"The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus is am odel of its kind and its editors should be proud. We are all in their debt." - John Dillery, University of Virginia

Product Description

Herodotus’ Histories is the first major surviving prose work from antiquity. Its range of interests is immense, covering the whole of the known world and much beyond, and it culminates in a detailed account of the Persian Wars of the early fifth century BC. Moreover, recent research has shown that Herodotus is a sophisticated and at times even ironic narrator, and a pioneer and serious practitioner of historical research at a time when the Greeks' traditions about their past were still the fluid transmissions and memories of a largely oral society. This Companion provides a series of up-to-date and accessible chapters, written by distinguished scholars, illuminating many aspects of Herodotus' work: his skill in language and his narrative art; his intellectual preconceptions; his working methods and techniques; his attitude towards nature and the gods; his attitude towards foreign cultures and peoples; and his view of human life and human history.

Carolyn Dewald is Professor of History and Classics at Bard College, New York. She has written extensively on Herodotus, including the introduction and notes to Herodotus The Histories (translated by Robin Waterfield) (Oxford 1998). Her other publications include Thucydides’ War Narrative: A Structural Study (forthcoming).