Herodotus

By Herodotus, William Shepherd (translator),

Book cover of Herodotus: The Persian War

Book description

Selections from Herodotus' History which follow the events of the great war between the Greeks and the Persians. The translated extracts include Herodotus' descriptions of the preparations for war and of the great land- and sea-battles which took place. Linking commentaries explain Greek and Persian strategies and battle manoeuvres. Background…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Herodotus as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

For those of us who have chosen to make our career in history, Herodotus is the "father" of our chosen profession. His seminal work, The Persian War, is as much or more about Persia as it is about his fellow Greeks. To be sure, much of this book is slow-going as Herodotus has a lot of "X the son of Y the son of Z" and so on, as well as a bewildering amount of archaic place names, and names of peoples and tribes. However, this book is history at its very best, examining the motivations behind key decisions,…

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