The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread which deals with Herodotus.



Please feel free to discuss Herodotus and add relevant books, podcasts, web sites etc. However, there is no self promotion of any kind allowed.

Herodotus (/hɨˈrɒdətəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos [hɛːródotos]) was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (c. 484–425 BC).

Widely referred to as "The Father of History" (first conferred by Cicero), he was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically and critically, and then to arrange them into a historiographic narrative.

The Histories—his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced—is a record of his "inquiry" (or ἱστορία historía, a word that passed into Latin and acquired its modern meaning of "history"), being an investigation of the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars and including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Although some of his stories were fanciful and others inaccurate, he states he was reporting only what was told to him. Little is known of his personal history.

Source: Wikipedia
Remainder of article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus

by Herodotus

by Alan Ryan (no photo)

There is a video that I have put up in the main video section about Herodotus:

https://www.goodreads.com/videos/8056...

Note: Tom Holland on Herodotus at the Hay Festival - Holland had done a translation of Herodotus. The movie 300 is drawn from sections in Herodotus (the Persian Wars). And of course for Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Middle Eastern scholars - Herodotus' The Histories is no stranger.

by Herodotus

The History Book Club - did at the very beginning a discussion of The Histories.

Here is a link to where those discussions and threads are if you would like to read The Histories at the same time as our On Politics discussion.

by Herodotus

by Alan Ryan (no photo)

This was the syllabus and the table of contents thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The Histories - Book I - Sections 1 - 110:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The Histories - Book I - Sections 111 - 216

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The Histories - Book II - Section 1 - 106

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Where was Halicarnassus? It was (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) is.

Halicarnassus /ˌhæɨ.kɑrˈnæsəs/ (Ancient Greek: Ἁλικαρνᾱσσός Halikarnassós or Ἀλικαρνασσός Alikarnassós; Turkish: Halikarnas) was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was part of the Persian Empire (Achaemenid Empire) until captured by Alexander the Great at the siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BC.

Halicarnassus originally occupied only a small island near to the shore called Zephyria, which was the original name of the settlement and the present site of the great Castle of St. Peter built by the Knights of Rhodes in 1404; but in course of time, the island united with the mainland and the city extended to incorporate Salmacis, an older town of the Leleges and Carians and site of the later citadel.

Remainder of article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halicarn...

The ruins of the Mausoleum of Maussollos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Herodotus (Greek: Ηρόδοτος) is honored with a statue in his home of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum)

The History Book Club actually discussed The Histories - all of the threads are housed in the Ancient History at the bottom - you will have to scroll through but all of the discussion threads are there:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

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Herodotus and Historical Narrative

Chris Pelling (Regius Professor of Greek, University of Oxford) on Herodotus.

http://youtu.be/huf2v1eIObQ

Professor Chris Pelling 'Herodotus on the Olympics'

Herodotus on the Olympics: Bigness and Greekness
Conference: Sport and Competition in Ancient Greece and Rome
14th-15th June 2012 British Musuem

http://youtu.be/QwALunQi0N4

Professor Chris Pelling on Herodotus

http://youtu.be/nccCi8de_Ig

Herodotus World: Exploring the ancient world with Google

http://www.olnet.org/node/201

Herodotus: The Histories - A Timeline:

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Understanding Classical Terms

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

The Open University

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Classical Studies: It's More than the Words:

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Hestia Project map and partners’ resources

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

As Rich as Croesus:

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Battle of Thermopylae

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Lydios logos’: the story of Croesus

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Consulting the Oracle at Delphi:

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Crowdsourced annotation: what do you think?

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Solon upsets the wealthy Croesus

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history...

Herodotus Timemap:

http://hestia.open.ac.uk/herodotus/ba...

Herodotus in his contemporary context

http://youtu.be/KBSIE32f-aE

A good accompaniment to reading The Histories:
http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus...

You can get the book The Histories free on line.

Here is one source *Internet Classics Archive: http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/his...

Here is an audio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuz74...

History - on Herodotus:

http://www.history.com/topics/ancient...

Topics for Discussion:

1. How many of you have read The Histories by Herodotus? What are your thoughts on that work? And of Herodotus himself and some of things he reported?

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The Histories was one of the first books that our group tackled.

We have also started a thread on Herodotus and I have already added quite a few links and information that may be useful to you if you have not read this work. Here is the link to the thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Additionally in the video area - I added a great discussion by Tom Holland regarding his translation of Herodotus and his impression of The Histories. A worthwhile listen - https://www.goodreads.com/videos/8056...

Tom Holland

Also, I looked for all of the threads on the very old discussion of The Histories back in 2008 when we were a private group and I have added them to this folder - just scroll down and if you are interested in rereading or reading or listening to The Histories - some of the threads might be a good companion. There is also a Table of Contents and Syllabus so you can pace your reading and there a bunch of ancillary threads as well as all of the weekly non spoiler threads, etc.

http://www.history.com/topics/ancient...