This has been the read of my life and enlightened the way to think about the world of before and of today. More than the history of the Greek-Persian Wars, its a fascinating work of anthropology, with unique windows into the different tribes and cultures of European and Middle Eastern peoples. Cannot recommend this enough and I won’t believe anyone that read this attentively and does not come with their perspective changed. Its one of the most human accounts of thousands of years of human deeds.

Herodotus takes lots of liberties for sure. He shares the passion for Greek mythology and compensates ignorance with hyperbole, but most of his “lies” are certainly white lies. There were no giant gold eating ants, just a poor translation about mountain ants and marmots that actually like to dig on lands that happen to be rich in gold dust! Other than that, a lot could be later confirmed by archaeology sites and even other historians from his time. Truth is, he also relied a lot on hearsay from the people he talked to and the current political climate, so some biases are to be expected. If he can be accused of being the “Father of Lies” instead of “Father of History”, then blame the Argives!

Translator Robin Waterfield and Editor Carolyn Dewald are incredible at helping the reader understand the context of all this. They bring Herodotus voice in the way its translated, geography and maps of the locations he visited and where the battles occurred, appendix with conversions of Greek and Persian measures, and of course, the hundreds of indispensable explanatory notes. This is one of, if not The version to read if you want to delve into Herodotus works.

Like I said when I read Book I, the main skill this gives is Perception. It does change the perspective how one views the world almost as much as reading a biology book, but this one covers the surface level. The ethnography is probably the main trigger. How things have changed in many ways and how it didn’t change at all. Matriarchal societies were swallowed by empires, just like their gods. Cannibalistic tribes disappeared or isolated themselves. Some were monogamous, many weren’t. Polyandry there, Polygyny there. Others still have remnants today, or at least certain habits can be attributed to, offering interesting data on various fields in anthropology.

As much as I am fascinated by Sparta and all the Greek political intrigue, its the culture I end up sucking in. Their way of life, their gods and its origins, why they do what they do and how. How can it compare with the life we have now. Same for Babylon, Egypt, Syria, Persia. Of course, the politics also matter because of interest and ideology. When we look at a country or an empire, we have at least three main lenses to consider: Interests, Institutions and Ideologies. Individual, collective and norms. That’s what you got to do if you strive to be intellectually honest instead of blaming a left or a right for certain things happening. The Histories, along with historians notes of course, is amongst the best case studies. It also trains the brain to spot bullsh*t and do your research. Makes us learn to theorize certain things and feel gratified when it turns out to be right, or at least, on the way there.

Its a great book to read normally, without going back and forth checking the notes and losing momentum. Therefore, makes it for an easy read. Now, if you really want to deep dive, then prepare for the hard part. There’ s a lot to take in, many things I forgot or just know at surface level, needing to check back to my notes, but granted my main interest was more focused on finding out if those women wielding weapons were true. Guess what, they were! Archaeology confirmed it and might be the inspiration for the Amazons.

The power of Delphi and Pythia was something akin to the Pope. All sorts of leadership relied on information or “prophecies” delivered by them. Although it not always was exactly accurate nor obeyed, it show two things: first, women did have more power at this time than given credit to; second, the education and geopolitical knowledge was pretty high, because they clearly knew how to shape the world and influence the right ruler.

Another thing that makes one question is: what if the whole Greek mythology actually happened thousands of years ago and guys like Homer just romanticized the whole thing? Of course, one could have traveled a lot, see a lot of weird sh*t and come up with something to boost your nations pride, but lets be clear: Greek mythology shows the same behavior as the whole of Greece, which is they simply hate each other and Athens is the one who gets to pay for it anyway, every time.
There’s some wishful thinking in there, but all works we can compare to mythical works are based on real people and real events, why would Iliad and Odyssey be any different? Maybe with so many gods and lighting shows from Zeus and sexual depravity, it may be a higher budget version than the Bible or the Koran, more fitting of HBO than Netflix, but real nonetheless.

Of course, Athena is the embodiment of Athens but the heroes she blesses could be a real famous general, sanctified for its deeds, that got approval to, say kill Medusa. Medusa is all about the snakes. The symbol of Argos is the snake. See where I’m going with this? Scholars have reasons to believe Troy maybe have been a thing after all, and even Herodotus confesses Hercules might have been worshiped somewhere else (like Egypt). Then the Greeks actually “copied” a lot of worship from Egypt and later Romans had similar ideas. Then its all about having the hard job of separating the real thing from the fictional, something that might be impossible. Regardless, memes are shared and they even worshiped Kings and sacrificed to people they deemed divine. To me, this leaves me like the Charlie meme in Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Anything can happen really. Similar things happened much sooner, difference is, we have better technology to record and also lasts longer.

Anyway, this is the best layman scholar level edition you can pick. It was the one recommended to me, so I’ll just sell the same pitch.

The Histories is one of the most important works I’ve read to date. ( )

Really 2 books in 1, Histories gives an overview of both the Persian/Greek conflict and the cultures surrounding it. To fully appreciate this book, it is important to be able to divide it in your mind - a Fodors Guide for the Ancient Mediterranean and a History 101.

Although most would agree that Herodotus had a problem with facts, it is important to look at it contextually. Herodotus was one of the revolutionaries in history - he set out to make an honest book, comparing different versions of history and ethnography and explaining why he believed a version was true.

Worth reading but remember - categorize it in your mind as you read! ( )

This is a very clear and readable modern English translation of Herodotus. The notes at the end are more complete than anything I've ever seen before, and the introduction is a good guide for someone like me who has very little background in ancient Greek history. ( )