The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories (Landmark Series)

As a general rule, I don't review classics. Classics are classics for a reason—they have withstood the test of time—and there is very little of value that I can add to what countless generations of readers and scholars have already said about them. You ought to read classics *because they are classics*, not because they get good reviews on Amazon or GoodReads. And if you are interested in ancient history, and especially the history of Ancient Greece and the Persian Empire, you really ought to read 'The Histories' by Herodotus.So, let's assume that you've decided to read Herodotus. Now you've got to decide which edition of 'The Histories' to get, because there are several editions to choose from. That is where a book review can actually be of some help, and that is why I have written this review—not to offer my opinions about what Herodotus wrote, but to share my thoughts on one specific edition of his classic text: 'The Landmark Herodotus,' translated from the original Greek by Andrea L. Purvis and edited by Robert B. Strassler, with contributions from various other scholars.Assuming that you are looking for an English language edition of 'The Histories', you are unlikely to find a better edition than this one. While I can't comment on the accuracy of the translation, since I have never read Herodotus in the original Greek (alas, my Ancient Greek is not yet good enough to even attempt it), I can say that it is very readable. Andrea L. Purvis has translated Herodotus's text into clear, easy-to-understand, modern English that is a delight to read. I might even go so far as to say that Purvis's translation of 'The Histories' is a "page turner." I never once got bored with what I was reading—not even when Herodotus went off on one of his notoriously long digressions—and I was always eager to find out what would happen next in the story.But there are plenty of good English translations of Herodotus out there to choose from. What makes this edition of 'The Histories' so special has less to do with the translation itself than with the "bonus materials" that accompany the text. First of all, there are the maps—lots and lots and lots of maps! (If you love maps as much as I do, this edition is worth getting just for the maps alone.) Every three or four pages in the book you'll find a map showing the various locations that Herodotus mentions in the surrounding text. Every landmark (e.g. town, temple, battle site, river, mountain, sea, country) that Herodotus mentions in his text is identified on these maps, if its location is known (though the locations of some of the places he mentions have not yet been identified). These maps really help the reader follow the narrative and visualize where the various events in 'The Histories' took place. (I must presume that this edition is called the "Landmark" Herodotus because of these maps.)In addition to the maps, there are a number of photos and illustrations that help readers to better visualize the places and things that Herodotus talks about in his narrative. There are also tons of footnotes that provide map references and other information of interest to the reader. Plus, at the beginning of each "chapter" in the text (most of which are only one or two paragraphs long), there is a marginal note indicating when and where the events recounted in that chapter took place (if known) and giving a brief summary of what the chapter is about. In addition to these useful features, there is a long introduction by Rosalind Thomas discussing the significance of Herodotus's work, as well as 21 appendices at the end, written by various scholars, that shed additional light on the people, places, cultures, and events mentioned throughout 'The Histories.' This edition also includes a detailed outline of Herodotus's text, which gives the dates and locations for each section of the narrative. There is also a glossary of terms that are used in the book, a list of ancient authors referred to in the book, a short bibliography, a truly massive and detailed index (probably the most extensive index to Herodotus that you will find in print), and last but not least, even more maps!—in the very back of the book there is a series of detailed reference maps, with a comprehensive index, showing the location of every landmark mentioned in the text (excepting, of course, those whose location is unknown). I don't think you're likely to find another edition of Herodotus that is even remotely as chock full of features designed to aid the reader as this one is. I definitely recommend it.Now, as much as I love this edition of 'The Histories', it isn't perfect, and I can't in good conscience praise its many virtues without at least mentioning, in passing, its few vices. There are, quite frankly, a number of errors in the footnotes. Some footnotes are simply missing (i.e. there is a pointer to the footnote in the text but no corresponding footnote at the bottom of the page); others provide the wrong information (e.g. references to the wrong map). These errors are annoying, to be sure, and there are far more of them than there ought to have been in a well-edited book, but I don't want to exaggerate their importance. No book can be expected to be perfect, and these mistakes aren't severe enough to seriously detract from the overall value of this otherwise excellent book. 'The Landmark Herodotus' is still worthy of an unqualified five-star rating as far as I'm concerned, despite the errors. I highly recommend it.Before I go, I should note that 'The Landmark Herodotus' is only one volume in a series of classic historical texts edited by Robert B. Strassler, and I look forward to one day soon reading the other books in this series, which include 'The Landmark Thucydides,' 'The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika,' 'The Landmark Arrian,' and 'The Landmark Julius Caesar,' plus the forthcoming 'The Landmark Xenophon's Anabasis' and 'The Landmark Polybius.' If these turn out to be even half as good as 'The Landmark Herodotus,' they will be an absolute treat to read.- - -CAVEAT: Be sure you are ordering the right edition! I have noticed that, when there are multiple editions of the same book available on Amazon, reviews for one specific edition will sometimes show up on the product pages for other editions of that same book. My review is specifically meant for 'The Landmark Herodotus,' edited by Robert B. Strassler. Please make sure that you are ordering that edition and not some other one.

This is an absolutely crucial book in the chronology of Western thought, for it is humanity's first attempt at tracing recent events (in his case, the Persian War) through rational means to human-understandable causes.With all of this said, it is crucial to understand that "History", as a modern word and concept, did not exist when Herodotus was writing. The entire paradigm of history only came out of the work of Herodotus and his successor Thucydides. Thus, Herodotus will not conform to many modern aspects of historical writing that twenty-first century readers would expect. Herodotus is blending ethnography, oral tradition, and writing conventions inspired by the Homeric Epics and Greek Tragedies all together to produce a type of narrative never before seen. It is important to keep this in mind, as many critics of Herodotus see him as lesser than Thucydides for failing to measure up to modern standards of historical narrative. Without Herodotus, there probably would have never been a Thucydides. It is unjust to measure Herodotus against a paradigm which took millennia to develop after he wrote his Histories.Now, onto the subject of his history and the the Landmark Edition of his work. This history culminates in the story of the Persian invasion of mainland Greece, and the Greek (partial) unification to oppose that invasion. Many of the legendary stories about Athens and the Spartans come from here: the battle of Marathon, where Athens achieved its first big victory; the battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans and their often-forgotten allies and slaves fought to the death against the Persians; and other battles as well. All of this happens in the second half of his work. The first half of this work is a vast ethnography of multiple different cultures. Herodotus surveys cultural norms, origins, and encounters with the expanding Persian Empire. Here, he shows a surprising amount of care, respect, and sophistication when comparing foreign customs against his own. This section is crucial for background information and for defining the Persian war as a particular instance of a larger East-West conflict. Herodotus traces this conflict to a series of abductions of women, eventually leading to the famous Trojan War. Many people today would say that an East-West conflict is a Muslim-Christian conflict, but Herodotus shows that the hostility between the two go much further back.The Landmark Series has unequivocally set a new standard for producing ancient historical narratives. Any subsequent publication of Herodotus must match or surpass the work Robert Strassler has done on this series. Most editions of Herodotus will have a bundle of maps at either the beginning or end of the work. Any time the reader wants to find a particular location, he or she must flip through the entire book, find the relevant map, search the entire map for the location (often overlooking it), and doing this all while having a finger in the middle of the book so that he or she doesn't lose their place. The Landmark Edition has relevant maps printed on (more or less) every other page. The reader never has to flip through more than a handful of pages to find the relevant map. When they do get to the map, there is often a series of maps: one map of the general area, then a zoomed-in box which blows up the specific region. This specific map will have the relevant cities, geographical features, battle sites, etc.There are over twenty academic articles in the appendices which could, in of themselves, form a wonderful book on the classical world. There are articles on the structure of Athenian government, the Spartan society, the roles of women in classical society, ancient units of measurements, and much more.If anyone decides to read Herodotus's Histories in English, it would be foolish to use any other edition of his work than the Landmark Edition. This edition has rendered all others obsolete.I hope that this review has given the reader a sense of what this work does, why it is still important, and why the Landmark Edition is the absolute best out there right now.