Which translation of Herodotus is the best?
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.
Is Herodotus a reliable source?
In the present day, Herodotus continues to be recognized as The Father of History and a reliable source of information on the ancient world by the majority of historians.
What was Herodotus best known for?
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 13 hours and 4 minutes reading this book at 250 WPM (words per minute).
Should you read Herodotus?
Herodotus is notoriously considered unreliable, as are many other ancient historians. Given that, it’s easy to be misled into believing claims made by these historians that are now, by modern historians, generally considered to be false.
What language did Herodotus write?
Ionian dialect
Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, in spite of being born in a Dorian settlement.
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.
What are Herodotus weaknesses?
Herodotus’s chief weakness, however, lies in his often naive analysis of causes, which frequently ascribes events to the personal ambitions or weaknesses of leading men when, as his own narrative makes clear, there were wider political or economic factors at work.
Is it justified to call Herodotus the father of history?
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.
How long does it take to read Herodotus?
The average reader will spend 15 hours and 53 minutes reading this book at 250 WPM (words per minute).
Is Herodotus worth reading Reddit?
Is Herodotus a hard read?
Herodotus is mostly rather straightforward narrative text. I personally did not find him difficult (although every author has his challenging moments). The dialectical differences are quickly picked up — in no time at all you won’t even notice them.
Why does Herodotus write so much about Egypt?
In addition, Herodotus said “About Egypt I shall have a great deal more to relate because of the number of remarkable things which the country contains.” (p. 98) Thus, though he did state that Egypt was different from the rest of the world, Herodotus did not mean to say the the country was inferior to Greece.
Should I read Herodotus or Thucydides first?
Before Herodotus, the Greeks had no word for history in the sense of writing a narration of past events in prose. Therefore, the Roman writer Cicero was correct when he called Herodotus the “Father of History.” Herodotus may have been the first Western historian, but Thucydides was the first modern one.
Why did Persia lose the Persian Wars?
There are two factors that helped the Greeks defeat the Persian Empire. The first was the sheer tenacity of their soldiers. The Greeks simply wouldn’t accept the idea of being invaded by another country and they fought until they won.
What did Herodotus say about Ethiopia?
Of Ethiopia, west of Arabia, Herodotus gives a compact description: “this country produces great quantities of gold, has an abundance of elephants and all the woodland trees, and ebony; and its men are the tallest, the most handsome, and the longest lived.” Homer, in the beginning of the Odyssey, had mentioned Zeus’ …