Sunday, April 17, 2011

Appetitive: Greek History Review #9: Reading Herodotus

I have been enjoying the Berekeley podcasts I have been listening to so much that I started reading Herodotus. Professor Pafford discusses Herodotus often, and I became so excited about Herodotus that I decided to read it in, at least at the moment, in lieu of my other Greek History studying.
The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories
I am reading the Landmark Herodotus, edited by Robert Strassler. Cerinthus gave me this absolutely stunning a thorough volume for Christmas a few years ago. I read the introduction this morning out on the porch in between a desperate (and successful) attempt to salvage some badly-mangled pizza dough and an attempt to talk to Propertius II about Isocrates (sadly unsuccessful due to technical difficulties with skype). The introduction is written by Rosalind Thomas, and is a delightful and meandering introduction (divided into sections for easy reference by the text itself) and it goes through some of the big issues in Herodotus, such as his accuracy, in a way that provides new information to either a layman or someone with an undergraduate degree in classics. Her writing style is warm and accessible. More reviews on the volume as I continue.

No comments:

Post a Comment