Description
Cambridge Herodotus and the Persian Wars 2019 Edition by John Claughton
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. Table of contents :- 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.