Regarding the CP of Herodotus' The Persian Wars (8 Vols), the following are snippets of introductory material to Herodotus from the editors of The Great Books of the Western World, The Franklin Library Edition:
"Herodotus is readable as few historians have ever been. ‘You see how he takes your spirit with him through the place, and turns hearing into seeing,’ Longinus, the ancient critic, remarked of him. As a storyteller, his talent for delivering a good tale in a few sentences is unequaled among writers of history, before or since.
Few works of history, and certainly no histories written in ancient times – not even Thucydides’ great chronicle of the Peloponnesian War…have sailed as serenely through the centuries and the changing currents of historical fashion as The History of Herodotus. Indeed, so perennially popular has been the work that its author has sometimes been criticized as being more of a poet than a historian. But this is a view usually expressed by scholars who expect historical writing to be dull, arid, and factual.
To be sure, there is a wealth of pure, unadulterated ‘fact’ in Herodotus. There is also, undeniably, a great deal of embellishment. Herodotus, try as he might, could never resist a good story, even when he knew it wasn’t completely true. But whatever the blend of factual truth and deliberate narrative embellishment – and no scholar in 2,000 years of research has ever been able to determine the exact ratio of one to the other – of one thing we can be certain: Herodotus is never dull.
If Herodotus’ lasting appeal has to be traced to one facet of his work, it would have to be to his incomparable storytelling talent. The pages of his History are literally filled with brilliantly told anecdotes, tales, and rumors that the readers are unlikely ever to forget.
Still, there is a great deal more to Herodotus than sheer narrative expertise and verbal agility. He is also a reliable firsthand witness to the far-flung wonders of the ancient world: a lifelong traveler, he reports to his readers as one who has himself seen and marveled at them. And finally there is his main theme…[which is] nothing less than the celebration of freedom, of the triumph of free men over tyranny as exemplified by the victory of the Greeks over the Persians. When these qualities are taken together, it becomes eminently clear why Herodotus is still widely read and loved today almost 2,500 years after his death.
More than any other literary work dating from ancient times, Herodotus’ History has been instrumental in molding our modern-day conception of the Greek world…For the Greeks, as a people, were created in the midst of the Persian War, which is the author’s main subject…”
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The Persian War against the city-states of Greece began during the reign of Darius I, third king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Darius I is most likely the same king mentioned in the books of Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah, though it is debatable whether or not Daniel’s Darius the Mede is also the same person.
I have a Franklin Library edition of Herodotus translated by George Rawlinson, but would love to have this non-Perseus, Loeb Classical Library edition in Logos! The current $4 bid will go a long ways for those who love ancient history and world-class literature.
David
