Herodotus is not only the father of the art and the science of historical writing but also one of the Western tradition's most compelling storytellers. In tales such as that of Gyges—who murders Candaules, the king of Lydia, and unsurps his throne and his marriage bed, thereby bringing on, generations later, war with the Persians—he laid bare the intricate human entanglements at the core of great historical events. In his love for the stranger, more marvelous facts of the world, he infused his magnificent history with a continuous awareness of the mythic and the wonderful.

Praise for The Histories:
“Unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the past half-century…I am in awe of Tom Holland’s achievement, and have no doubt it will bear rich fruit in bringing Herodotus to public attention”
– Edith Hall, Times Literary Supplement

“Lively, engaging version of the Histories…[an] admirable translation”
The Economist

Praise for In the Shadow of the Sword:
"Written with flamboyant elegance and energetic intensity, Holland delivers a brilliant tour de force of revisionist scholarship and thrilling storytelling with a bloodspattered cast of swashbuckling tyrants, nymphomaniacal empresses and visionary prophets. The book is unputdownable."
The Times of London

Praise for Rubicon:
"Tom Holland has produced in one volume the crispest and most compelling account of this momentous period I have ever read."
The Seattle Times

Praise for Persian Fire:
"Excellent... Holland is a cool-headed historian who writes no less authoritatively and engagingly on classical Greece than he did on ancient Rome in his last book, Rubicon"
—Mary Beard, The Sunday Times 
Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, in the fifth century B.C. Called the Father of History, he wrote the first comprehensive attempt at secular narrative history, long considered the starting point of Western historical writing. The focus of his Histories is the Persian Wars, but he includes fascinating digressions on the histories of Bablyon, Egypt, and Thrace, as well as studies of the pyramids and various historical events. He was the first writer to evaluate historical, geographical, and archaeological material critically. View titles by Herodotus

About

Herodotus is not only the father of the art and the science of historical writing but also one of the Western tradition's most compelling storytellers. In tales such as that of Gyges—who murders Candaules, the king of Lydia, and unsurps his throne and his marriage bed, thereby bringing on, generations later, war with the Persians—he laid bare the intricate human entanglements at the core of great historical events. In his love for the stranger, more marvelous facts of the world, he infused his magnificent history with a continuous awareness of the mythic and the wonderful.

Reviews

Praise for The Histories:
“Unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the past half-century…I am in awe of Tom Holland’s achievement, and have no doubt it will bear rich fruit in bringing Herodotus to public attention”
– Edith Hall, Times Literary Supplement

“Lively, engaging version of the Histories…[an] admirable translation”
The Economist

Praise for In the Shadow of the Sword:
"Written with flamboyant elegance and energetic intensity, Holland delivers a brilliant tour de force of revisionist scholarship and thrilling storytelling with a bloodspattered cast of swashbuckling tyrants, nymphomaniacal empresses and visionary prophets. The book is unputdownable."
The Times of London

Praise for Rubicon:
"Tom Holland has produced in one volume the crispest and most compelling account of this momentous period I have ever read."
The Seattle Times

Praise for Persian Fire:
"Excellent... Holland is a cool-headed historian who writes no less authoritatively and engagingly on classical Greece than he did on ancient Rome in his last book, Rubicon"
—Mary Beard, The Sunday Times 

Author

Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, in the fifth century B.C. Called the Father of History, he wrote the first comprehensive attempt at secular narrative history, long considered the starting point of Western historical writing. The focus of his Histories is the Persian Wars, but he includes fascinating digressions on the histories of Bablyon, Egypt, and Thrace, as well as studies of the pyramids and various historical events. He was the first writer to evaluate historical, geographical, and archaeological material critically. View titles by Herodotus