Herodotus: Histories Book V

One of the most important works of history in Western literature, by the freshest and liveliest of all classical Greek prose authors, Herodotus's Histories is also a key text for the study of ancient Greece and the Persian Empire. Covering a central and widely studied period of Greek history, Book V not only describes the revolt of the east Greeks against their Persian masters, which led to the great Persian Wars of 490–479 BC, but also provides fascinating material about the mainland Greek states in the sixth century BC. This is an up-to-date edition of and commentary on the Greek text of the book, providing extensive help with the Greek, basic historical information and clear maps, as well as lucid and insightful historical and literary interpretation of the text. The volume is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, teachers and scholars.

• Enables students to appreciate Herodotus in the original Greek by helping them overcome the challenges of language and idiom posed by his work
• Commentary explains and situates all episodes in a clear historical framework, enabling readers to appreciate the work as a historical document as well as a literary text
• Provides full and helpful discussions of the ways in which literary theory and the rhetoric of narrative and of speeches can be applied to the text