Editors Reads Verdict
The father of history — and possibly also the father of the travel essay, the anthropological sketch, and narrative non-fiction generally. Herodotus's willingness to include what he heard, including things he doubted, is what makes the Histories both unreliable as strict history and invaluable as a record of how the ancient world understood itself.
What We Loved
- The digressions — on Egypt, on Scythian customs, on Babylonian marriage practices — are as interesting as the main narrative
- Herodotus's method of including multiple conflicting accounts without adjudicating between them is honest in a way later historians often are not
- The battle narratives (Thermopylae, Salamis) are gripping even at two and a half millennia's distance
Minor Drawbacks
- The digressions that make the book rich also interrupt the main narrative — readers who want a direct account of the wars will be frustrated
- Modern readers should approach the ethnographic sections with awareness that Herodotus was writing within ancient Greek frameworks of otherness
Key Takeaways
- → Herodotus established the practice of investigation (historie means 'inquiry') as the basis for writing about the past — the first historian in the modern sense
- → The Histories argue that the Persian Wars were caused by the cycle of hybris (overreach) and nemesis (retribution) — a moral framework applied to political history
- → Herodotus's ethnographic interest — his genuine curiosity about how different peoples live and why — makes him the first anthropologist as well as the first historian
| Author | Herodotus |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin Classics |
| Pages | 720 |
| Published | January 1, 1 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Classic, History, Non-Fiction |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers of ancient history and anyone interested in the Persian Wars, Greek civilization, and the origins of historical writing. |
The Father of History
Herodotus opens his Histories with a statement of purpose: to preserve what has been done by men so that great deeds do not lose their fame, and to investigate the cause of the Greeks and the Persians going to war. The word he uses — historie — means inquiry or investigation. He is the inventor of the practice.
The main narrative covers the Persian Wars, from Darius’s expedition to Greece (ended at Marathon in 490 BCE) through Xerxes’s invasion of 480-479 BCE, with its defining battles at Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea. But the digressions are half the book: extended accounts of Egypt, Scythia, Babylon, Libya, and dozens of peoples encountered along the Persian road to disaster.
The Method
Herodotus includes stories he does not believe. He says so: “I am obliged to report what people say, but I am not obliged to believe it.” This is simultaneously a limitation (his history is not always accurate) and a virtue (his record of what the ancient world believed about itself is invaluable). Modern historians have repeatedly found that legends he recorded contain historical cores.
Our rating: 4.2/5 — The father of history — rich, digressive, unreliable, and essential.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "The Histories" about?
Herodotus's account of the Greco-Persian Wars — from Croesus of Lydia through the Persian invasions of Greece, culminating in Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea. Along the way, extensive digressions on Egypt, Scythia, Babylon, and the customs of peoples across the known world.
Who should read "The Histories"?
Readers of ancient history and anyone interested in the Persian Wars, Greek civilization, and the origins of historical writing.
What are the key takeaways from "The Histories"?
Herodotus established the practice of investigation (historie means 'inquiry') as the basis for writing about the past — the first historian in the modern sense The Histories argue that the Persian Wars were caused by the cycle of hybris (overreach) and nemesis (retribution) — a moral framework applied to political history Herodotus's ethnographic interest — his genuine curiosity about how different peoples live and why — makes him the first anthropologist as well as the first historian
Is "The Histories" worth reading?
The father of history — and possibly also the father of the travel essay, the anthropological sketch, and narrative non-fiction generally. Herodotus's willingness to include what he heard, including things he doubted, is what makes the Histories both unreliable as strict history and invaluable as a record of how the ancient world understood itself.
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