جزییات کتاب
The Histories, by Herodotus, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. The world's first great narrative history, Herodotus's The Histories vividly describes how the Greeks—few in number, poor, and disunited—managed to repulse a massive invasion by the powerful Persian army in the 5th century b.c. This amazing upset victory changed the course of western civilization, as the cities that led the resistance—Athens and Sparta—became the two major powers on the Greek mainland. The remarkable period that followed introduced revolutionary ideas about democracy, education, philosophy, drama, and—thanks to Herodotus—the writing of history.A wonderful storyteller, Herodotus filled the Histories with amusing anecdotes and dialogue, human details about the lives of important political figures, and a kaleidoscope of viewpoints from people of many lands. Magnificent in compass and enormously entertaining, the Histories is not only the leading source of original information for Greek history during the all-important period between 550 and 479 b.c., but also an artistic masterpiece that created a new genre of literature. Features maps of several noted battles, index of proper names, and a general index. Donald Lateiner teaches Greek, Latin, Ancient History and Comparative Folklore in the Humanities-Classics department at Ohio Wesleyan University. His scholarship focuses on Homer and Herodotus. He has published a book on each. He also researches nonverbal behaviors in ancient literature.
درباره نویسنده
هِرودوت (به یونانی: Ἡρόδοτος) نخستین تاریخنگار یونانیزبان است که آثارش تا زمان ما باقی ماندهاست. بر خلاف نویسندگانی که در آغاز کتاب خویش به شرح زندگی خود میپردازند، هرودت در ابتدای کتاب خود به این جملهٔ ساده بسنده کردهاست که «هدف هرودوت هالیکارناسی از ارائهٔ نتایج پژوهشهایش در اینجا آن است که گذر زمان، گرد فراموشی بر کارهای آدمیان و دستاوردهای بزرگ یونانیان و بربرها ننشاند و بهویژه علت درگیریهای این دو قوم روشن شود.» اطلاعات ما دربارهٔ زندگی او بسیار متأخر است که عمدتاً از دو مقالهٔ دانشنامهٔ بیزانسی سودا گرفته شدهاست.