 2015