BOOKS: Landmark Herodotus

Herodotus' reconstruction of the world

Herodotus__ broadminded, witty, tolerant cosmopolitan__ always curious and ready to write down all that he saw__one of the pillars of the western cannon and now at last after ten years in the making a new English translation by Andrea L. Purvis, "The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories". This is not the usual dull edition of an ancient author, sleep inducing and difficult to penetrate. This is a lively translation easy to read. The volume is full of maps that guide the reader to the many places that Herodotus mentions in his text. This in particular is important since many of the places mentioned are arcane foreign places and names far removed from the modern reader. Herodotus is considered the first historian, the chronicler of early Greek, Persian and Egyptian history. He traveled the ancient world reporting what he saw and discovered. His histories are opinionated, colorful and in the opinion of some scholars today doubtful in their veracity. But his stock has risen in the last 200 years as there has been a shift in Western cultural political values where the "Greek Athenian democratic ideal" has been on the ascendancy since the American and French Revolutions. This has caused a "seeing" of the ancient world through a new prism with Herodotus representing the higher ideal of Greek civilization over the imperialistic interpretation of the ancient historian Thucydides and the imperialistic veneration of ancient Rome. Essentially this edition of Herodotus is a commentary aimed at academics, but also quite readable for the interested general reader.