A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of The History
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"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 |
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.
