Herodotus tells a story of how Croesus, King of Lydia, the richest and 
most favored leader of his time, asked Solon the Athenian, a leading question.
 He would not have asked it if he had he not been worried about the answer.
'Who, he asked, 'is the luckiest person in the world?' He must have been eaten
 with doubt, and hungry for reassurance. Solon told him of three lucky people in
 old times. And Croesus more than likely did not listen; so anxious was he 
about himself. And when Solon did not mention him, Croesus was forced to say, 'Do
 you consider me lucky?' Solon did not hesitate in his answer. 'How can I 
tell?' he said. 'You aren't dead yet.'

Later, Croesus sent to the great Oracle at Delphi to know whether he should go to war against the Persians, and the oracle replied: "If Croesus goes to war he will destroy a great empire." Pleased by this answer, Croesus made his necessary alliances and preparations and went out to meet the Persian army. Croesus and his troops were defeated. Croesus’ wife committed suicide and Croesus was dragged before King Cyrus in chains. Croesus figured out that the great empire that would be destroyed would be his own, not the Persian. Most modern-day scholars and historians believe that Croesus died on the pyre where he was placed by Cyrus.

Herodotus opines: "No one is stupid enough to prefer war to peace; in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers bury their sons." But the Greeks were great believers in fate, so he adds "However, I suppose the god must have wanted this to happen."

When reading this book, I was a bit obsessed, something that is not out of the ordinary for me when reading a book that I thoroughly enjoy, and I found myself incessantly offering up unsolicited little tales from the histories to friends and family, finding good use of these stories in many situations in my life, especially when someone was complaining about the present. Little consolations, you could call them. Calls to reality. Someone would say,

"Oh, thank God it’s Friday, this week has been pure hell!"

to which I would respond,

"be glad it’s not the week that the Persians came to your city like they did to Barce, whose men ended up impaled on poles around the city walls, then whose wives' breasts were cut off and pinned on the wall next to them. That sounds a little bit more hell-like to me. I mean, it’s all about perspective, right guys!?"

Or when the people in my life complained about how bad the world is today, I would shell out gruesome tales from Herodotus to remind them just how good it actually is for us in terms of pain and suffering. I found this whole sharing-of-Herodotus thing to be quite cathartic. Maybe, I should take up writing inspirational, encouraging, and consoling hallmark cards utilizing gruesome tales from ancient history. Not an entirely bad idea, I don't think. Sharing some of these stories is a wonderful way of dropping a bomb on political discourse between the right and the left too! The left complaining about oppression, justice, and inequality, brought on by the right And the right complaining about the impending doom of the apocalypse brought on by the left. It is very easy through many of these tales to bring a better perspective to both of these extreme views. But, my dad ended up asking me a question that I think is important to address, something that we should all contemplate, he was understandably annoyed I think, by the fact that I had talked about nothing else but Herodotus for several weeks, and asked, “Why should I care about this Herodotus guy at all. Who cares?”

So, as fascinating to me personally as all of these enquiries of Herodotus are, and as consoling as they are to me personally, my dad’s comment put the brakes on my excitement and got me thinking. Well, what exactly is the point to all of this? And Why should I care? All of this history is kind of pointless unless we’re able to utilize this information in some way.

So, why read Herodotus?
Or, why study history at all?

I’m gonna offer up what I think are three important reasons. That are helpful to all of mankind.

1. History teaches us to think critically
2. History helps us understand the present
3. History teaches us to be humble

History provides us with the tools to think critically, as students of history we evaluate evidence rationally and with an open-mind, letting the evidence guide us. It is obvious in the world that we live in today with constant misinformation and the seemingly ever expansive lack of critical thinking abilities employed in modern discourse that our society would largely benefit from the use of the critical thinking skills that are required of us as students of history.

History provides us with the tools to better understand the present, and through the critical analysis of past events history helps us to better maneuver future dilemmas. The famous aphorism “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it” rings true in that as the Preacher of Ecclesiastes says, “There is nothing new under the sun” Humanity is sinful and broken and falls into the same old traps over and over again in new ways. History helps us to identify these patterns.

Lastly, and most importantly History teaches us to be humble. We all have the tendency to believe that we are the most important beings in the universe, that there is no time before or after our own existence that is as important as today. Especially within our consumerist, psychological, identity-based, self-focused society where we are always looking inside ourselves and zooming in on our time and what is happening immediately around us. We see the world and the events happening around us as the most important, but if we zoom out from our small existence and our small place in time, Like the psalmist was humbled when contemplating the vastness of the night sky, in Psalm 8, wondering who man is that God is mindful of him, we too will begin to be humbled when looking into the vastness of History as we contemplate the reality of our small existence in comparison to the deep space of time that expands out from the present to both past and future. As GK Chesterton said in his book, Orthodoxy: “If a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small.” And the study of history does exactly that.

These first principles of history are found in abundance in Herodotus.

Herodotus (unlike most people of his time and of ours for that matter) does not see the world in terms of black and white. Bad and Good. He does not see Greece as the only ones in the universe that matter. He is aware from the research he has done, and through his contemplation of history and culture that mankind is immensely complex. That each person brings with them a different perspective and worldview seeped through with hundreds or thousands of years of cultural infusion.

He is constantly moving about from tangent to tangent due to the fact that he cannot help himself from being drawn in by these people, and places, with all of their differing customs and traditions, and in his exploration of these things, he leaves for us a sort of guide on how to navigate a complex world of differing worldviews. Something that has never been as relevant to mankind in the way that it is today. Especially in a place like the United States of America were walking down a random street in L.A. or New York, would easily provide a cultural sensory-overload as you take in differing food smells, languages, appearances of different people and imagine their accompanying worldviews. How are we to make sense of anything in a world like this?



I watched a great interview with Tom Holland whose translation of The Histories was published in 2013. He brought to my attention the exemplary tale of Cambyses who was Cyrus’s elder son. He takes over after Cyrus’ death and immediately takes on the Egyptians. He struts into Egypt following his victory over them in battle, and some of the Egyptians were worshiping a calf who they believed to be the God Apis. Cambyses is angered with the Egyptians for celebrating this calf believing that he should have received the same type of celebration. Herodotus then goes on to give us more examples of this Cambyses guy making a fool of himself. That he violated graves in Memphis, mocked the Egyptian Hephaestus in his temple and burned the Cabiri at their shrine. Making it obvious that Cambyses was a bit of a petulant tyrant.

Herodotus writes,

“[3.38] In view of all this, I have no doubt that Cambyses was completely out of his mind; it is the only possible explanation of his assault upon, and mockery of, everything which ancient law and custom have made sacred in Egypt.”

“If anyone, no matter who, were given the opportunity of choosing from amongst all the nations in the world the set of beliefs which he thought best, he would inevitably - after careful considerations of their relative merits - choose that of his own country. Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best; and that being so, it is unlikely that anyone but a madman would mock at such things. There is abundant evidence that this is the universal feeling about the ancient customs of one's country.”

What Herodotus does here through this amazing story is to show us a bit of the workings of his own mind. His empathetic perspective toward the Egyptians concerning Cambyses lack of consideration concerning the Egyptian culture and their religion. And his incredibly wise and non-partisan perspective toward all men. He understood that we all believe our cultures and customs to be the best, and that because of that Cambyses would have had to have been completely out of his mind insane to make a mockery out of someone’s beliefs.

He continues,

“One might recall, for example, an anecdote of Darius. When he was king of Persia, he summoned the Greeks who happened to be present at his court, and asked them what they would take to eat the dead bodies of their fathers. They replied that they would not do it for any money in the world. Later, in the presence of the Greeks, and through an interpreter, so that they could understand what was said, he asked some Indians of the tribe called Callatiae, who do in fact eat their parents' dead bodies, what they would take to burn them. They uttered a cry of horror and forbade him to mention such a dreadful thing. One can see by this what custom can do.”

Custom, tradition, and culture help formulate our perspective, for each one of us. Herodotus realized this, and hoped to teach others this valuable lesson. To lock ourselves into black and white thinking where we leave no room for caution and grace when dealing with fellow human beings is foolish and ignorant.

And I think I will end this review with what is another beautiful case in the latter part of the histories where Herodotus once again shows us a bit more of the workings of his mind. It is In Part 7 if I’m not mistaken when Xerxes is up on a hill looking down over the Hellespont and his vast armies, Herodotus writes of Xerxes weeping, when asked why he is crying Xerxes responds,

“There came upon me, a sudden pity when I thought of the shortness of man’s life, and considered that of all of this host, so numerous as it is, not one will be alive when a hundred years has gone by.”

And Herodotus through this passage writes into Xerxes with these words a tragic Greek perspective, exemplifying an empathetic view of the great Persian that brought about the destruction of Greece, and showed him to be a man of wisdom who like Herodotus understood from the contemplation of time and history, something that King David of Israel, and The preacher of Ecclesiastes, Homer, Sophocles, etc, all contemplated as well, which is the great futility of human endeavors when viewed through long scope of History.

I for one am glad that Herodotus wrote this book, and started this wonderful western tradition of research and enquiry concerning past events, and I hope that just as it effected Herodotus’ worldview and perspective to be more open-minded and humble toward his fellow man, the study of history would likewise do the same for all of us who enjoy to peer back into the annals of the past. May we defy the age that we live in, and step out of the increasingly polarized dialogue of modern politics to contemplate the immense complexity of the age we live in, may we be graceful to people who think differently than ourselves, and may we be humbled to think about all of the ways in which our existence is fleeting and our human endeavors are futile.

Herodotus, as advertised, writes with a breezy, conversational, scandalous tone; the Histories can be confusing, and the events related in them are only sometimes of any real interest, but it's fun to just hang out and listen to Herodotus tell stories.

That said, if you were to choose to read excerpts instead of the whole, I wouldn't judge you. Over 700 pages, it all starts to run together pretty badly. Book Two is really fun; Books 6 - 8 cover Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis, the famous, decisive battles in the Greco-Persian War; that's pretty cool stuff, and also fairly straightforward in terms of telling a story.

Like the Iliad, the Histories are incredibly violent. Take the story of Zopyros from Book 3, who turns himself into a Trojan Horse; he mutilates himself - chops off his own nose and ears! - to make his story of being a deserter more believable to the Babylonians, then sacrifices 7,000 of his own troops to build up credibility with them, before finally betraying them and opening the gates to Babylon to allow the Persians to retake it. That's some cold shit, right? There's plenty more where that came from.

The Landmark edition is as good as everyone says it is. Tons of maps (okay, an utterly gratuitous number of maps, but so what? Everyone loves maps) and interesting supporting photos. The Appendices are of varying quality. The main problem with the Landmark edition is that it's coffee table-sized, so it's a total pain in the ass to read.

If you are an English speaker there is no reason for you to consider buying any other edition of this text. Brilliantly translated, filled with just the right amount of footnotes, maps and pictures, and there is an appendix for pretty much everything you could think of.

Bir solukta okursunuz, destansı üslubunu seversiniz, başta sayfa sayısı çok gibi gelir, ne zaman bitti anlamazsınız.

Yunan-Pers mücadelesi özellikle Leonidas ve Kserkses arası mücadeleleri anlatıldığı bölüm nefisti!

Kütüphaneden alarak okudum, Calibromda e kitap olarak var ama en kısa zamanda basılı bir versiyonu da kütüphanemizde olsun isterim.

Baş ucu eseri!

Ayrıca Müntekim Ökmen'de harika dip notlar hazmış. Kafanız takılınca hızır gibi yetişiyor. Ölmeden mutlaka okuyun, okutun!

Tarihte yazılmış ilk tarih kitabı olma özelliği taşımasından ötürü dünya edebiyatı açısından önemli bir yere sahip olan Herodotos'un "Histories / Tarih"i benim gibi Antik Yunan Edebiyatı'nı tam anlamıyla bitirmek isteyen okuyuculara yönelik bir eser. MÖ 5. yüzyılda yazılmış olması nedeniyle içinde bir sürü yanlış barındıran eseri okurken yazarın harikulade gözlem ve araştırma yeteneğine ve de en önemlisi bunları bir araya getiriş şekline hayran kalmamak elde değil. Pers İmparatoru Cyrus / Kyros'dan başlayarak sırasıyla Cambyses / Kambyses, Darius / Dareios ve Xerxes / Kserkes'in hikayesinden 300 Spartalı'nın hikayesi olarak bilinen Thermopylae Savaşı'na kadar Themistocles ve Leonidas gibi önemli tarihi figürün içinde bulunduğu birçok önemli tarihi olayı okuma şansı bulduğumuz kitapta Mısır tarihine bile rastlamak mümkün. Herodotos'un coğrafi tasvirlerini inanılmaz sıkıcı ve gereksiz bulmama rağmen karakter hikayelerini çok beğendiğimi söylemek isterim. Okudukça insanoğlunun ne kadar vahşi olduğuna bir kez daha tanıklık ederken insanların aslında hiç değişmediğini açık bir şekilde görüyorsunuz. Yine de fazla özel isim barındırması nedeniyle okuması oldukça zor ve gerçekten sabır gerektiren bir eser olduğunu söylemekte fayda var. Kısaca, Antik Yunan Edebiyatı'nın son halkası olduğunu düşündüğüm Herodotos'un "Tarih"ini okumadan önce Homeros, Virgil, Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus ve biraz Platon okumak şart.

30.03.2015
İstanbul, Türkiye

Alp Turgut

http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...

Hegel and Marx get a lot of credit for changing the way we view the writing of history, and well they should. But Herodotus was highlighting the subjectivity of historical records well before either were born.

Here's a perfect example of how translation really does matter: the Penguin Classics edition of Histories is a very different read from this one. The Oxford translation has more humor, more self-awareness, more of an understanding that even Herodotus doesn't necessarily think what he is reporting can be trusted as fact (lots of qualifiers like "According to learned Persians..." or "It is so-and-so's contention that...", etc).

Regardless of translation or the factual content of his reporting, though, the real value of Herodotus (at least to me) is that it humanizes antiquity, putting life and personality to an era that we usually only experience through statues.

I read this with my book club, well mostly. No one else finished because either their interest waned or their time was taken with other matters. I had both the interest and the time and continued to the end. This Oxford edition translated by Robin Waterfield was good. Usually introductions have me wondering why but this one was quite helpful in preparing me for reading Herodotus. I also appreciated the end notes, in particular the summary at the beginning of each, and the maps. I found myself perusing the maps to figure out where Herodotus was describing.

Although this does have a lot of names and is graphic in the descriptions of various ancient peoples’ practices, I was able to keep view of the bigger storyline thanks to the aforementioned introduction and end notes. Divided into 9 books, I have two that are my favorite. Book 2 describing Egypt I found quite fascinating. The description of the land and the animals captured my imagination. Book 7 began with Xerxes moving his army to attack Greece and ended with the famous Battle of Thermopylae. That battle is one of my favorites to read about, so intriguing.

I’m not sure I will read the whole thing again, but I can see picking it up to re-read parts. Plus I have found myself thinking about it and contemplating when I’m not actively reading.

God my eyes hurt

More Infinite Jest than The History of the Peloponnesian War. Honest.

Wish I had the Landmark edition at the time. But Oxford does make nice books.

Oh Herodotus, in some ways I feel like he was my college roommate - fore I spent that much time with him... very enjoyable reading from the "Father of History" about the spread of Hellenism and the Persian empire. Read for my senior thesis in undergrad - it was good to read these classics.

"When the moment finally came to declare their purpose, the Babylonians, in order to reduce the consumption of food, herded together and strangled all the women in the city - each man exempting only his mother, and one other woman whom he chose out of his household to bake his bread for him."

As the British Government bludgeons the nation with its ideologically-driven 'Austerity Budget', note that the ancients had a strategy or two for surviving straitened times themselves. And they managed to protect 'front-line' services. Who doesn't like to wake up to the smell of freshly-baked rolls? Now, how does one get one's hands on Theresa May?

"...As for Samos, the Persians took the entire population like fish in a drag-net, and presented Syloson with an empty island. Some years later, however, Otanes contracted some sort of disease of the genital organs and that, in conjunction with a dream he had, induced him to repopulate the place."

Seriously. Wtf?! I mean, who hasn't dreamed of personally repopulating an island [I know I have:], but just how fertile does a guy have to be that an std leaves him debilitated to the degree that he can only re-seed an entire race like some Zeus on the loose? I thought all these dudes preferred boys so what's with that? If I didn't know Herodotus had such a downer on hearsay I'd swear someone was pulling his leg.

"...for I have never heard of a man who after an unbroken run of luck was not finally brought to complete ruin. Now I suggest that you deal with the danger of your continual successes in the following way: think of whatever it is you value most - whatever you would most regret the loss of - and throw it away: throw it right away, so that nobody can ever see it again. If, after that, you do not find that success alternates with failure then go on using the remedy I have advised."

Harsh.

"...He was blind for ten years, after which he received an oracle from the city of Buto to the effect that the time of his punishment being now ended, he would recover his sight, if he washed his eyes with the urine of a woman who had never lain with any man except her husband.

He tried his wife first, but without success - he remained as blind as ever."

Jeez, there has to be an easier way to discover you're a cuckold.