"Hamel presents Herodotus and his material in an original,
illuminating, and entertaining way. By leading the reader through
Herodotus’s text from beginning to end, the book provides an
accessible introduction both to Herodotus and to an exciting period of
Greek history, which culminates in the Persian Wars."
-- Timothy E. Duff,
University of Reading
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About Reading Herodotus
Debra Hamel’s book is a lively introduction to
The History of the
Persian Wars, Herodotus's account of Persia's expansion under four
kings—Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius, and Xerxes—and its eventual collision
with the city-states of Greece.
The History can be a long slog for modern readers, but it is full of
salacious stories about sex, violent death, divine prophecies, and
cannibals. Following the structure of the original work, Hamel leads the
reader through a colorful tour of the central stories that comprise
The
History. She highlights the more interesting and important parts of the
story while providing readers who are new to Herodotus with the
background information necessary to appreciate the author’s
wide-ranging subject matter. At once academic and a bit cheeky, the
experience of this book is like reading Herodotus while
simultaneously consulting a history of Greece and a scholarly commentary
on the text.