Justin Marozzi

In defence of Herodotus

The first historian has taken much criticism from his successors. As Tom Holland's translation shows, he deserves better

issue 14 December 2013

  • The Histories

    Herodotus, translated by Tom Holland

    Allen Lane, pp. 880

How many writers would give their eye teeth to have a book reissued 2,500 years after their death? It certainly beats being pulped after a year or two. And who better to receive the Penguin Hardback Classic treatment than Herodotus, the fifth-century BC ‘Father of History’, he to whom historians today owe so much, whether they know it or not? This is a new translation.

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