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Review
Praise for THE LANDMARK THUCYDIDES

"A magnificent edition of the great historian's The Peloponnesian War."
--Los Angeles Times

"Without question, this is the finest edition of Thucydides' history ever produced. It is a treasure."
--The Washington Times

"This is the best book with which to start study of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War."
--Donald Kagan, author of On the Origins of War and Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy

"Thoroughly readable.... Anyone interested in the culture of conflict--political as well as military, contemporary as well as ancient--can learn much from this durable work."
--The Boston Globe

"The editor and his contributors have asked themselves the fundamental question: how can one best present and interpret the work of one of the most fascinating but difficult of ancient authors to a modern audience? They have answered this question brilliantly."
--Classical Quarterly


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author
Robert B. Strassler is an independent scholar whose articles have appeared in the Journal of Hellenic Studies. He holds an honorary doctorate of humanities and letters from Bard College and is chairman of the Aston Magna Foundation for Music and the Humanities. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Andrea L. Purvis holds a Ph.D. in classical studies from Duke University and has taught in Duke University’s department of classical studies. She is author of Singular Dedications: Founders and Innovators of Private Cults in Classical Greece and coauthor of Four Island Utopias. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

It no longer all Greek to me
Greek history is a big gap in my education. When I read a review of the "Landmark Herodotus" that talked about all the maps and annotations it contained, I thought this would be a good way to get up to speed.

I had some basic questions starting out; how were the Persian wars different from the Peloponnesian wars? Why should we still care about Greek history? I understand why we care about Greek culture but not so clear on the importance of the history. What did we really know about the Persian wars and how did we know it?

Reading Herodotus answered most of these questions and though his History isn't a primary text, it did give me insight into the thinking and the culture of that period. Much of what Herodotus wrote about was within a generation or two of his own times.

What stood out was the conflict between the forces of fate as represented by prophecies of oracles and the actions of men. While Herodotus saw men and women as capable of great deeds, they were often hampered or helped by prophecy.

Next, the long chronological context that he places the Persian war into. Its stretches back to the Egyptians and he is clearly fascinated by that culture and sees that while Persians conquered them, the Egyptians remained very influential on the Greeks.

Third, the multitude of tribes or people of the ancient world surprised me. The Greeks weren't just Greeks. They were Ionians, Athenians and Spartans and many more as well. The Persians conquered many people and this was a problem when they went into battle with people who didn't share a loyalty or connection and were a cause of the Persian's many defeats.

Finally, I was disappointed that the conflict between democracy and tyranny wasn't more delineated. I thought Herodotus would extol and explain the virtues of Athenian democracy but not so much.

The annotations were useful but weren't quite as illuminating as I had hoped. The pluses were the many maps and the timeline which I used after I finished a chapter to ground myself in the "who did what to who, when" that I'd lose track of as I read the text. The minuses included a poor glossary that could easily have been ten times as large and the appendices which were plentiful and written by eminent scholars on a wide range of subjects but they didn't give me a cohesive understanding of the whole of Herodotus' work. It was a bit like Sinatra's Duet albums where he and his singing partners never shared the same recording studio. Connection and engagement were missing.

dream come true
The Landmark Herodotus is a book I wanted but didn't know it existed. I tried to read Herodotus once and found it difficult to read because of his many references to places that no longer exist. This edition has extensive maps, references and background material that make Herodotus not only much more accessable, but also fun and a joy to read! I love this book! It's like The Lord of the Rings but better because it's real (mostly). I would highly recommend this book and give it as a gift to people I care about.

The real story of The 300
I got interested in Herodotus because of the movie "The 300." This is the real story. This edition may have been aimed at an academic audience but it gives the ordinary reader great help with its notes. Anyone interested in ancient Greek history will find this a great book to have.