A vivid account of the ancient world by the Father of History　　（2007-07-23）
How did tiny Greek city-states feuding with each other succeed in uniting and twice repelling the mightiest empire of the time? In order to find the answer, Herodotus journeyed extensively in Asia Minor and the Middle East, visiting places as far apart as Athens, Egypt, Babylon and the Black Sea. He elicited historical, geographical and mythological information from people he encountered on his travels.

Herodotus was the first historian to gather his materials systematically. Though criticized for accepting too readily what he heard, he produced a book full of valuable information about the ancient world, and his vivid narrative of episodes is really intriguing: how Croesus was misled by the Delphic oracle into believing that he would destroy a great empire if he attacked the Persians; why Coesus was destined to lose to Cyrus; how Darius used a cheap trick to capture the throne, and so on.

Unklike Thucydides, Herodotus constantly digresses into seemingly irrelevant topics. In Book II, for instance, he deals in great detail with the question of where the Nile rises and why the Nile floods in summer. (In Japan, Herodotus is well known for his comment that Egypt is the gift of the river.) Even so, there is no denying that the Histories is one of the most interesting accounts of diverse human achievements ever written. It is informative, entertaining and highly enjoyable.