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Start giftingThe Histories
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Learn moreBrought to you by Penguin.
This Penguin Classic of Tom Holland's 'stirring new translation' (Telegraph) of Herodotus' Histories, one of the great books in Western history, is narrated by Frank Laverty.
The Histories of Herodotus, completed in the second half of the 5th century BC, is generally regarded as the first work of history and the first great masterpiece of non-fiction writing. Joined here are the sheer drama of Herodotus' narrative of the Persian invasions of Greece, and the endless curiosity - turning now to cannabis, now to the Pyramids - which make his book the source of so much of our knowledge of the ancient world.
This absorbing new translation, by one of Britain's most admired young historians, allows all the drama and mysteriousness of this great book to be fully appreciated by modern readers.
'Unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the last half-century, and there have been quite a few . . . fast, funny, opinionated, clear and erudite . . . I am in awe of Tom Holland's achievement' Edith Hall, TLS
'A labour of love . . . full of rattling good yarns . . . the minister for education should present each of his cabinet colleagues with a copy of Holland's admirable translation' Economist
'Tom Holland has been captivated by Herodotus since he was a child. His pleasure shines through his relaxed, idiomatic, expansive and often dramatic translation ... He, like Herodotus, is a storyteller par excellence' Peter Jones, New Statesman
© Tom Holland 2013 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
Few facts are known about the life of Herodotus. He was born around 490 BC in Halicarnassus, on the south-west coast of Asia Minor. He seems to have travelled widely throughout the Mediterranean world, including Egypt, Africa, the area around the Black Sea and throughout many Greek city-states, of both the mainland and the islands. A sojourn in Athens is part of the traditional biography, and there he is said to have given public readings of his work and been friends with the playwright Sophocles. He is said also to have taken part in the founding of the colony of Thurii in Italy in 443 BC. He probably died at some time between 425 and 420 BC. His reputation has varied greatly, but for the ancients and many moderns he well deserves the title (first given to him by Cicero) of 'the Father of History'.
Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, biographer and broadcaster. He is the author of Rubicon, which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; Persian Fire his history of the Graeco-Persian wars, won the Anglo-Hellenic League’s Runciman Award in 2006; Millennium, a panoramic account of the two centuries on either side of the apocalyptic year 1000; In the Shadow of the Sword, which covers the collapse of Roman and Persian power in the Near East, and the emergence of Islam; Dynasty, a portrait of Rome's first imperial dynasty and Dominion, exploring why Christianity is the most enduring and influential legacy of the ancient world, published in 2019. His most recent book, Pax, covers the heyday of the Roman Empire, from the death of Nero to Hadrian.
Holland has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for the BBC. His translation of Herodotus was published in 2013 by Penguin Classics, and his translation of Suetonius – also for Penguin Classics – comes out in 2024. His biography of Æthelstan, the first King of England, was published in 2016 under the Penguin Monarchs series.
Holland is co-presenter of the world’s most downloaded history podcast, The Rest is History. He has written and presented several TV documentaries, for the BBC and Channel 4, on subjects ranging from ISIS to dinosaurs.