Herodotus

About this book

"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"-- "This single-authored volume is planned as one of a pair with an edition of and commentary on bk. in the same series, by the present author and Christopher Pelling in collaboration. Some sections of the Introduction to the present volume concern bk. 5 only; some concern both books; and some topics common to both books (Hdt. andHomer; Hdt.'s handling ofKleomenes and of Aigina) will be covered in the Introduction to bk. 6. Chronology will be covered in both volumes; for the distribution, see , section 3. For what is known or can be plausibly inferred about Herodotus' life and travels"--