The Histories: Introduction by Rosalind Thomas

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1997 M03 25 - 816 pages

Herodotus is not only the father of the art and the science of historical writing but also one of the Western tradition's most compelling storytellers. In tales such as that of Gyges—who murders Candaules, the king of Lydia, and unsurps his throne and his marriage bed, thereby bringing on, generations later, war with the Persians—he laid bare the intricate human entanglements at the core of great historical events. In his love for the stranger, more marvelous facts of the world, he infused his magnificent history with a continuous awareness of the mythic and the wonderful.

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Contents

THE FIRST BOOK ENTITLED CLIO
5
Description of the country 513 Agriculture 14 Boundaries
15
planned by Cambyses 17 18 Phoenicians refuse to attack
26
Greek version of the same 810 3 Account preferred
28
28 The Upper Nile 2931 The interior of Libya 32
32
Causes of the war between Greece and Persia 1 Mythic
34
Severities of Cambyses towards the Egyptians 2729
46
Description of Asia 3741 2 Circumnavigation
48
Darius to the Ister 8792 Customs of the Thracians 9396
93
Decision of Otanes 83 Privileges of the Six 84 Darius
94
Darius at the Ister 97 98 Size and shape of Scythia 99101
99
time 97 Anthylla and Archandropolis 98 History of Egypt
100
the earths extremities 106116 The river Aces 117 Fate
120
Media 95 Early Median History 96107 Birth
123
Persians 131140 Cyrus threatens the Ionian Greeks 141
141
cures Darius 129 130 His former history 131 His influence
150

48 Connection of the religions of Egypt and Greece 4957
49
of the oracles 4655 Croesus seeks a Greek alliance
59
Story of Periander 4853 Siege of Samos 5456 Fate
71
Egyptian Festivals 5864 Sacred animals 6567
74
The Ibis 76 Daily life of the Egyptians 7780 Dress
84
with Sparta 6970 Croesus warned 71 Croesus invades
92
Saying of Megabazus 144 Libyan expedition of Aryandes
158
159164 Application of Pheretima to Ary
167
Account of the Greek settlements in Asia 142151 Sparta
171
of Babylon 178187 Cyrus marches on Babylon 188190
188
Customs of the Libyans 186190 Contrast of eastern
193
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About the author (1997)

Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, in the fifth century B.C. Called the Father of History, he wrote the first comprehensive attempt at secular narrative history, long considered the starting point of Western historical writing. The focus of his Histories is the Persian Wars, but he includes fascinating digressions on the histories of Bablyon, Egypt, and Thrace, as well as studies of the pyramids and various historical events. He was the first writer to evaluate historical, geographical, and archaeological material critically.

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