A Guide to Reading Herodotus' Histories by Sean Sheehan

A Guide to Reading Herodotus' Histories by Sean Sheehan

Modern scholarship judges Herodotus to be a more complex writer than his past readers supposed. His Histories is now being read in ways that are seemingly incompatible if not contradictory. This volume interrogates the various ways the text of the Histories has been and can be read by scholars: as the seminal text of our Ur-historian, as ethnology, literary art and fable. Our readings can bring out various guises of Herodotus himself: an author with the eye of a travel writer and the mind of an investigative journalist; a globalist, enlightened but superstitious; a rambling storyteller but a prose stylist; the so-called 'father of history' but in antiquity also labelled the 'father of lies'; both geographer and gossipmonger; both entertainer and an author whom social and cultural historians read and admire. Guiding students chapter-by-chapter through approaches as fascinating and often surprising as the original itself, Sean Sheehan goes beyond conventional Herodotus introductions and instead looks at the various interpretations of the work, which themselves shed light on the original. With text boxes highlighting key topics and indices of passages, this volume is an essential guide for students whether reading Herodotus for the first time, or returning to revisit this crucial text for later research.

Herodotus’s work poses a challenge to readers who enter its labyrinthWelcome then is a guide which sets out the complex narrative structure clearly and gives the reader an insight into Herodotus’ preoccupations and the reception of his great work. -- Alan Beale * Classics for All *
Sheehan has written a very useful guide to Herodotus’ history in a lively and charming style which is sure to engage readers … Written in an accessible, compact and pleasant manner. * Classics Ireland *
This book gives students confidence to navigate the rich but disjointed narrative of the Histories under the guidance of the current trends in research. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
This book is a clear and well written conspectus of Herodotean studies. Student and scholar alike will find it an invaluable vade mecum to a highly complex and multi-layered work. * Alan B Lloyd, Professor Emeritus, Department of Classics, Ancient History and Egyptology, Swansea University, UK *

Sean Sheehan is an independent scholar, having previously taught in the UK and abroad. His publications include The British Museum Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ancient Greece (2002), Socrates: Life and Times (2007), Žižek: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury, 2012) and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King: A Reader’s Guide (Bloomsbury, 2012).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781474292672
ISBN 10	1474292674
Title	A Guide to Reading Herodotus' Histories
Author	Sean Sheehan
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published	2018-04-05
Number of pages	332
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable