Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, Aubrey De Selincourt, John M. Marincola ISBN: 0-14-044908-6 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Obviously the reviewer above me doesn't "get it"
Comment: The person who wrote that "Herodotues was on the joke," because someone "was in love with his own wife" obviously doesn't understand that throughout history, especially in ancient times, marriage was not about "love," it was about gaining land, wealth, and family ties. Therefore, it could be considered rare and special when someone is "in love with their own wife." In other words...DUH! Think a little bit!
Rating: 5
Summary: Was He In on the Joke?
Comment: "Now it happened that this Candaules was in love with his own wife," says Herodotus, in the great translation by Rawlinson. This is troublesome. Just how am I supposed to react here? In love with his own wife? Is it a surprise that Candaules is in love with his own wife? Is this a joke? Or is something lost (or gained) in translation?
But let that pass. If you saw the movie "The English Patient," you may remember the rest of the story. You recall that Gyges the house servant, at the behest of the Candaules himself, hid behind the curtain and saw the queen naked. . The queen (Herodotus does not give her a name) observed the observer, and next day - backed by her armed guard - she confronted him with a stark choice: either you kill the king, or we kill you.
Rawlinson says that Gyges "made a choice of life for himself," which is good enough. But Herodotus says that Gyges decided to "perieinai," and perhaps nothing in the whole work better exemplifies the peculiar genius of the author. "Perieinai" translates roughly as "to be there when it is all over." The touch is light, deft and pointed - as someone has said, almost Mozartian in its seeming ease. All this in just about the first prose narrative ever written.
"Histories" is too grand a word. In one sense, Herodotus is the guy down at the end of the bar cadging drinks for stories. But no one ever did it better, and no one makes it look easier (which, surely, it is not). The question remains: was Herodotus in on the joke? I like to think that yes, just maybe he was.
Rating: 5
Summary: A wonderful book
Comment: This is simply a wonderful book and an entertaining read. Herodotus set out to do for the Persian wars what Homer did for the Trojan war. The Homeric elements are apparent throughout the book. To a very real extent, partly because of his huge popularity down through the ages, Herodotus defines the stage upon which we all act even today. Only the last 75-100 pages are marred buy the influence of the anti-Spartan/pro-Athenian sentiment of his time.
 |
Title: History of the Peloponnesian War (Penguin Classics) by Thucydides, Rex Warner, M. I. Finley ISBN: 0140440399 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1954 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: The Iliad of Homer by Homer, Richmond Lattimore ISBN: 0226469409 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 1987 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: The Odyssey of Homer by Richmond Lattimore ISBN: 0060931957 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch, Ian Scott-Kilvert ISBN: 0140441026 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1960 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone by Sophocles, David Greene, Richard Lattimore, David Grene, Richmond Lattimore ISBN: 0226307921 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: February, 1992 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
