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Herodotus

Histories

history

The first work of history. Herodotus traces the origins of the conflict between Greece and Persia, weaving together geography, ethnography, and narrative on a scale nobody had attempted before. Nine books covering everything from Egyptian mummification to the Battle of Salamis.

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Books

  • 1
    Book 1 c. 700–546 BC

    Croesus of Lydia — the richest man in the world — asks Solon who is the happiest. Solon says: call no man happy until he is dead. Croesus ignores the warning, attacks Persia, and loses everything. Herodotus sets his theme: the instability of human fortune.

    714 lines
  • 2
    Book 2 Egypt

    The rise of Persia under Cyrus the Great. His birth, exposure, survival, and conquest of Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Herodotus weaves together three empires and their destruction.

    616 lines
  • 3
    Book 3 530–522 BC

    Cambyses conquers Egypt. Herodotus digresses magnificently on Egyptian customs, religion, geography, and the Nile. The longest ethnographic excursus in the work — and one of the most entertaining.

    528 lines
  • 4
    Book 4 c. 513 BC

    Darius seizes power through a conspiracy of seven nobles. He organises the Persian Empire into satrapies and launches expeditions against the Scythians. Herodotus describes Scythian customs with characteristic curiosity.

    563 lines
  • 5
    Book 5 499–496 BC

    The Ionian revolt against Persia. Athens sends ships to help. The revolt fails, Miletus is destroyed, and Darius swears revenge on Athens. The countdown to Marathon begins.

    332 lines
  • 6
    Book 6 496–490 BC

    Marathon. Darius sends an expedition to punish Athens and Eretria. The Athenians, with only Plataean allies, defeat the Persian army on the beach. Pheidippides runs. The democratic city proves it can fight.

    349 lines
  • 7
    Book 7 480 BC

    Xerxes prepares the largest invasion force the world has seen. He bridges the Hellespont, digs a canal through Athos, and marches west. Herodotus catalogues the nations of the Persian army in extraordinary detail.

    582 lines
  • 8
    Book 8 480 BC

    Thermopylae and Artemisium. Three hundred Spartans hold the pass against the Persian army. Leonidas dies. The Greek fleet fights inconclusive naval actions. Greece buys time — but barely.

    341 lines
  • 9
    Book 9 479 BC

    Salamis and Plataea. Themistocles tricks Xerxes into fighting in the narrows. The Persian fleet is destroyed. The following year, the Greek army defeats the Persian land force at Plataea. The invasion is over.

    319 lines
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