Herodotus and the Persian Wars

An exciting series that provides students with direct access to the ancient world by offering new translations of extracts from its key texts.

John Claughton (Author)

9780521689434, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 January 2008

160 pages
24.6 x 18.9 x 0.8 cm, 0.368 kg

An exciting series that provides students with direct access to the ancient world by offering new translations of extracts from its key texts. Herodotus, writing in the second half of the 5th century BC, is the first historian of western civilisation. His narrative tells of the expansion of the Persian Empire in the 6th and 5th centuries BC and the wars between Greece and Persia in 490 and 480 BC. Some of the most famous battles of history, Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis, are dramatically described in his work. His purpose is to explain why the wars happened and his sophisticated and complex answer encompasses the relation of gods to men, the nature of different peoples and the character of individuals.

Preface
1. Introduction and the kidnapping of women
2. Coesus, the king of Lydia, Croesus and Solon
The fate of Croesus
3. Egypt and the wonders of the world
The Nile
The wonders of Egypt
Cats and Crocdiles
Mummification
Darius and the treatment of the dead
India, Arabia and the far north
4. The battle of Marathon: 490 BC
5. The coming of the Persians
The decision to invade Greece
Xerxes and Pythius
The bridge at Abydos
Xerxes and Artabanus at Abydos
Xerxes and Demaratus
6. The battle of Thermopulae: 480 BC
7. The battle of salamis: 480 BC
8. The battle of Platea: 479 BC
The end of it all.

Subject Areas: Educational: Languages other than English [YQF]