What is the best translation of Herodotus?

What is the best translation of Herodotus?

I’d say clearly the best translation overall is Robin Waterfield’s (I don’t intend to promote Amazon, just show you the book I mean). It’s a not-too-literal paraphrase of the Greek text that reproduces very faithfully the meaning but not the form of the Greek.

What is Herodotus theory?

Herodotus believes in divine retribution as a punishment of human impiety, arrogance, and cruelty, but his emphasis is always on human actions and character rather than on the interventions of the gods, in his descriptions of historical events.

What is the significance of the historical text written by Herodotus?

Herodotus is undoubtedly the “Father of History.” Born in Halicarnassus in Ionia in the 5th century B.C., he wrote “The Histories.” In this text are found his “inquiries” which later became to modern scholars to mean “facts of history.” He is best known for recounting, very objectively, the Greco-Persian wars of the …

What is the oldest manuscript of Herodotus?

The oldest manuscript for Herodotus is the Codex Laurentianus LXX, which is from the 9th century, and I’m not sure how old the bits of him we found in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri are, but they could be as recent as ~550 A.D. or as old as ~100 A.D.

How long is Histories by Herodotus?

The average reader will spend 15 hours and 53 minutes reading this book at 250 WPM (words per minute).

Who translated the histories?

Tom Holland
Tom Holland (Translator) The Histories of Herodotus, completed in the second half of the 5th century BC, is generally regarded as the first work of history and the first great masterpiece of non-fiction writing.

What is the special feature of Herodotus writing?

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 is referred to as “The Father of History”, a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero.

What language did Herodotus write?

Ionian dialect
Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, in spite of being born in a Dorian settlement.

Which is the first book in world history?

The Histories of Herodotus (c. 484-c. 425 BCE) is the earliest extant historical narrative. Written in the second half of the 5th century BCE, it aims to describe and explain the long history of conflict between Greeks and non-Greeks, culminating in the Graeco-Persian Wars of the early 5th century.

Can I trust Herodotus?

It is undeniable that there are inaccuracies in the Histories. As Baron points out: “There are plenty of things in Herodotus that we can say pretty certainly are not true, and there are many stories which today we would classify as ‘legendary’ or mythical.” However, this does not make Herodotus a liar.

Is Histories by Herodotus worth reading?

Herodotus is FUN to read. He is thought of as the Father of History and this important book demonstrates what our first historian attempted to do. It is full of wonderful stories that may or may not be true, but Herodotus did his best to confirm oral accounts from all sides.

In which context has Herodotus used the word of history?

Herodotus spent his entire life working on just one project: an account of the origins and execution of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–479 B.C.) that he called “The Histories.” (It is from Herodotus’ work that we get the modern meaning of the word “history.”) In part, “The Histories” was a straightforward account of the …

Why is it called modern history?

Modern history is the history of the world beginning after the Middle Ages. Generally the term “modern history” refers to the history of the world since the advent of the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

What methods did Herodotus use?

Herodotus’s Sources In compiling the materials for his Histories Herodotus depended mainly on his own observations, the accounts of eyewitnesses on both sides, and, for earlier events, oral tradition. There was very little in the way of official records available to him, and few written accounts.

What is the difference between Herodotus and Thucydides?

Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides rejected telling crowd-pleasing stories and concentrated on the facts of important events. He avoided writing about myths, oracles, and superstitions. He recognized that even eyewitnesses could not always be reliable sources. In general, he tried hard to be accurate, fair, and unbiased.