Unlike book 1, book 2 s recollections of kings were less specific and more sparse but he does include descriptions of animals and their role in egyptian society which i found interesting and new. Now the length of the parasang is thirty furlongs, but the schoene, which is an egyptian measure, is sixty furlongs. The history of herodotus volume 2 kindle edition by herodotus, macaulay, g. How herodotus might have come to know about crocodile hunting. The second volume of his histories describes egypts geography, people and relates stories about a number of pharaohs. He is known for having written the book the histories greek. Godley, read by librivox volunteers, proofed, coordinated, and produced by karen merline. The project gutenberg ebook of an account of egypt, by herodotus this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Thoughts on book 2 of the histories of herodotus first. The history of herodotus by herodotus, part of the internet classics archive. The history of herodotus by herodotus the internet classics archive. Cambyses, the son of this lady and of cyrus, regarding the ionian and aeolian greeks as vassals of his father, took them with.
The egyptians in agreement with their climate, which is unlike any other, and with the river, which shows a nature different from all other rivers, established for themselves manners and customs in a way opposite to other men in almost all matters. Oct 31, 2018 get 2 free audible books this is the third volume of the 15volume series of the worlds story. The history of herodotus book i the first book of the histories, called clio this is the showing forth of the inquiry of herodotus of halicarnassos, to the end that1 neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works 2 great and marvellous, which have been produced some by hellenes and some by barbarians, may. An account of egypt is herodotus second book in his histories, titled euterpe. Egyptians, preferring cleanliness to comeliness, practice circumcision. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy and arrange them in. His plan to conquer egypt gives herodotus the opportunity. Herodotus on the egyptians ancient history encyclopedia. Then secondly, as to egypt itself, the extent of it along the sea is sixty schoines, according to our definition of egypt as extending from the gulf of plinthine to the serbonian lake, along which stretches mount casion. His plan to conquer egypt gives herodotus the opportunity to dedicate three logoi to the ancient kingdom on the. The present selection includes 3599 of the traditionally numbered 182 sections that make up. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery the persians on the one hand, and freedom. Greek researcher, often called the worlds first historian. Im becomming a little obsessed with history after getting this book.
His histories primarily deals with the lives of croesus, cyrus, cambyses, smerdis, darius, and xerxes and the battles of marathon, thermopylae, artemisium, salamis, plataea, and mycale. Find a summary of this and each chapter of histories. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Many scholars refer to him as the father of history in western culture.
To get even, he urged cambyses to ask amasis for his daughter in marriage. The reason was because an egyptian upset with his king, amasis, because he felt slighted by him for sending him to persia to be cyruss eye doctor. Herodotus, greek author of the first great narrative history produced in the ancient world, the history of the grecopersian wars. Herodotus description of egypt dominates book ii of the histories.
Now, when they are coming to the city of bubastis they do as follows. This excursus on the countrys natural and manmade marvels sets the scene for his account of egypts invasion in 525 bce by the persian king cambyses, cyrus son, in. Herodotus was a greek writer and geographer credited with being the first historian. Herodotus was a greek historian who lived in the 5th century bc from 484 b. Written from the 450s to the 420s bc in the ionic dialect of classical greek, the histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that were known around the mediterranean and western asia at that time. His description of crocodiles, for instance, is remarkably accurate, and the account of how crocodiles are hunted seems to come from either personal experience or a reliable account from a hunter. In the search for wisdom for herodotus histories, herodotus. The histories herodotus translated by george rawlinson book 1 these are the researches of herodotus of halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the greeks and the barbarians from. Herodotus was born about 490 bce at halicarnassos and died in italy in the late 420s. Herodotus records the rituals and animals of egypt fairly accurately.
When the work is not acting as a source of descriptive information, there are actually a few comical moments as it regards the egyptian brazenness and crude sense of honest humor. Euterpe on the death of cyrus, cambyses his son by cassandane daughter of pharnaspes took the kingdom. Cassandane had died in the lifetime of cyrus, who had made a great mourning for her at her death, and had commanded all the. Herodotus claims the hellenes have three theories about the niles floods. He gives a rather unconvincing proof that the egyptian language is the oldest in the world, explains the inundation of the nile, and tells several stories about the sources of. The history of herodotus volume 2 kindle edition by. Herodotus counts by generations, for example the kings of the mermnads dynasty, ruling from c. Herodotus histories book 2, euterpe part 1 youtube. The histories of herodotus is considered one of the seminal works of history in western literature. In the first logos of book two, he gives a description of the country, the desert, and the river nile. The internet classics archive the history of herodotus by. In book 2, herodotus discusses the geography, culture, and history of egypt. Hello this is bertie, and im here with some more ancient history based on the writings of herodotus. Strange stories of early egypt by herodotus audiobook youtube.
Jan 18, 2012 the egyptians in agreement with their climate, which is unlike any other, and with the river, which shows a nature different from all other rivers, established for themselves manners and customs in a way opposite to other men in almost all matters. Written in 440 bc in the ionic dialect of classical greek, the histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that were known in western asia, northern. Herodotus notes quickly that cambyses had ambitions to conquer egypt. E, and his histories chronicle the events of the persian wars, which were within living memory when. The histories of herodotus of halicarnassus, volume 1. The second volume of his histories describes egypt s geography, people and relates stories about a number of pharaohs. These, whenever a corpse is conveyed to them, show to those who brought it wooden models of corpses made like reality by painting, and the. Herodotus histories book i classical wisdom weekly. Mar 10, 2019 herodotus in egypt herodotus histories book 2. His plan to conquer egypt gives herodotus the opportunity to dedicate three logoi to the ancient kingdom on the boards of the nile. Histories book 2 customs and animals of egypt summary.
The first five books look into the past to explain the rise and fall of the persian empire, with special attention being paid to egypt in book 2. Gates of fire, by stephen pressfield, has the battle of thermopylae book vii as its centrepiece. In particular, passage eightysix describes the practice of an ancient ritual that has fascinated people for millennia. He claims that 100 bronze gates were erected at the entrance of babylon, and that babylons. Book 2 of herodotus opens up with what must be one of historys earliest recorded descriptions of a scientific experiment, also one the stupidest. Herodotus often accepted stories and reputations uncritically and reported them as facts. Herodotus the histories, book 3, thalia 8 cambyses, king of persia, decided to go to war with the egyptians. Herodotus lays out the history of egypt until the reign of amasis, the pharaoh that cambyses will defeat in histories. Book 2 summary in book 2, herodotus discusses the geography, zoology, customs, and history of ancient egypt. The present selection includes 3599 of the traditionally numbered 182 sections that make up book ii. Book i 299k book ii 249k book iii 221k book iv 230k book v 162k book vi 174k. The third logos of herodotus histories is entirely devoted to egyptian history.
The history of herodotus rawlinsonbook 2 wikisource, the free. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the history of herodotus volume 2. Histories book 2 the geography of egypt summary course hero. Cambyses ii, kabujiya, 530522 bce in books 2 and 3. Despite herodotus s historical significance, little is known about his personal life. How herodotus might have come to know about crocodile. Chapter summary for herodotuss histories, book 2 the history of egypt summary. After herodotus died, editors divided his histories into nine books each one being named after one of the nine muses histories herodotus. Herodotus uses this as an excuse to spend book 2 describing egypt at length, as he is fascinated by the country. Cassandane had died in the lifetime of cyrus, who had made a great mourning for her at her death, and had commanded all the subjects of his empire to observe the like. I also purchased the histories from barnes and noble with translation by g. A flawed and fascinating account of all things egyptian, much of it from firsthand testimony. Histories by herodotus translated by george rawlinson book 2 euterpe.
Read the excerpt from the history of herodotus, book 2. For if we take the boundaryline commonly received by the greeks, we must regard egypt as divided, along its whole length from elephantine and the cataracts to cercasorus, into two parts, each belonging to a different portion of the world, one to asia, the other to libya. Since the release of the film version of michael ondaatjes the english patient, there has been renewed interest in the histories of herodotus the book the dying patient treasures so much the writings of herodotus are the ground zero of western history. In book one of the histories, when herodotus describes the physical and political atmosphere in persia, he greatly exaggerates how massively fortified the city of babylon is. On the side of libya egypt is bounded by another range of rocky mountains, wherein are the pyramids. Xerxes i khshayarsha, 486466 bce in books 7, 8, and 9. Book 2 of the histories largely concerns itself with egypt. Herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. Connecting egyptian religion and customs to that of the greeks in which herodotus friendly manner towards egypt can be felt. Herodotus on burial in egypt ancient history encyclopedia. Herodotus attempts to relate the whole history of the kings of egypt, although he does not describe all 350 pharaohs he claims have ruled the country. Creation, by gore vidal, interpreting many scenes from the persian viewpoint. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at.
The internet classics archive the history of herodotus. In the histories, he describes the expansion of the achaemenid empire under its kings cyrus the great, cambyses, and darius i the great, culminating in xerxes expedition to greece 480 bce, which met with disaster in the naval engagement at salamis and the battles at plataea and mycale. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 2. Written about 440 bc, the histories tell the story of the war between the persian empire and the greek citystates in the 5th century bc. The historian, herodotus wrote about flying reptiles. The histories of herodotus of halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in western literature. Gyges, ardys, sadyattes ii, alyattes and finally, his son croesus who we look at in some detail. Herodotus is called the father of history, since rather than write history as an epic, he approached his work as a research project. Cambyses becomes king of the persian empire 530522 bc. The herodotus histories was starting to interest me after appearing on the searches, but didnt purchase until researching more what it was about. In the second book of his histories he describes ancient egypt and in this episode im going to be talking about the egyptian gods. Herodotus claims that since this legendary king 330 pharaohs have ruled he does not mention all of them, but gives some attention to the great conqueror sesostris, who has conquered the whole world.
Written about 440 bc, the histories tell the story of the war between the persian empire and the greek citystates in the 5th. Book 2 of the history, which describes the egyptian land and people, illustrates herodotuss skill as a narrator as well as his weaknesses as a historian. The rise of the persian empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with greece. He remains the leading source of original information not only for greek history between 550 and 479 bce but also for much of that of western asia and of egypt at that time. Pharaoh, by boleslaw prus, incorporating the labyrinth scenes inspired by herodotus description in book ii of the histories. In this occupation certain persons employ themselves regularly and inherit this as a craft. The history of herodotus book i the first book of the histories, called clio this is the showing forth of the inquiry of herodotus of halicarnassos, to the end that1 neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works2 great and marvellous, which have been produced some by hellenes and some by barbarians, may. According to herodotus, the city of babylon had magnificence greater than all other cities of which we have knowledge. The histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the persian empire, as well as the events and causes of the grecopersian wars between the achaemenid empire and the greek citystates in the 5th century bc.
After the death of king cyrus, his son cambyses becomes the new shah of persia. He likely witnessed these accounts firsthand or interviewed people for details. With his work history, herodotus first approached the story, but could not be considered an objective historian. The histories by herodotus book ii, euterpe knowitall to. Histories book 2 the history of egypt summary course hero. Darius i, the great, darayavahush, 522486 bce in books 3, 4, 5 and 6. The first five books look into the past to explain the rise and fall of the persian empire, with. Herodotus is not just the father of history, he is also the father of ethnography, and his description of the egyptians suggests that they often do the opposite of whatever the greeks do. Even though his broader theme is the history of the persian wars, book ii includes a vast range of subjects, from geology and meteorology to commerce, family life, and medicine. He attempts to calculate the dimensions of the country, then describes the river nile. While many of his stories might only be tales, it still contain many names of the pharaohs.