The Histories

Author: Herodotus (c 484 BC – 425 BC)
Written: c 450 – 420 BC
Translator: Aubrey De Sélincourt, revised by John Marincola
Publisher: Penguin Books (2003 Edition)
Bought: NoQ Store


Introduction

Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus, a Greek settlement in Asia Minor, modern day Bodrum, Turkey. Little is known of his personal history. It is believed that at some stage he moved to Athens. The Histories is his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced. It is written for Athenian readers.

The title of the work Historia (in Greek) actually means “inquiry” or “investigation” before the word was transformed by Latin and took on its modern meaning of history. The work is therefore not simply a straightforward historical account of the period Herodotus was writing about but also a record of the geography, culture, mythology, custom and even biology of the various people and places mentioned in his work. Herodotus has been called the “Father of History”.

Halicarnassus was a Dorian colony. But Herodotus wrote The Histories in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, the same dialect Homer wrote his epic poems in. The Ionic alphabet was later adopted in Athens and eventually became the standard Greek alphabet still in use today.


What is it about?

The work is mainly about the Greco-Persian Wars, a true clash of civilizations between East and West that took place between 499 BC - 449 BC and so very recent history for Herodotus.

The story kicks off with Croesus, king of Lydia. According to Herodotus, Croesus is “the first man to injure the Greeks” when he conquer the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. He tries to take on but is ultimately defeated by the Persians led by Cyrus.

Cyrus is the first of 4 kings of the Achaemenid Empire who appear in The Histories:
Cyrus 557-530 BC
Cambyses 530-522 BC
Darius 521-486 BC
Xerxes 486-479 BC

These are names that are familiar to anyone with an interest in history.

When Darius learned that the Athenians and their allies have sacked the major Persian city of Sardis during the Ionian Revolt, he memorably called for his bow. Then, he “took it, set an arrow on the string, shot it up into the air and cried: ‘Grant, O God, that I may punish the Athenians.’ Then he commanded one of his servants to repeat to him the words, ‘Master, remember the Athenians’, three times, wherever he sat down to dinner” (Book 5 chap 105).

Darius also participates in an astonishing episode known as the Constitutional Debate. Seven Persian nobles meet to discuss what type of government Persia should adopt after ousting a usurper. Three, including the future King Darius, deliver speeches highlighting the benefits and weaknesses of democracy, oligarchy and monarchy, respectively. As relevant now as it was 2,500 years ago (Book 3 chaps 80 - 82).

At the start of his campaign, Xerxes ordered the building of bridges across the Hellespont that divides Asia from Europe. The bridges were damaged by a storm. He “was so angry when he learned of the disaster, and gave orders that the Hellespont should receive three hundred lashes and have a pair of fetters thrown into it. I have heard before now that he also sent people to brand it with hot irons” (Book 7 chaps 35).

The work also features famous episodes from Xerxes’s campaign:
* Miltiades’ famous victory at Marathon in 490 BC (but no mention of anyone running 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver the good news – supposedly the origin of the modern marathon)
* The last stand of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans at Thermopylae in 480 BC and
* The destruction of the Persian naval forces by Themistocles at Salamis also in 480 BC.

Postscript: In the aftermath of the battle at Salamis and mop up operations in the next couple of years, Xerxes returned to Persia never to attack Greek soil again. The Achaemenid Empire however would last until about 330 BC when Alexander the Great captured Persepolis, the Empire’s capital. Meanwhile, Sparta and Athens, reluctant allies at best during the Greco-Persian Wars, would jostle for influence until, a mere 50 years after Salamis, the Peloponnesian War (431 BC - 404 BC) broke out.


Themes

See the Introduction to the book.


How is the book?

The Introduction written by John Marincola is accessible and extremely helpful. It is not too long and covers exactly what a general reader wants or needs to know before plunging into the story proper – Herodotus’ life and work, the subject matter of The Histories, Herodotus’ sources and method, structure and themes in The Histories and Herodotus’ later reputation. Why can’t all introductions be written this way?

The book also contains a section called “Structural Outline”. This is incredibly useful – it is a road map of the work. Herodotus has a habit of digressing from the central narrative. In Book Four chap 30 for example, he made one of this disgressions and actually wrote, “I need not apologise for the digression – it has been my habit throughout this work”. So, if one were minded to read or reread only the historical narrative, or any thread, say on Sparta, one could use the Structural Outline to identify the passages that relate to this and skip those passages that do not.


Finally …

Great read. Timeless.